Most restaurants are named after a person, a street or a pun. KID is named after its main event: a goat. Specifically a young one, cooked overnight with fig leaf and freekeh, and the reason Soho has a new reservation worth fighting for.
Dalston to Frith Street
Sertaç Dirik made his name at Mangal II, his family's Dalston restaurant, which he helped turn into one of the capital's most forward-thinking Turkish kitchens, and he has years in Copenhagen kitchens behind him too. KID is his first restaurant of his own, built with David Carter, the restaurateur behind Smokestak, Manteca, Oma and Agora, after the pair travelled through Anatolia together. For Carter it is a first venture in the West End, and Dirik's menu leans into Central Anatolian dishes, with a more homely register than Mangal II and seasonal British produce doing the heavy lifting.
Kid is part of a wave of Turkish openings in London built around meze and grilled meats.
Dark brick and candlelight
The room is a Victorian corner building, and the first rule is the door: use the Bateman Street entrance, not the Frith Street windows, which are not doors. Inside, dark brick wraps the walls and turns corners, back-lit urns glow, and the whole place glows low and amber. There are two dining rooms, the main one earthy, the smaller one clubbier and looking onto Frith Street, plus counter seats around the open kitchen, where a charcoal grill and wood-fired oven do the work. Banquettes are finished in hand-stitched fabric the colour of burnt terracotta, candles sit on the tables, and a separate wine room is set aside for private dining.
It suits a date who likes to watch the grill, a group that likes to pass plates, and anyone who thinks Soho dining rooms are generally too bright.
What to order
Start small. Thick sucuk sausage comes with grilled peach, and the smoked aubergine dip comes swirled through garlic yoghurt with crisp grains and shoestring fries; the borek is large and filled with beyaz peynir; the içli köfte puts slow-braised aged beef, roasted onions and grape molasses inside a bulgur shell. Order pide to scoop with, in the manner of Mangal II. Hummus with fried chickpeas, muhammara with walnuts and taramasalata with Roscoff onion and fennel are on the meze list, too.
From the fire, take the sweetbread skewers with charred onions, or the lamb belly with a grilled onion salad, or the Galata mackerel, inspired by Istanbul's mackerel wrap and served over a shredded salad. Then the main event: the kid goat shoulder, with fig leaf, freekeh, chickpeas, yoghurt and sharp pickled vegetables on the side. Everything else is a very good supporting cast. Save room for the baklava threaded with cherry or the mint and mastic ice cream.
Here is the honest caveat. The goat is hard to source, with one British farm supplying the kitchen, and Carter worries about running out. Some of the menu may also need a translation from staff.
What to drink
The wine list leans to Turkey and its neighbours, and a bottle arrives with the cork. Cocktails run Turkish: the Gemlik Martini with black olive and black pepper, the Rize Sazerac with black tea and mastic. Raki is there for anyone with a long dinner ahead.
Come hungry, and ask about the goat before the kitchen runs out.
- The vibe
- Brick, candles and a charcoal grill; use the Bateman Street door.
- The food
- Smoked aubergine dip, sweetbread skewers, then the overnight kid goat.
- The drink
- Turkish wines, a Gemlik Martini or a Rize Sazerac.
- A tip
- Sit at the counter around the open kitchen, and ask about the goat early.
