Kebabs and mezze – that’s what almost all Turkish restaurants in the UK specialise in. And there’s nothing wrong with that; while there are some questionable offerings usually doled out from midnight onwards to feed the drunken masses, a good shish or array of little hot and cold Middle Eastern dishes can be some of the tastiest fodder out there. But for Selin Kiazim, the last thing she wanted when she started cooking ‘modern Turkish’ was for people to come expecting great hunks of barbecued meat with the odd garnish.
‘I wasn’t sure what to call my food,’ she says, as we talk in her Shoreditch-based restaurant Oklava. ‘I eventually settled on modern Turkish, but even then I was worried everyone would think I was combining molecular gastronomy with kebabs or something. Even within the restaurant we have little Turkish touches with the décor, but there was no way we were going to make it look like a Turkish restaurant. I wanted it to fit in with London.’
Perhaps that’s why Selin decided to release a cookbook (Oklava: Recipes from a Turkish-Cypriot Kitchen) this year. Her take on Turkish (and Cypriot) cuisine is full of familiarity, but the dishes certainly take the flavours of the country to the next level. Think Cuttlefish with baharat, peas and samphire or Chicken and garlic köfte pide with yoghurt, walnuts and feta. Certainly different to the average kebab. And it’s all thanks to three major influences in Selin’s life – her family, her training and her mentor, Peter Gordon.