Fire, Flour, and Finesse: Inside Kid, the Soho Revolution Redefining Turkish Dining in London

Main Facts

London’s culinary landscape has long associated Turkish cuisine with the traditional ocakbaşı grill houses anchoring the northeastern quarters of the capital—most notably Dalston, Harringay, and Green Lanes. However, a seismic shift is underway, driven by a new generation of chefs determined to elevate, deconstruct, and reinvent these time-honored cooking traditions. At the vanguard of this movement is Sertaç Dirik, a culinary visionary whose debut solo restaurant, Kid, has officially opened its doors in the heart of Soho.

Located at 55 Frith Street, Kid is the product of an elite collaboration between Dirik and hospitality titan David Carter. Carter, whose impressive track record includes major London hits such as Smokestak and Manteca in Shoreditch alongside Oma and Agora in Borough Market, has mastered the art of launching destination dining rooms. By recruiting Dirik—who spent his formative years working in the kitchen of Mangal II, the iconic Dalston dining room opened by his father in 1994, before staging at top-tier establishments in Copenhagen and returning home to propel the family business into the National Restaurant Awards Top 50 alongside his brother Ferhat—Carter has injected an undeniable edge of modern cool into Soho’s dining circuit.

Spanning two unified units of an 1897 historic corner building, Kid is far more than a neighborhood grill house. It is a masterclass in spatial design, sustainable architecture, and fiercely executed open-fire cooking. From its subterranean artisan bakery to its meticulously curated menu of high-end mezes, wood-fired pides, and flame-licked skewers, Kid has firmly established itself as one of the most exciting, talked-about rooms in the British capital.

Chronology

To understand the trajectory that led to the creation of Kid, one must trace the lineage of modern Turkish gastronomy in London across several key milestones:

• 1994: Ali Dirik opens Mangal II in Dalston, introducing Londoners to the charcoal-fueled soul of southeastern Turkish ocakbaşı cooking and setting a standard for decades of diaspora dining.
• The Copenhagen Era: Sertaç Dirik leaves London to hone his craft in the hyper-demanding, minimalist kitchens of Copenhagen, absorbing avant-garde culinary techniques and Nordic philosophies on hyper-seasonality and provenance.
• 2018–2020: Sertaç returns to London and, alongside his brother Ferhat, initiates a quiet revolution at Mangal II. They replace the institutional menus with natural wines, refined sourcing, and daring flavor profiles, eventually propelling the family business into the prestigious National Restaurant Awards Top 50.
• The Decade of Development (2014–2024): David Carter establishes himself as one of London’s most prolific hospitality entrepreneurs, launching critically acclaimed venues like Smokestak, Manteca, Oma, and Agora.
• The Partnership: Carter and Dirik join forces to conceptualize Kid. They secure a prime double-fronted 1897 corner site bridging Frith Street and Bateman Street in Soho.
• The Design Phase: Carter enlists Box 9, a London-based design practice with whom he has collaborated for over a decade, to painstakingly merge the two historic spaces using 73,000 sustainable, unfired K-Briqs.
• Present Day: Kid opens to immediate critical acclaim, blending subterranean baking operations with an open-fire ground-floor theater that redefines Soho’s gastronomic geography.

Supporting Data & Design Architecture

The physical manifestation of Kid is as critical to its narrative as the food leaving the kitchen. Partnering with design studio Box 9, David Carter ensured that the restaurant’s interior honored both historic London architecture and contemporary Turkish iconography.

Sustainable Craftsmanship and Materiality

The most striking structural element of Kid is its extensive use of 73,000 unfired K-Briqs. Manufactured entirely from construction waste, these sustainable bricks were utilized to form architectural niches, a decorative latticed screen, a grand fireplace surround, and a sweeping, organic curved wall that guides guests down the stairs.

Lou Davies, co-founder of Box 9, explains the rigorous process behind the build:

"We studied the brick patterns and coursing found across historic London façades and worked closely with the bricklayers to understand their trade. The fit-out was drawn brick by brick, with every joint aligned, allowing the brick to become more than a structural material and instead a contemporary expression of Turkish symbols."

Texture and Tone

The sensory experience of the dining room is anchored by an array of tactile, earthy materials:

• Ceilings: Overhead, natural cork joists sourced from Amorim in Portugal absorb sound and soften the room’s industrial acoustics.
• Seating: Banquettes are draped in chocolate-brown Arc of Joan textiles, which are hand-dyed and intricately embroidered with traditional kilim motifs, complemented by dining chairs upholstered in moss-green canvas.
• Artistic Installations: Suspended above the staircase leading to the bakery is an oversized mobile created by Turkish artist Selin Nisa Aşıkel, cast in bronze from recycled copper.
• The Secret Entrance: Playing into Soho’s love for hidden hospitality, the main entrance is cleverly tucked around the corner on Bateman Street rather than the bustling Frith Street frontage. Diners must look for a tiny goat stamped into the metal door frame before stepping inside to face Sertaç Dirik working the open flames.

Official Responses and Culinary Breakdown

The gastronomic philosophy at Kid can be summarized simply: kid gloves off. The menu pays homage to Anatolian tradition while aggressively pushing boundaries through European techniques and elite British sourcing.

Bread and Snacks

The culinary journey begins downstairs in the open bakery, yielding breads that set a new benchmark for London dining:

• Pide Varieties: A puffed, blistered tombik pide emerges straight from the wood-fired oven, alongside a Wildfarmed flour pide scored and deeply charred over the grill.
• Snacks: Served by the individual piece, highlights include a crisp-battered courgette flower blanketed in grated tulum goat’s cheese and drizzled with atom honey, alongside chubby slices of house-made sucuk sausage served with a purée of grilled peach that mimics a sweet, smoky ketchup.

Meze and Small Plates

The meze selection bridges comfort and complexity:

• Muhammara: A rich, walnut-heavy dip heaped with crumbly, feta-like beyaz peynir.
• Hummus: So heavily layered with a crunchy rubble of fried chickpeas that the base dip is practically buried.
• Skewers: Succulent lamb belly and sweetbreads are grilled until glossy and blackened at the edges, offering a study in textural contrasts—crisp exterior giving way to melt-in-the-mouth richness—cut through by a bed of sweet, charred grilled onions.

The Showstopper Kebap

The centerpiece of the savory menu is the mixed kebap platter: a towering arrangement of Adana köfte, perfectly charred chicken, and succulent lamb chunks. This is accompanied by scorched peppers, a tangled nest of sumac-stained pink onions, and a refreshing çoban salata (shepherd’s salad) of crisp cucumber and tomato.

Desserts and Cocktails

• Mountain Tea Rice Pudding: Infused with orange blossom, this dessert has rapidly become one of London’s most sought-after sweets, acting as a sophisticated hybrid between childhood nostalgia (Ambrosia) and a delicate crème brûlée.
• Şeftali Margarita: A signature cocktail that replaces traditional lime tartness with the luscious, floral sweetness of peach, echoing the flavor profiles of an Italian Bellini.

Implications

The launch of Kid marks a watershed moment for ethnic dining and hospitality entrepreneurship in the UK capital. For years, fine dining in London has leaned heavily toward French, Italian, or pan-Asian concepts, while Middle Eastern and Turkish cuisine was often relegated to casual eateries or late-night takeaway spots.

By wedding the visceral, primal energy of an ocakbaşı grill with high-end Scandinavian culinary discipline, sustainable architectural design, and Soho’s exclusive nightlife allure, Dirik and Carter are rewriting the rulebook. Kid proves that diaspora cooking does not need to stay tethered to nostalgia to be authentic; rather, it can evolve into a sophisticated, forward-thinking art form that commands a spot among the world’s best dining scenes.

As other chefs watch closely, Kid serves as a blueprint for the future of British hospitality: one where heritage meets hyper-sustainability, and where the ancient art of open-fire cooking is given the modern, reverent stage it has always deserved.