A few years ago, my wife and I were regular customers at one of the Turkish restaurants on Green Lanes, Harringay, but the restaurant we liked suddenly closed down, so we were on the lookout for a replacement. We'd previously seen this place, Nawroz, which is also on Green Lanes, but further up, closer to Turnpike Lane station. It's away from the main strip where most of the restaurants are clustered, and which typically get packed out with diners, so we thought we'd give it a try. Since then we've been coming here regularly, as the food is great and we like the atmosphere.
I should say that I am not an expert on Middle Eastern food. However, from what it says on the sign outside the restaurant, I take the food at Nawroz to be Kurdish, but Iranian or possibly Iraqi in style, not Turkish. At Turkish restaurants I normally order a Lamb Shish. At Nawroz, the nearest equivalent is what's called a Lamb Tikka. This comes in either a full or half serving of grilled meat chunks, similar to Shish kebab, and is served with salad, grilled tomatoes, peppers, and so on, and with the option of rice. The bread served with the meal is slightly different to the Turkish flat bread and comes as large circular complete breads, rather than small slices. Personally, I prefer the Nawroz style of bread as it seems somewhat lighter. The Turkish bread is great, but I often end up eating too much of it and it leaves me feeling over-full.
There are lots of other dishes on the menu, many of them meat specialities served with rice. These seem to be very popular with customers. Incidentally most of the diners seem to be people of this community or cultural background, rather than Westerners, and I get the impression that customers in some cases travel a considerable distance to eat here, because they like it so much. Although the other dishes look mouth-watering, we are creatures of habit, so we more or less stick to the Lamb Tikka described above.
A nice touch is that when you first sit down at your table, they bring you both the menu and a small bowl of delicious lentil soup as a complimentary starter.
The service is always very polite and friendly, and the ambience is relaxing. Prices are roughly the same as those in other restaurants further down Green Lanes, but probably a tad cheaper overall. read more
