Selin Kiazim: the London chef behind Oklava and modern Turkish Cypriot cooking
Selin Kiazim is a London chef of Turkish Cypriot heritage, best known for Oklava, the restaurant she opened in Shoreditch in 2015 with her business partner Laura Christie (Vice). Its menu gave Turkish Cypriot and Turkish dishes a modern treatment, and its wine list was entirely Turkish (Vice).
For London’s Turkish food scene she matters because she showed that Turkish cooking in this city could go, as one Vice headline put it, “beyond the kebab shop”. She grew up in north London, learned her trade in Peter Gordon’s London kitchens, and wrote a cookbook devoted to Turkish Cypriot food.
Early life and career
Southgate and Cyprus
Kiazim was born and raised in Southgate, north London, by Turkish Cypriot parents and visited Northern Cyprus often as a child (Wikipedia), spending time with her grandparents in the countryside there (Vice). She was not sure at first that cooking was the career for her. She had wanted to be an architect, but changed course after a foundation course in art and design, and earned a Professional Chef’s Diploma at Westminster Kingsway College in 2008 (Wikipedia).
Peter Gordon’s kitchens
While still at college she won international cooking competitions. One prize, from a challenge judged by the chef Peter Gordon, was work experience in New Zealand and a trial at his Marylebone restaurant (Vice). She joined Gordon at The Providores and Tapa Room in 2007 and moved up to a senior role at his restaurant Kopapa (Wikipedia).
A turning point came while she was cooking for Gordon. A Cypriot bulgur wheat köfte (meatball) she updated for Gordon’s menu sold well, and it made her realise how much of Turkish food modern cooking had yet to explore (Vice). Bulgur – cracked, par-cooked wheat – is a staple across Turkey and Cyprus, and the idea behind that dish – familiar Turkish Cypriot flavours given a modern treatment – runs through her later cooking.
Pop-ups and residencies
Before opening her own restaurant she ran pop-ups and then a residency at TripSpace, a converted archway near Regent’s Canal. A positive review from the Times critic Giles Coren helped lead to a later pop-up and to meeting her business partner, Laura Christie (Vice).
Restaurants
Oklava, Shoreditch, London
Kiazim and Christie opened Oklava in Shoreditch, east London, in October 2015 (Wikipedia), on a site with a clay oven, a charcoal grill and an open kitchen (Vice). An oklava is the long, thin rolling pin used in Turkish kitchens to roll out dough for pastry and flatbreads.
She used local, seasonal produce where she could, imported some ingredients, and sometimes cooked with olive oil from her grandparents’ farm in Cyprus (Vice). Time Out’s London listing for Oklava now marks the restaurant as closed.
Kopapa, with Peter Gordon
Before Oklava, Kopapa was where she made her name as part of Peter Gordon’s team.
Cooking style and signature dishes
Kiazim’s food is rooted in Turkish Cypriot cooking. She sees Cypriot food as simpler than mainland Turkish cooking, which she says uses more spices and butter (Vice). Wikipedia describes her style as Turkish Cypriot cuisine with fusion elements – the monkfish below, with its soy and fish sauce, is a good example. Urfa chilli, used in that dressing, is a dark, smoky dried chilli from the city of Şanlıurfa in south-eastern Turkey. Dishes from Oklava’s early menus included:
- Octopus pide – braised, grilled and marinated octopus on pide, the boat-shaped Turkish flatbread.
- Courgette, feta and mint fritters.
- Grilled monkfish with Urfa chilli dressing, with a soy and fish sauce note.
- Lahmacun (thin flatbread with spiced minced meat), imam bayıldı (olive-oil-braised stuffed aubergines) and a spicy lamb köfte lavash.
Awards and recognition
- 2007: winner of the UK–NZ Culinary Challenge (Wikipedia).
- 2017: competed on BBC Two’s Great British Menu, where the brief marked the 140th anniversary of Wimbledon; her dessert was chosen for the banquet.
- 2017: named Best Champion of Turkish Cypriot Culture (female) by the Council of Turkish Cypriot Associations in Britain.
Books, TV and online
Her cookbook, Oklava: Recipes from a Turkish-Cypriot Kitchen, was published in 2017. Octopus acquired world rights to the book, her debut, in 2016; the deal was made by Stephanie Jackson, Octopus’s publishing director (The Bookseller). As the title suggests, it centres on the Turkish Cypriot cooking she grew up with. On television she is best known for Great British Menu in 2017.
Where to eat food like this in London
London has a large Turkish Cypriot community and plenty of places to eat its food. Start with our Turkish Cypriot restaurants and pide and lahmacun listings, and our guide to the best lahmacun and pide in London. North London, where she grew up, has many of them – see our Green Lanes food guide. To cook her kind of food at home, try our lahmacun, imam bayıldı or pide recipes.
- Cyprus Mangal – Turkish meze & fine dining in Victoria & Pimlico
- Cyprus House – Turkish ocakbaşı & grill in Harringay & Green Lanes
See all 2 Turkish Cypriot places in London
Quick facts
- Born: Southgate, London, to Turkish Cypriot parents
- Trained: Westminster Kingsway College (Professional Chef’s Diploma, 2008)
- Worked with: Peter Gordon at The Providores and Tapa Room, and Kopapa
- Restaurant: Oklava, Shoreditch (opened October 2015 with Laura Christie; now listed as closed by Time Out)
- Book: Oklava: Recipes from a Turkish-Cypriot Kitchen (2017)
Further reading
- This London chef is taking Turkish food beyond the kebab shop – Vice
- Selin Kiazim – Wikipedia
- Octopus heads east – The Bookseller
- Oklava – Time Out London
Pictured: Karadeniz pide. Photo: Maksym Kozlenko, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
