Our Signature Grills, explained

Our menu has a section called Signature Grills, and it is the one part of the menu that tends to need the most explaining when someone new to Turkish food is ordering with us. All four dishes share a family resemblance: grilled meat, toasted bread, a tomato-based sauce and, in most cases, warm yogurt and sizzling butter poured over the top at the last moment. Here is what actually sets each one apart.

Iskender kebab

Named after the Bursa chef credited with inventing it, iskender is slices of lamb doner laid over toasted bread, topped with yogurt and a special tomato sauce, then finished with sizzling butter poured over at the table. The bread underneath soaks up the sauce and butter, so every bite carries a bit of both.

Yogurt kebab

The same idea, built around chargrilled lamb or chicken shish instead of doner. The shish sits on toasted bread with the same tomato sauce and sizzling butter, and the char from the grill comes through more than it does with iskender.

Serma beyti kebab

Beyti takes seasoned minced lamb or chicken adana kebab and wraps it in lavash bread before slicing it into rounds, so you get a spiral of meat and bread in every piece. It is topped with yogurt and tomato sauce and sizzling butter the same way, but the wrapped, sliced shape makes it the most distinctive to look at on the plate.

Halep kebab

The odd one out of the four: halep swaps the yogurt for a tomato sauce built with mushroom, red peppers and onions, poured over chargrilled lamb doner. No yogurt here, just a richer, vegetable-based sauce with more depth from the mushroom and peppers.

Why the toasted bread matters

None of these four dishes work without the bread underneath doing its job. It is toasted first, not just warmed, so it holds its shape long enough to soak up the sauce and the sizzling butter without turning to mush before it reaches the table. That base is what turns a plate of grilled meat and sauce into something closer to a full, knife-and-fork dish, rather than a kebab you would eat with your hands.

If you are not sure where to start, iskender is the closest thing to a classic introduction, and yogurt kebab if you want more of the charcoal flavour to come through. If you prefer your kebab without yogurt at all, halep is the one to try. All four are on the menu every day, halal, for dine-in or collection at 117 Wood Street.