Taş Fırın Turkish Restaurant - Shoreditch

You know that feeling when you walk into a restaurant and the smell alone tells you everything's going to be alright? That's Taş Fırın. It's the kind of place where East London locals queue up for lamb that's been turning on a spit since lunch service started, where the meze arrives without faffing about, and where nobody's trying to convince you that Turkish food needs foam or a tasting menu. The room's properly lived-in—warm lighting, proper Turkish music, families cramming round tables—and the sort of honest cooking that reminds you why this stretch of Bethnal Green has become genuinely excellent for eating out.