12th November 2024
Selin Kiazim, co-founder of modern Turkish restaurant Oklava, which ran for seven years in London’s Shoreditch, has opened a restaurant in Amsterdam.
The London-born chef, a Great British Menu winner in 2017, has opened Esra with partner and co-founder Steph de Goeijen, who previously worked in front-of-house and restaurant management roles for Kiazim.
Esra offers an “evolving menu shaped by Selin’s Turkish-Cypriot heritage and seasonal ingredients from local Dutch suppliers, alongside wine from Turkey and the Mediterranean”.
Kiazim, who founded and operated Oklava with Laura Foster from 2015 to 2023, relocated to the Dutch capital in 2020. She was also behind Turkish plates restaurant Kyseri in Camden, which was replaced by Oklava Bakery & Wine in 2019, which, in turn, closed last year. Having previously worked under Peter Gordon at his The Providores and Tapa Room and Kopapa restaurants, Kiazim has also written two cookbooks, Oklava and Three.