We take a look at Lokal London's impressive contemporary Turkish menu, just a few steps from Oxford Street

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A taste of what's on the menu at Lokal

What can you tell us about Lokal?

Lokal opened earlier this year, coming from the same team behind Fred Bakery and two Faros restaurants (one of which we recently visited). This takes a different approach to the other ventures, though. It's a contemporary Turkish affair, inspired by regional cooking across Türkiye, while also using local ingredients and applying what they call "a modern London touch". 

Where is it?

It's very close to the newly pedestrianised stretch of Oxford Street, only a couple of minutes' walk from Oxford Circus. So if you're heading into the West End to do some shopping over the next couple of months, this makes for a very handy pit stop at any time of the day. 

Looking out into the restaurant from the back of Lokal.

Where should we sit?

Lokal is a larger restaurant than it might seem from the outside (it goes back quite a way), so you've got lots of choice here, from counter seating at the front, which is ideal for solo dining and some large booth seating at the back, which would be good for big get-togethers (particularly if you're looking for somewhere for an office party). There's also a pretty sizeable covered terrace out at the front. 

Yes, it is heated. 

And what's on the menu?

If you've been to any of the recent Turkish openings in London of late, this is a cuisine that, while it has longstanding roots in the city, is really getting its moment in the sun right now. The first port of call is for breads and dips, starting first with their signature Lokal bread. 

The Lokal bread (£6) is a must-have, which is delivered to the table extra puffed-up and with some great burnt butter and tulum cheese on the side. Pide bread comes with the dips, here an excellent silky hummus and atom (both £8)

Smoked aubergine - yoghurt, tahini, garlic and "eggplant" crisps (£9) - wonderfully smoky, and we appreciate the double aubergine use in the crisps (not sure why they revert to calling them eggplant there!)

Then it's onto mezze, with options like lamb and beef kofte and grilled octopus or prawns to choose from, as well as an excellent cured beef and cheese-stuffed borek. We'd also strongly recommend the following:

Stiridye Mushroom - charcoal-grilled oyster mushroom (£10) - a vegetable dish that makes great use of the charcoal oven. 

Then it's onto the main events, where things switch to the wood-fired mangal grill. We've heard very good things about their grilled fresh seabass, and the kofte too, but here's what we went for:

Yagli Kara (lamb loin, £30) - gloriously well-cooked lamb which was probably our favourite dish of the meal. 

Suffolk × Blue Leicester lamb chops (£28) - Yes, we did go a bit crazy on the lamb, but who could resist chops like these?

Chicken thigh marinated with yoghurt and mixed Turkish spices (£22) - every bit as good as some of the chicken dishes we've had in places like Soraya or Berenjak recently. 

Room for dessert?

As you should know with us, there's always room for dessert, and you definitely need to hold some space back for the following at Lokal: 

The trio of baklava (£12) - Why have one baklava when you can have three? This also works well as a sharing dish to end with. 

Kadafif (£12) - a really great example of a classic Turkish dessert. 

What about drink?

The cocktails are well worth a look. They go big on the Turkish inspiration, making particularly good use of Turkish and Middle Eastern ingredients (although there is a list of classic cocktails if you fancy one of those instead). As for wines, while the list features wines from across the world, there's a strong Turkish showing, including the entry-level wines (starting at £38).

And if you fancy it, they have a pretty impressive raki selection too. 

On the left is the Mesopotamia (Olmeca Altos plata tequila infused with padron peppers, rosé wine, Campari, rosehip cordial and a rim of Isot Turkish chilli pepper, £17) and on the right, the Ephesus (£15) with Absolut Vodka, St. Germain elderflower and sorrel mix

Overall thoughts

We really enjoyed our meal at Lokal, which delived a great Turkish menu that's quite unlike anything else you'll find in this part of town, mere steps from London's main shopping street. If you're heading down there in the coming months, a diversion to try a table full of mezze, dips and really great grilled dishes would be a great decision, we think.