Borek in the UK: what it is, how to order it, where to find it
Quick answer
Börek is layered filo pastry filled with cheese, spinach, minced meat or potato, baked or fried, and eaten hot at breakfast, as a snack or as a meze. It comes in dozens of shapes: rolled cigars, coiled spirals, flat trays cut into squares, and the pleated water börek that is boiled before baking. In the UK it is sold by the slice from Turkish bakeries and as sigara böreği, the fried cigars, on almost every restaurant menu.
Calories and nutrition
- Calories
- 430
- Protein
- 14 g
- Carbs
- 36 g
- Fat
- 26 g
- Salt
- 1.6 g
350–520 kcal
Portion: One bakery slice of cheese börek, about 150 g.
Sigara böreği are about 90 kcal each; su böreği is richer, around 500 per slice.
Estimates for a typical portion, based on standard UK and USDA food composition data. Actual values depend on the recipe and the restaurant.
What börek is
The base is yufka, a sheet of thin unleavened pastry like filo but slightly thicker, layered with a filling and brushed with a mixture of oil, yoghurt and egg that keeps the layers soft rather than shattering. The classic filling is white cheese with parsley; spinach and cheese, spiced minced beef, and potato follow. The shapes are regional and each has a name. Sigara böreği are cigars rolled around cheese and deep-fried. Kol böreği is a long roll coiled into a spiral. Tepsi böreği is a flat tray, layered and cut into squares, the everyday bakery börek. Su böreği, water börek, is made from fresh pasta-like sheets boiled before layering and is the richest, softest and hardest to make.
Bakery börek versus restaurant börek
Turkish bakeries sell tray börek by the slice in the morning, with tea, and it should be eaten within hours; reheated börek loses its layers. Restaurants serve sigara böreği as a starter, four or five fried cigars with lemon, and occasionally su böreği as a special. The bakery version is the better test of skill, because a tray börek has nowhere to hide: too much oil and it is greasy, too little and it is dry, and the layers must stay distinct.
How to judge it
Bakery börek should be golden on top, soft and layered inside, with cheese that is salty but not overwhelming, and it should not leave oil on the paper. Sigara böreği should be crisp and hot with cheese that has melted, not gone rubbery; if they arrive lukewarm they were fried earlier. Su böreği should be soft enough to cut with a fork and taste mainly of butter and cheese. Freshness is everything, and the best bakeries make trays through the morning.
Where in the UK it is done well
Turkish bakeries and cafés in North London, Enfield and Edmonton bake börek daily, and most kahvaltı houses serve it. Outside London, the bakeries of Manchester and Birmingham have caught up. The ranking below counts Turkish businesses in our directory whose name signals a bakery, börek or café.
How to order it
At a bakery, ask for 'peynirli' (cheese) or 'ıspanaklı' (spinach) by the slice and eat it warm with tea. In a restaurant, sigara böreği is the reliable starter. If su böreği is on the menu, order it; few places make it.
Where it's done well
UK councils with the most borek specialists, by restaurant name, in our directory.
Restaurants near you
Search by postcode or use your location to find restaurants likely to serve borek near you.
Make it at home
Serves 6 · 60 min
Ingredients
- 1 packet of filo pastry, about 12 sheets
- 250 g feta or Turkish white cheese, crumbled
- a large handful of flat parsley, chopped
- 2 eggs
- 150 ml natural yoghurt
- 100 ml sunflower oil or melted butter
- 100 ml milk
- sesame or nigella seeds to finish
Method
- Mix the cheese and parsley. Beat one egg with the yoghurt, oil and milk to make the brushing liquid.
- Oil a 30 by 20 cm tin. Lay in two sheets of filo, brush generously, and repeat until half the sheets are used.
- Spread the cheese filling evenly, then layer the remaining sheets, brushing each pair.
- Beat the second egg and brush the top; scatter seeds. Cut into squares before baking.
- Bake at 180°C for 35 to 40 minutes until golden. Rest ten minutes before serving.
The yoghurt and oil mixture between the layers is what makes börek soft rather than crisp like baklava; do not skip it.