Little Istanbul

Turkish London stretches through Dalston and Stoke Newington into Haringey, with hot spots like the 24-hour Dogin Gida Bazaar grocery on Kingsland Road, and Efe-Express Ticaret, a Turkish music store, a little further north. But Green Lanes is the epicentre for the 200,000 Turkish speakers - Cypriots, Turks and Kurds - in London (the majority of whom arrived after 1980's military coup), with its array of bars, jewellers, restaurants, hairdressers, beauty salons and bakeries.

It's possible to wander the streets without seeing a sign in English. "It's more of a rural atmosphere, rather than that of large cities like Ankara or Istanbul," reckons Nilgun Ergok, president of the Turkish Associations in Britain. "You can pick up the Turkish papers, play a game of cards, get a tea or coffee." At least, you can if you're a man; the quintessential Turkish establishment is the 'members only' (ie men only) club, usually affiliated to football clubs, where men smoke, drink and watch Turkish soap operas on the blaring TV.

Turkish cuisine reaches its apex at Sariyer Balik. Properly kilim-hung and kitsch-adorned, you can sample the delights of midye tava, iskender kebap, and, of course, a splash of raki. A little bit of the Bosphorus in Green Lanes? Strange but true.