Kismet, London SE1: ‘The sort of beans that make you want to move to the sun’ – restaurant review

The first genuinely cool thing to have happened in Borough Market for ages

A Turkish-Cypriot meyhane , which translates roughly as “wine house”, has slotted in upstairs at the Globe Tavern in Borough Market , south London. Any cab driver worth his salt will bend your ear over the fact that this is “where Bridget Jones lives”, which might be a bit confusing if you’ve booked in to eat kuzu şiş (lamb neck kebabs) and to knock back a couple of rakis with a fermented turnip juice chaser.

That Bridget Jones trivia, by the way, is completely true: the upstairs space at the Globe was used as the heroine’s gaff in that famous film franchise. Now, however, when you climb the staircase up to Kismet , an old, slightly eerie and flickering TV by the restaurant entrance begins to tell a very different tale. This is chef Keiran Mustafa ’s very personal tribute to his family’s homeland and the community they built in London. Mustafa was the opening head chef at BiBi, to my mind one of the best restaurants in London , and before that he worked at industry stalwarts Chez Bruce and the Harwood Arms .

The dining space is split into two rooms, all dark wood and white tablecloths, with lace over the windows and walls the colour of a 70-a-day Rothmans smoker’s lounge. Those walls are also festooned with Mustafa’s childhood photos, including one of his mum as a waitress in a long-gone restaurant.

The menu, meanwhile, is soothing, filling and hearty, with all manner of Turkish favourites. There’s girit ezme , or white cheese with walnut, dill and mint, and sigara boregi (feta rolled up in yufka pastry and deep-fried). There’s a grill, too, of course, blasting out the fragrant smells of beef and lamb köfte and tavuk şiş (chicken thigh kebab). The cooking leans heavily, if not decadently, on lashings of strained yoghurt, chilli butter, good olive oil and tahini – six of the nine cold meze are built on one or other of them. But don’t expect a great deal of spicy heat because this is more about comfort and coddling. Kick back with a basket of warm, pillowy bread that’s begging to be pulled through some atom (strained yoghurt) in a red pool of chilli butter.

In fact, that very humble-sounding atom with bread might well be one of the best things being served anywhere in Borough Market right now. I ate two whole baskets to myself, which finally killed off my ambition to be Victoria’s Secret’s most elderly thong model. Damn it, give me warm carbs. We ate monkfish straight off the mangal, which at £30 is the most expensive dish on the menu (the meze start at £6). To begin with, I was a little concerned that we’d never finish it and it would be a huge waste of fish, but no, it’s properly great: expertly grilled, succulent, and served with yet more yoghurt and chilli butter. The lamb neck kuzu şiş was likewise incredibly juicy, and we ate it with hand-cut fried potatoes that were unmistakably shallow-fried – proper staying-at-your-gran’s-house chips. Braised green beans were soft but fibrous, beautifully seasoned and the sort of beans that make you want to sell your house and move to the sun whenever you’re on holiday.