Mangal Ocakbasi on Arcola Street, off Kingsland Road in Hackney. When I first went there it had just 12 seats and the chef would sit behind the grill cooking the whole menu.
Although there wasn’t a menu as such – everything was on display in a refrigerated cabinet, including various kebabs, sweetbreads and quails.
Even the aubergine salad was cooked to order over the open charcoal grill, then scooped out and chopped while he was keeping an eye on the meats and flatbreads.There were no fancy marinades, just pure flavour from the grill and a dusting of sumac when cooked.
Today’s menu is inspired by those memories.I’m barbecuing chicken this week. If you follow my recipes, you may have cooked the poached chicken breast dish with nettle broth I made a few weeks back, and have wings and legs reserved in the freezer.
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