Yeni Umut 2000

Excellent kebabs we had cop sis and lamb ribs which came with salad. It was a lot of meat but it was cooked to perfection. Staff friendly and polite, service quick. Functional and clean environment. I disagree with some reviews I read. I almost didn’t come here due to some negative reviews. Try for yourself and see.

Small family Turkish delight…
Visit this restaurant every year, lovely grilled lamb and chicken presented as a feast.
Place is small, but the food makes up for it.
Must visit if you are in the area.

This place does AMAZING kebabs!
I’ve tried the chicken Shish and the chunks of lamb, but I always go back to the Kofte (minced lamb). Delicately spiced, and not too hot, a bargin at £6.
I’ve never eaten in the restaurant, but its always busy when I go to collect. I recommend rining ahead to avoid having to wait by the BBQ for too long!

Among the mish-​mash of Turkish social clubs, corner shops and restaurants in this part of town, Umut 2000, sadly, will remain pretty anonymous in its present state. Many moons ago, like Marco Polo in search of the fabled kingdom of Prester John, I set out for Dalston with the intention of finding a legendary Turkish grill spot a friend had told me about. Incapable of whittling an address or a name from the dark pool of my memory, I settled on Umut 2000 on dingy Crossway as the most likely candidate.
There’s nothing wrong with the place. Indeed, it’s usually filled with Turks, which can’t be a bad sign. I had a decent lamb kefta, my partner had grilled aubergine, we shared houmous with pitta, and, predictably, were also subjected to another big plate of warmed pitta with two side salads, gratis. So by the time the last houmous had been scraped from our plates, we were stuffed to the gills, and that for around a tenner each excluding beers (Efes).
But the food wasn’t the most memorable part of the meal. Umut 2000 has a big charcoal grill on which much of the food is cooked. At some point during dinner, a gent sitting at the table directly in front of the grill got showered with enough red-​hot rocks of charcoal to set his puffa jacket alight. Cue lots of Anatolian shrieking, cursing and patting with wet tea towels. Very funny, particularly as no-​one was hurt and it wasn’t us who went on fire.
The other thing I remember about Umut was the white, thick-​looking drink that all the yokels seemed to be knocking back at the end of their meals. Thinking myself the culinary maverick, and presuming internally it to be the Dardanelles’ answer to a mango lassi, I ordered one using the normal complete newbie method: point’n’grunt. Alas, the taste experience I then had was less like that sweet and cool Indian digestif, and more like a forced-​gulping down of two liquidised blocks of feta cheese. This on top of an already-​struggling belly full of lamb kebap. What made it worse was the whole restaurant was looking at me in eager anticipation of my reaction.
I falteringly feigned delight and staggered home, swearing a curse on Yeni Umut 2000, whoever he was. The restaurant I had been looking for turned out to be the excellent Mangal 1. It’s very close if you’re in the area…