Palmers Green, London N13
Andreas still makes the sheftalia at seven every morning. Eleni runs the kitchen. Hüseyin has been on the foukou since 1998, and he would like you to know the coals are nearly ready.
Tuesday to Sunday. Closed Mondays.
A family taverna on Green Lanes since 1991. One charcoal grill, one kitchen, and the dishes three generations of one Cypriot family actually cook.
The grill
Hüseyin lights the charcoal every afternoon at four and does not put a skewer near it until the flames have died back and the coals have gone grey at the edges. He checks by holding his palm over the bed and counting. The motor turns the skewers; he moves them along the trough as the heat shifts, bigger pieces in the middle, sheftalia at the ends where it is gentler. Lumpwood charcoal only. No gas, no briquettes.
Three seconds and you have to move your hand. That is when it is ready.
Cannot decide?
Tell us how many of you there are and we will show you what arrives, round by round, and what it costs. Five rounds, about two and a half hours, and nobody has to choose.
Since 1991
Before it was Foukou it was Andreas Charcoal Grill: six stools, one grill carried back from Limassol in pieces, and a Friday queue past the bus stop. Andreas opened it in June 1991. Thirty-five years later his daughter runs the kitchen, his wife makes every dessert, and he still rolls the sheftalia before anyone else is in.
Noon to 4pm. Dips and salad for the table, then kleftiko, souvla or gemista, then one of Maria's desserts. Three courses £32, under-12s £14.
Every Sunday, noon to 4pm.
Ring 020 7946 0131 and collect from the takeaway window. Sheftalia pittas, grill boxes, and meze boxes for two or four. At weekends, window boxes from noon until they run out.
Collection only. No delivery.
Thirty at one long table. Christenings, name days, birthdays, work dinners, lunches after a funeral. No room fee, just a minimum spend.
Seats 30, or 40 standing.
Journal
About four hundred on a Saturday, all rolled by one man before the lunch team arrives. Eleni on pork shoulder, caul fat, the cinnamon argument, and why the grill has to be patient.
My dad queued outside the old takeaway every Friday in the nineties, usually with me on his shoulders. I took him for his seventieth last month. He ate the sheftalia, went quiet for a bit, and said it was exactly the same. From him, that is a rave.
I'm coeliac, so eating out usually means plain chicken and hoping. Here the waiter told me straight away that the chips share a fryer, brought roast potatoes instead, and the dips came with veg sticks without me asking twice. That never happens.
PriyaSouthgate
Hüseyin grills şeftali the way my uncle did in Lefkoşa. Andreas calls them sheftalia. Nobody at our table argues about the name as long as more keep coming.
AylinEdmonton
Find us
A few minutes' walk from Palmers Green station, on the west side of Green Lanes, north of the Triangle. The 329 stops almost outside.
| Day | Dining room |
|---|---|
| TuesdayToday | 5pm to 10.30pm |
| WednesdayToday | 5pm to 10.30pm |
| ThursdayToday | 5pm to 10.30pm |
| FridayToday | Noon to 3pm, then 5pm to 11pm |
| SaturdayToday | Noon to 11pm |
| SundayToday | Noon to 9pm |
Vouchers from £20, or the full meze for two. Sent by email today or on the day you choose, or posted as a card.
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