Turkish restaurants open late near me
Turkish restaurants and kebab shops near you that stay open late. Turkish kitchens keep later hours than most: the doner spit turns until it runs out, and the ocakbaşı houses serve past midnight at weekends.
Find them near you
Search by postcode or use your location to find results near you.
How late Turkish restaurants stay open
Most Turkish kebab shops in the UK are open until midnight on weekdays and one or two in the morning on Fridays and Saturdays; a few in North London and city centres run until three or four. Ocakbaşı grill houses typically take last orders between eleven and midnight, later at weekends. Kahvaltı houses and bakeries close early. In Turkey the late-night trade is institutional, with soup kitchens and kokoreç stalls serving until dawn, and the same instinct runs through the UK trade.
What is good late
Doner, because the spit is already turning and shaving it to order is the whole job. Lahmacun and pide if the oven is still hot. Lentil soup, which many kebab shops keep on all night and which is the best thing to eat at one in the morning. Grilled meat if there is a charcoal grill still lit; ask, because many shops let the coals die after eleven. Avoid anything fried late; the oil has been on all day.
How we list these
Opening hours are not yet in our data, so this page lists kebab shops, doner counters and grill houses by name, which are the businesses that keep late hours. Check the shop's own listing or phone before travelling after midnight; hours change and we will add verified opening times as we collect them.
Late-night etiquette
Cash still helps in a few of the older shops. Order at the counter, pay when you order, and do not expect table service after midnight. The queue of taxi drivers outside is the guide to which shop is worth it.
Where to find them
UK councils with the most matches in our directory.
Related dishes
- 01Doner Kebab
Doner kebab is seasoned lamb, beef or chicken stacked on a vertical spit, roasted slowly and shaved into thin strips. In the UK it is sold two ways: the takeaway version in pitta or a wrap after 11pm, and the restaurant version served on rice, bread or with yoghurt and tomato sauce as an iskender. The two have little in common beyond the spit, and knowing which one you want is the whole trick to ordering well.
- 02Tantuni
Tantuni is finely chopped beef or lamb stir-fried on a large flat griddle with a little oil and water, seasoned with pepper and wrapped in a thin lavash bread with tomato, onion, parsley and sumac. It comes from Mersin on the Mediterranean coast, where it is street food eaten standing up, and it has arrived in the UK in the last decade through a handful of specialist tantuni shops in North London and Manchester.
- 03Kokoreç
Kokoreç is lamb intestines wrapped tightly around seasoned sweetbreads and offal, roasted on a horizontal spit over charcoal, then chopped with tomato, pepper and oregano on a griddle and served in bread. It is Turkey's most divisive street food and, to those who love it, the best thing sold after midnight. It is rare in the UK because of the offal, but a few North London grill houses and street stalls make it, and it has a devoted following.
- 04Kumpir
Kumpir is a very large baked potato, its flesh mashed inside the skin with butter and cheese, then loaded with a choice of toppings: olives, sweetcorn, pickles, Russian salad, sausage, couscous, ketchup and mayonnaise. It is the street food of Ortaköy on the Bosphorus, where a row of stalls compete on toppings, and it has become popular in the UK through Turkish cafés and food markets.