A courthouse across the road, a tahini spiral on the counter and the working day not yet properly begun. Leydi opened on 4 September 2024 on the ground floor of Hyde London City, 15 Old Bailey, and its pitch to the Square Mile is simple: börek and Turkish breakfast from seven, then carry on until the evening.
Oklava's founder, a hotel group and a very long menu
The kitchen is directed by Selin Kiazim, one of London's best-known interpreters of Turkish and Cypriot cooking. She started out cooking under Peter Gordon at The Providores in Marylebone, then opened Oklava in Shoreditch in 2015 alongside Laura Christie, her business partner, and was also behind Kyseri. She is now based mostly in Amsterdam, so here she is chef consultant, working with Carte Blanched, the in-house restaurant team at Ennismore. The daily kitchen belongs to Halil Simsek, her head chef at Oklava, who has also cooked in Istanbul. This is the largest room Kiazim has opened, and the menu matches: breads, meze, small and large plates, then the mangal.
“The City finally has somewhere worth getting up early for.”
The room
Think dusty pink, white tablecloths, a gallery wall and warm globe lights, with a floating lampshade doing the showing off. Studio Moren worked with Carte Blanched, taking a Victorian photographic journal of the Middle East as one reference, which suits a Grade II-listed hotel of 1874: trefoil arches, blush plaster, warm timber and rattan banquettes. The two tables for four are the best seats, while places near the open kitchen let you see the flames from the floor. The restaurant is entered directly from the street, and at the front Leydi in the Window sells börek and coffee to take away on weekdays. Downstairs, Black Lacquer is the hotel's Tokyo-inspired record bar, for afterwards.
What to order
Start with the baked claypot hummus under pastirma brown butter. It comes to the table bubbling, so give it a few minutes, and it is a must-order. Follow with the börek, crisp filo around sheep's milk feta, leeks and truffle honey, which shows off the pastry hand Kiazim is known for. The atom, a garlicky yoghurt dip with urfa chilli oil, is the one to drag bread through, and the sucuk lavash roll with egg is the breakfast pick.
Then the fire. The lamb loin adana off the mangal is a highlight, the lamb Cornish and butchered in-house, and a spoonful of house döner can be added to any kebab. The islak burger, a bun of spiced köfte, beef and lamb, soaked in garlic and tomato sauce, is very good and extremely messy. Dayboat fish with a semolina crust and a chicken thigh shish with fenugreek yoghurt and dripping pide sit alongside. End on Kiazim's künefe, kadayif pastry with pistachio, kaymak and orange blossom syrup.
The honest hedge: the chicken shish is short on smoky char, other kebabs are similarly flat, service can be uneven, and the safest plan is to stick to meze and puddings. The grill is still the draw, though dishes arrive when ready and the menu is big enough to cause indecision. Read it online first, then order in stages.
Drinks
The Lion's Milk Spritz mixes raki with elderflower liqueur, sparkling wine and coriander seed; lion's milk is the Turkish nickname for raki, after the way it turns cloudy when water goes in. Bartender Kevin Patnode leans towards spice and smoke, and the very cold Sultaniye, with rum, apricot, pomegranate molasses and cardamom, is a good place to start. The wine list favours low-intervention bottles from Turkey, Lebanon, Greece and elsewhere in Europe.
A City hotel now builds its ground floor around börek at seven and a charcoal grill at dinner. Turn up hungry, and early.
- The vibe
- Dusty-pink, arched hotel room with an open kitchen; City suits by day, cocktails after.
- The food
- Claypot hummus, crisp börek, mangal lamb, künefe to finish.
- The drink
- Lion's Milk Spritz, or a very cold Sultaniye; low-intervention Turkish wines.
- A tip
- Order in stages, meze first; the tables work best for four.
