The top line: One of Turkey’s best-known and most venerable restaurants has quietly launched in Knightsbridge just behind Harrods. Founded in 1867 in Bursa, a city a few hours’ drive from Istanbul, Kebapçı İskender bills itself as the originator of the modern döner kebab. Yet those expecting something akin to what is traditionally served in a polystyrene box with chilli sauce and garlic mayo at the end of a night out are in for a surprise. While the meat does closely resemble the ‘elephant legs’ that rotate alluringly (or not) in thousands of kebab shops across the UK, the way it is served is very different. Sliced to order, it comes on a bed of chopped flatbread with tomato, grilled green peppers and Turkish yoghurt, and is topped with homemade tomato sauce. The final flourish is a tsunami of foaming butter administered straight from a ripping-hot pan. The result is a world away from the late-night British döner: subtly flavoured and remarkably ungreasy for something that has been doused in half a pint of butter. That said, it’s probably just as well that Kebapçı İskender isn’t obliged to provide calorie information.
On the menu: That one dish is essentially the only thing on the menu. A generous single portion costs £29, with a 1.5 portion offered for £39 and a child’s portion for £19. Cooked vertically on a charcoal-fired grill, the döner is made from premium cuts of lamb and a little veal. There are no starters and just one side: the tender innards of a chargrilled aubergine that also arrives covered in butter. There are two desserts: kemalpaşa, a traditional cheese and semolina dessert from Bursa; and candied chestnuts, another speciality of Kebapçı İskender’s home city. Alongside standard soft drinks, the Beauchamp Place restaurant offers şıra, a delicious grape must that is the traditional accompaniment to döner kebab in Turkey. An alcohol licence has been secured, but the team is unsure whether it will ever have need of it. Its restaurants in Turkey do not serve alcohol.
The vibe: Kebapçı İskender confounds expectations – those of a UK audience, at least – of what a restaurant specialising in döner kebabs might look like. There’s no strip lighting, stainless-steel counters, forlorn salad trays and sun-faded photographs of kebabs here. Instead, the 50-cover space has an upscale, traditional feel, with mid-century furniture, white tablecloths, dinner jacket-clad waiters and a semi-open kitchen in which burly Turkish chefs busily slice döner. Nearly everything has been brought over from Turkey, from the tableware and the chairs to the tiles and family photos that line the walls. Guests are greeted by an oversized bronze bust of founder İskender Efendi - the original bossman - which gives some sense of the restaurant’s standing in its home country. Service is high-energy, with chefs tipping the butter over kebabs at the table. It’s funny to think that a restaurant founded in the closing years of the Ottoman Empire stumbled upon the perfect Instagram money shot 150 years before the app existed. The business has remained under continuous family ownership since its inception. It is now led by Yavuz İskenderoğlu and his sons Oğuzhan and Kayhan İskender. Opening outside Turkey is a big moment for the trio, but it does not signal the beginning of a major expansion push. The family is meticulous about its product and fiercely protective of its heritage. It began recruiting for its London restaurant two years ago, targeting UK-based Turkish chefs with a connection to Bursa and taking them back to Turkey to train in its restaurants. It is taking its first and probably its only restaurant launch outside Turkey very seriously indeed. It has bought the multi-story townhouse outright with Oğuzhan and Kayhan set to split their time between London and Turkey.
And another thing: You’d probably expect a restaurant serving döner to be open in the evening, right? Wrong. Kebapçı İskender typically closes at around 7pm, when the meat runs out as is the approach at most döner restaurants in Turkey. Oğuzhan tells Restaurant he has been gradually increasing the amount of meat on the spit to keep the restaurant open later, but is now close to the limit of what the motor can handle. Though it launched without much fanfare, word has got out among London’s large Turkish community and the restaurant is already extremely busy, doing up to 400 covers a day. The Turkish ambassador has already been in four times apparently.
30 Beauchamp Place, London SW3 1NJ