This January Oklava Bakery + Wine, the new concept from Selin Kiazim and Laura Christie will open in Fitzrovia on the site of the pair’s former restaurant Kyseri. Taking over from Kyseri, where Anatolian cuisine was reinterpreted by Selin, along with Black Sea region wines sourced by Laura, the new Oklava Bakery + Wine is an evolution of the pair’s three existing concepts. Borrowing popular elements from Kyseri, the original Oklava in Shoreditch and Oklava at Arcade, Selin will also be bringing new dishes and unique styles of baking to the forefront. Born of Selin’s passion for Turkish baking, featuring recipes passed down from her grandmother, the all-day bakery will also serve a daily changing pasta including their much-loved Manti (Turkish pasta) such as Beef & Sour Cherry, and Pide specials including the Black Sea Cheese & Butter Pide from Arcade.
Oklava Bakery + Wine will be open all day, serving lunch and dinner, and, for the first time, breakfast and Saturday brunch, alongside a vast array of baked goods, influenced by Selin’s Turkish-Cypriot
heritage. Examples include Baharat Spiced Bread, a recipe handed down from Selin’s Grandmother, Simit – a circular bagel shaped bread topped with sesame seeds; a changing Daily Börek – a baked filled pastry made with thin flaky dough; Poğaça – a brioche type bun; Tahinli – a thin pastry with tahini and sugar and Pilavuna – a pastry with cheese, mint and sultanas. As-well as an array of sweet pastries, Selin will be baking daily Hellimli – bread similar to focaccia, Zeytinli – an olive version of the Hellimi loaf, plus a rotating menu of specials.
The new breakfast offering will be available during the week from 8am, including the day’s Bread Selection with Medjool Date Butter; Smoked Bacon or Hellim & Medjool Date Butter Toastie; Bazlama, Sheep’s Milk Feta, Salted Butter, Mulberry Molasses & Thyme. A Turkish Breakfast will be available during the week and an extended version will be available for brunch on Saturdays between 10am-3pm, which will include Baked Goods, Menemen, Fried Eggs and Pastirma, Cucumber, Tomato, Olives, Honey-Kaymak, Preserves, Medjool Date Butter, Muhammara & Seasonal Fruits. Other brunch dishes will include Whipped Feta on Toast, Poached Fruits & Rosemary Brown Butter; Menemen – Scrambled Eggs with Peppers, Tomatoes & Chilli and Potatoes, Broken Eggs & House-Cured Pastirma.
There will also be a selection of breakfast and lunch dishes available for takeaway, as well as the breads and pastries, and an online pre-order service for bakery products.
Oklava Bakery + Wine will take reservations for lunch and dinner, serving new dishes such as the Tepsi Kebab – a beautiful combination of spiced beef and lamb baked kofte, yogurt and brown butter, with house bread and chopped salad. There will also be an extensive snacks menu available at lunch and dinner including Lamb Bacon Toast, Garlic, Oregano & Lemon, Kumru - Toasted Chickpea Sourdough & Grilled Cheese and Mücver - Potato, Pastirma & Cheese Fritters.
Interiors will be casual, cosy, compact, with a working kitchen and bakery at the front of the room with lavishly displayed baked goods. There will also be a retail and takeaway section selling hot and cold drinks, wine, bread, pastries, sandwiches and salads, plus store cupboard items such as Baharat Spice, Candied Fruits and Olive Oil. Oklava Bakery + Wine branded tote bags and reusable coffee cups will also be for sale in the bakery. The kitchen has been redesigned to fit a large deck oven plus a cool room, for the vast amount of overnight dough proving will be installed. To raise capital for changes to the site, the duo will launch a Kickstarter campaign on 4th December which aims to reach £10,000 (link here www.kickstarter.com/projects/oklava/oklava-bakery-wine-welcome-to-the-family)
The wine list by wine expert and co-owner Laura Christie will showcase wines from Turkey, Armenia, Lebanon, Georgia and Greece, focusing on small, regional producers. All wines are available by the glass and include a crisp and aromatic Arcadia Pinot Gris (Turkey), an orange wine Vita Vinea Kisi (Georgia), discovered by Christie on a visit to the Dakishvili Vineyards and a low invention Pasaeli, 6N Karasakiz Merlot (Turkey), which champions indigenous grapes and matches the profile of Selin’s cooking.
