Mediterranean food in North London: what to eat at SoBha

North London eats well, but it is still easy to crave Mediterranean food that tastes of lemon, charcoal and olive oil rather than a generic “healthy bowl”. SoBha, at 179 Archway Road, Highgate N6 5BN, cooks that food with a Turkish kitchen behind it.

What counts as Mediterranean food here

“Mediterranean” on a Highgate menu should mean more than a salad with feta. On our table it includes:

• Grilled sea bass and salmon with lemon butter
• King prawn in tomato sauce
• Coban salad — tomato, cucumber, onion, parsley, olive oil
• Roasted vegetables with couscous and yoghurt
• Halloumi, olives, and mezze that belong as much to the eastern Mediterranean as to Anatolia

Those plates sit next to Turkish cuisine — adana, shish, kofte — so a table can mix fish and kebab without feeling like two restaurants.

Mediterranean restaurant Highgate: who it is for

• Couples who want grilled fish and a bottle of white or Turkish rosé
• Families who need a kids’ plate plus proper mezze
• Neighbours in Archway, Crouch End and Muswell Hill who want Mediterranean food without going into central London
• Anyone searching “Mediterranean restaurant near me” from N6

Olive oil cooking, not heavy cream

A lot of so-called Mediterranean food in the UK hides under cream sauces. Turkish-Mediterranean cooking at SoBha prefers:

• charcoal and pan heat
• tomato, pepper, garlic, chilli
• yoghurt as a cool contrast
• herbs instead of sweetness

That is why the vegetarian plates — stuffed aubergine, spinach and feta, falafel and hummus — still feel like Mediterranean food, not an afterthought.

Pairing Mediterranean dishes with Turkish mezze

A good North London order:

1. Hummus, coban salad, halloumi
2. Sea bass or mixed fish grill or chicken shish
3. Baklava to share

Browse the full Mediterranean and Turkish menu, then reserve if you are coming on a Friday or Saturday.

Location, again

We are not a concept in a basement. We are a dining room on Archway Road, postcode N6 5BN, serving Highgate and Archway. If your question is “where is Mediterranean food in North London that also does a serious kebab?”, the answer is this stretch of road.

Come for the fish. Stay for the grill. Take baklava home in your head.