Turkish Restaurant near Soho & Oxford Circus

Soho doesn't have a Turkish kitchen of its own — the closest one with a halal meat menu, a wood-edged oven and a proper chargrill is ours, eight to ten minutes' walk west. From Soho Square, head up Oxford Street toward Oxford Circus and keep going past John Lewis; from Carnaby Street and Liberty London, walk through Hanover Square toward Bond Street tube. Either route ends at James Street and the pedestrianised entrance to St Christopher's Place. We're at number 22.

The fastest route from the southern, theatre-heavy end of Soho — Old Compton Street, Shaftesbury Avenue, Wardour Street — is two stops on the Central line from Tottenham Court Road to Bond Street, then a sixty-second walk. From Berwick Street and Carnaby it's a flat eight-minute walk; on a Saturday afternoon, walking is faster than the bus. The kitchen is open every day until 22:30, which makes pre- and post-theatre tables straightforward, and the meat side of the menu is fully halal.

Soho-bound diners come for two things in particular. The first is the wood-charcoal grill: lamb shish, chicken shish, lamb chops cooked over real coals rather than gas, the Grand Bazaar mixed grill for two, and a kebab pide pulled fresh from the oven. The second is a long meze share — humus, haydari, kisir, ezme, dolma, sigara börek, halloumi, falafel and octopus salad — which the room is built for, with 75 covers spilling onto the pedestrianised piazza on St Christopher's Place.

Pre-theatre is the busiest two hours of our Soho-bound trade. The trick is to order from the cold mezze list and the chargrill together: the small plates land at the table within minutes of you sitting down, and the grill arrives while you're still sharing them. A two-course pre-theatre table that starts at 18:00 will see you out the door by 19:30 with time to walk back through Soho to Shaftesbury Avenue or Charing Cross Road for a 20:00 curtain.

Reservations are recommended on Friday and Saturday evenings, and Sunday lunchtimes when the BBC end of Oxford Circus empties out toward Soho. Walk-ins are welcome on weekday early evenings and on the outdoor terrace year-round. For groups of seven or more, please call the restaurant rather than book online — we'll arrange the right table shape and a sensible kitchen pace for the size of the party. Have a look at the menus before you come, or jump straight to the reservations page.