Liman

Round the corner from the busy Chapel Market, Islington, and 5 minutes walk from Angel tube, is this lovely Turkish restaurant. With a hint towards a nautical theme (a compass painted on one wall), “Liman’ means Port in Turkish. The restaurant is small and cheerful, with attractive dried flower arrangements and some zany wall decorations.

The owners are young professional chefs who are keen to show their talents by serving Turkish and Mediterranean dishes. The menu is large, with several fresh seafood dishes and many vegetarian options. A delicious spicy home-made bread is brought to the table with a garlic dip. We started with the wonderful triangles of warm borek, made from pastry that melts in the mouth, filled with feta cheese and spinach.

The Sucuk, a spicy Turkish sausage, grilled and incredibly tasty, was beautifully presented on salad leaves with a light dressing.

The Mousakka, made with minced meat, aubergine and peppers, had a garlic and slightly sweet tomato sauce. The portion was large, which was fine as it was very good.

The second dish we ordered was the Lamb Aubergine casserole and this was also a generous serving. It consisted of mince lamb with tomatoes, green and red peppers, topped with cheese, on a slice of lightly grilled aubergine, served with a salad and a portion of fluffy turkish rice.

For dessert, we had Sutlac (Turkish rice pudding) and an enormous apple tart served with cream. The pastry was very soft and light, and the apple filling had a good sprinkling of cinnamon.

The evening was quite enjoyable with delicious food, good music and service from a very welcoming and friendly husband and wife team. Liman is a wonderful addition to the neighbourhood.