Chargal, a Turkish restaurant on Berkeley Street in Mayfair, London W1, opened in December last year. Luxurious Magazine reviewed it and found a strong location and room, but food that did not always match the prices.

The venue

Chargal is the second London venture from restaurateur Serdar Demir, who opened The Mantl in Knightsbridge in 2019. It sits opposite The Ritz and replaced Jeru, a Mediterranean restaurant. The site was extensively refurbished and is now a three-storey space with deep terracotta tones running through the decor.

Luxurious Magazine says it can hold around 300 people at full capacity. The layout is:

  • Private dining areas on the upper floor
  • The main restaurant and bars at street level
  • Soft seating in the basement, where a DJ plays at weekends

A glass-fronted walk-in wine cellar is a feature of the dining room. A bottle of Louis XIII Cognac is on display, with a 10ml serve priced at £105.

The menu

The à la carte menu is extensive and meat heavy, opening with hot and cold mezze. There is also a bar menu of nibbles. Prices reported by Luxurious Magazine include:

  • Mixed meze basket with cacik, muhammara and hummus: £24
  • Chargrilled halloumi with hot honey, sesame, pul biber and cherry: £14
  • Sucuk candies, fried filo tubes filled with spiced beef sausage: £9
  • Sweet potato with kumquat, Damascus rose and smoked almond praline: £22
  • Kuzu Sis, herb-marinated Welsh lamb fillet on flatbread: £39
  • Sides, including gavurdağ salad, cauliflower couscous and hand-cut chips: £9 each
  • Halva candyfloss sundae: £15

Signature cocktails are £18 each. The magazine tried the Old Town, a take on an Old Fashioned, and the Bloom & Blush, made with gin, Campari and lemonade. It felt they lacked some flair for the price, as they came in very simple glassware.

The verdict

Luxurious Magazine singled out the sides as the highlight, and called the lamb superb and beautifully prepared. It found the sweet potato main a little bland and repetitive, though pleasant in texture, and described the baklava as pleasant enough. Service was friendly and attentive and generally of a good standard, apart from a long wait for more bread.

The magazine concluded that Chargal is well suited to a special occasion or a meeting with friends or business contacts. It also said that, at premium prices, the dishes it sampled were quite ordinary and lacked the Mayfair "wow factor", and that the restaurant may need some tweaks to compete with its neighbours.

Chargal is at 11 Berkeley Street, Mayfair, London W1J 8DS.

Photo: No Swan So Fine, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.