Restaurant review: Sariyer Balik
Sariyer Balik, 56 Green Lanes N16 9NH. 020 7275 7681
Hackney is known as a centre for Turkish cuisine: you can arguably find more great kebabs and grilled meat within walking distance of Dalston Junction than you can anywhere else in the capital. But for whatever reason, our love of food from this part of the world sometimes seems to stop at the water’s edge. Mention fish, and Turkey perhaps wouldn’t be the first country to spring to mind. Barbecued fish, and it’s most likely to be…Australia?
In a small, unprepossessing restaurant at the southern end of Green Lanes, however, they’re doing their best to change perceptions. When we visited Sariyer Balik, the chilly air and the snow covering the streets outside created an atmosphere of fresh simplicity, alongside a hearty appetite. Thankfully, the food inside was more than a match for both.
Turkey’s Mediterranean coast looks down towards Africa in the south, stretching up to Istanbul (and Sariyer, the fishing district after which this restaurant is named) in the north. With the sea playing such a large part in the country’s life, you’d expect a certain degree of piscine expertise – and so it proves.
Sariyer Balik shares the powerful, unbeatable philosophy of cooking good ingredients simply with its meat-focused cousins elsewhere in the borough. Lemon, salad and bread (along with a good bottle of house white, £15) were the only accompaniment needed for our main dishes (sea bass and bream, £11 each).
It’s ironic that many vegetarians shun meat, while happily tucking in to a variety of waterborne delicacies. Both the name and the preparation disguise, say, beef from its ultimate source. But with a whole fish, there’s no escaping the reality – it all but gazes up wistfully as you wield the knife and fork.
So I was almost tempted to pity the bass and bream laid out before us, but resisted. They had, after all, been decisively toasted – but not too much. Beneath the crisp, charred skin, the soft, but still firm flesh fell away perfectly from the bone. The smoke of the grill added depth to the flavour without detracting from the overall lightness – with the sea bass, for me, edging it on points. Other options include mackerel, or salmon and tuna fillets – but in every case, it’s the simplicity that’s key.
The starters are a different matter. There’s a comprehensive range of cold mezes (all £3-£3.50) such as Russian salad, a spicy tomato-based ezme salad, fried courgettes in yoghurt and garlic, and a mucver (courgette and dill fritter). It’s also definitely worth sampling some of the hot mezes. Highlights include baby prawns in a spicy tomato sauce (£6.50), beer battered deep fried mussels (£5.00), and vodka-marinated, milk-coated deep fried squid (£6.00).
The decor, too, is elaborate. Seeming to acknowledge the inherent comic potential of aquatic life forms, the roof and walls are adorned with a dense blend of hanging nets and stuffed fish (that’s by a taxidermist, not a chef), creating a quirky, slightly surreal mood.
This is a friendly, family run restaurant with room downstairs to accommodate groups too large for the limited space on the ground floor. The prices are very reasonable and a visit is thoroughly recommended.
Sariyer Balik
56 Green Lanes
N16 9NH
020 7275 7681
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