A trip back to the village where Serif Kaya grew up will serve as inspiration in the reopening of Ottoman Cuisine.

Mr Kaya and his wife, Gulbahar, closed the Barton-based Turkish restaurant in 2021 with hopes of relocating.

In October 2023, Mr Kaya contacted his estate agent and was able to buy the same building back.

The restaurateur said in the three years the restaurant was closed, he spent much of his time at home in Canberra but had also travelled.

“I went back to Turkey. I got to see my extended family. My parents have both passed away, but I still have some relatives,” Mr Kaya said.

“I travelled a bit, and I went to the place I was born. I hadn’t been there for a very long time.”

He said he enjoyed spending time in the village and eating Turkish food.

“It just brought back memories. It gives you some ideas,” Mr Kaya said.

“I have some [ideas] in mind but I’m still trying to get back on my feet here.”

The award-winning restaurant reopened to the public on 2 November 2024.

“There were lots of people that came through,” Mr Kaya said.

“It’s fantastic to be back here. People like this setting, the dining rooms. You could say it’s quite a unique building for Canberra diners.”

Mr Kaya said he had already seen some familiar faces, past customers, back in the restaurant. Some of his old staff have also returned.

“Some people have expressed that ‘it’s good to be back’, ‘it’s good to see you’, ‘good to have Ottoman back’,” he said.

Mr Kaya said when they sold the building he never expected they would remain in the same place.

“For us, it’s more emotional, and I think we have so much invested in this place,” he said.

“We have wonderful memories in this place: So many people came through the restaurants, some prominent, some eminent. Just the wonderful people, just nice people.

“We have lots of good memories, we liked the place.”

Mr Kaya said the main and private dining rooms remained the same, but the venue had been refurbished.

“We put in a new carpet and a bit of a change, a new colour scheme. It’s still a work in progress,” he said.

Mr Kaya was born in Turkey, leaving in the 1970s to work in London. With no formal training in the industry, he worked across two hospitality venues, learning on the job.

He said ambition was the drive behind opening a restaurant in Canberra decades ago.

“You’ve got to bring out the best of yourself and push yourself,” Mr Kaya said.

The first venue the couple opened was Alanya Restaurant, in Manuka. It ran for 30 years until 2015.

“It was in the Style Arcade (Arc) upstairs overlooking the laneway, Palmerston Lane, at the back of the Woolies (Woolworths Supermarket) and you could see all the rubbish bins,” Mr Kaya said.

“If you came to the restaurant, the owners wouldn’t let us use the main doors because Arc was shut by 6pm so they had to use the first exit door to come to the restaurant.

“Then, beside the door there were two bins that belong to the Arc, so when we opened in 1982, it just became like a cracker going off, bang!”

He said the restaurant was frequented by politicians, including former Prime Minister Paul Keating.

“These people used to pass the rubbish bins, get to the stairs and then go upstairs – that was it,” Mr Kaya said.

The couple also ran a restaurant in Civic for three years called Anatolia.

Ottoman initially opened in Manuka more than 30 years ago, where Mr Kaya introduced “good seafood” to Canberra – a staple that remains on the restaurant menu.

“Then Ottoman built a sort of reputation, along with other elements of the cuisine, but seafood was a big part of Ottoman cuisine,” he said.

“It’s been great to serve Canberra, and also showing the Turkish cuisine, what you see right through Australia, we try to give the best that we can.”

Ottoman is located at 9 Broughton Street, Barton. For more, visit ottomancuisine.com.au

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