Selin Kiazim is a British chef of

Turkish Cypriot Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( tr, Kıbrıs Türkleri or ''Kıbrıslı Türkler''; el, Τουρκοκύπριοι, Tourkokýprioi) are ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,00 ...

heritage who owns and runs the restaurant Oklava in London. In 2017, she was one of the winners of the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

television series

Great British Menu ''Great British Menu'' is a BBC television series in which top British chefs compete for the chance to cook one course of a four-course banquet. Format Series one and two were presented by Jennie Bond, the former BBC Royal correspondent, where ...

Career

Selin Kiazim was brought up in

Southgate, London Southgate is a suburban area of North London, England in the London Borough of Enfield. It is located around north of Charing Cross. The name is derived from being the south gate to Enfield Chase. History Southgate was originally the ''South ...

, by her

immigrant parents. As a child, she would make frequent trips to

Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, ''KKTC''), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the Geography of Cyprus, isl ...

to visit her grandparents, but did not wish to pursue a career in cooking. Kiazim initially wanted to pursue a career as an architect, but changed her mind after the completion of a foundation course in art and design. Instead, she trained in catering at

Westminster Kingsway College Westminster Kingsway College is a large college for further education in central London with centres in King's Cross in Camden, together with Victoria and Soho centres in Westminster. Founded in 2000 and having origins dating back to 1910, the ...

where she earned her Professional Chef’s Diploma in 2008. She began working with chef Peter Gordon after she won the 2007 UK-NZ Culinary Challenge. He initially employed her at his

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...

-based restaurant The Providores and Tapa Room in 2007, before she became

head chef A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads and manages the kitchen and chefs of a restaurant or hotel. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef is ...

at his Kopapa restaurant. After running a series of

pop-up restaurant A pop-up restaurant is a temporary restaurant. These restaurants often operate from a private home, former factory, existing restaurants or similar space, and during festivals. Various other names have been used to describe the concept of settin ...

s and residencies, which received highly positive reviews from

food critic The terms food critic, food writer, and restaurant critic can all be used to describe a writer who analyzes food or restaurants and then publishes the results of their findings. While these terms are not strictly synonymous they are often used int ...

s such as

Giles Coren Giles Robin Patrick Coren (born 29 July 1969) is a British columnist, food writer, and television and radio presenter. He has been a restaurant critic for ''The Times'' newspaper since 2002, and was named Food and Drink Writer of the Year at the ...

, Kiazim opened her own restaurant, Oklava, in October 2015, located in the

Moorgate Moorgate was one of the City of London's northern gates in its defensive wall, the last to be built. The gate took its name from the Moorfields, an area of marshy land that lay immediately north of the wall. The gate was demolished in 1762, b ...

area of London. The restaurant serves Turkish-Cypriot cuisine, with

fusion Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole. Fusion may also refer to: Science and technology Physics *Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...

elements and features a completely Turkish wine list. In 2017, she competed in the

television series ''

'' to create a dish to celebrate 140 years of

The Championships, Wimbledon The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is play ...

. After beating two other chefs in the qualifying round, she competed in the final. However, in the initial round, her dessert scored the lowest mark, resulting in her making an entirely new dish for the final round. Kiazim made it to the last two chefs for the main course, but was not selected, however, her dessert course was chosen in the final as a banquet dish. She released her first

cook book A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cou ...

that year, entitled ''Oklava: Recipes from a Turkish-Cypriot Kitchen''. The Council of Turkish Cypriot Associations in Britain named her the Best Champion of Turkish Cypriot Culture 2017 (female).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiazim, Selin Living people People from Southgate, London Women chefs British people of Turkish Cypriot descent British cookbook writers Year of birth missing (living people) Women cookbook writers