Having a ball at Testi

In the same way that White Hunters used to be plagued by rumours of an elephants' graveyard where giant tusks litter the ground, we food writers get to hear our share of tantalising tales.

And sometimes curiosity compels a prompt follow-up. 'Have you been to that restaurant in Stoke Newington,' said the knowledgeable chum, 'the one that's called Testi because it specialises in testicles?'. Pausing only to hail a cab, it was away to the hinterland of Stokey.

Testi is a large and bustling Turkish restaurant. At the centre of the dining room is the obligatory open grill and the design theme is frills, rustic implements, terracotta coloured plaster work, and a red ceiling splattered with fine white squiggles. Think Changing Rooms meets tacky holiday souvenirs. The staff manage to be both efficient and friendly, prices are low and the grill chef is significantly gifted. So far, so good.

The starters are very sound. Hummus is nutty and smooth, ali nazik is a dish of aubergine in creamy yoghurt, kisir is stunning - bulghur wheat, plus very finely chopped tomatoes and peppers, it's like a cold, savoury, fresh-tasting, herbal couscous. The sucuk izgara is grilled Turkish sausage, discs of pleasantly musty-spicy sausage, very distinctive.

Unless you are visiting on a Tuesday, the baker's night off, lahmacun (thin and savoury kind-of-pizzas) make a good starter. The hot bread is always wonderful. For a main course you should order them. They are billed on the menu as 'Thesticals' - koc yumurtasi - and to avoid confusion subtitled 'lamb testicles marinated and char-grilled'.

They are delicious. A soft texture, crisp outside yielding within, smoky from the grill. And while you are at it, the grilled kidneys are good, the liver is good, and the grilled quail is good. The kaburga (lamb spare ribs) is outstanding - chewy, crispy, and salty all at the same time.

So many of the Turkish ocakbasi restaurants have tamed their menus to suit Brit squeamishness and it is rare to find these bits and pieces on the menu, and rarer still to find that they are available - in some mysterious fashion restaurants often seem to have 'just run out'.

But if you cannot bring yourself to grab dinner by the thesticals, the menu lists all the old favourites - shish kebab, chicken wings, lamb chops. And all the grills here come with some very fine accompaniments, including a dish of charred sweet onions with a sauce made from sumac and lemon juice.

There is something about offal that really lends itself to simple charcoal grilling, and for the uninitiated there's a surprise - when a large platter of what the Americans call 'variety meats' turns up, each morsel is tastier than the last.

The kidney would be overcooked by French standards but it is undeniably good to eat, and in a blindfold test even the pickiest eater would enjoy the 'lambs fry' (that's our own Brit euphemism for thesticals), a splendid texture and rich buttery flavour.