Selin Kiazim smashes £10,000 crowfunding goal for new bakery and wine bar

Selin Kiazim has smashed her £10,000 crowfunding goal in less than four days, raising more than £15,000 to transform Fitzrovia restaurant Kyseri into a bakery and wine bar.

Kiazim launched a bid to raise £10,000 to install the specialist cool room needed for the preparation of Turkish breads and pastries on 5 December. Today 81 backers had pledged more than £15,000 with 13 days still to go.

The chef and business partner Laura Christie, plan to close Kyseri on 21 December and hope to open their new enterprise Oklava Bakery + Wine in January 2021.

Writing on their crowdfunding page the business partners, also behind Oklava in London's Shoreditch, said: “We are taking ourselves into uncharted territories: expect breakfast, quality coffee, lunch plates, and the best breads and pastries this side of the Bosphorus by day, and sharing plates and a bulletproof wine list by night. In order to make our dream come true, we need to install a cool room.”

They added: “It's a pretty specialist room. We are looking to get it installed in one of our underground vaults, and a custom fit like that does not come cheap. We simply don't have the budget for it, and this is where you come in. Help us build the cool room lamination dreams are made of.”

The bakery will serve baharat spiced bread, a recipe handed down from Selin’s Grandmother, Simit; a changing daily börek – a baked filled pastry made with thin flaky dough; poğaça – a brioche type bun; tahinli – a thin pastry with tahini and sugar as well as pilavuna – a pastry with cheese, mint and sultanas.

Rewards such as tote bags, signed cook books, meals in the Oklava or Kyseri, a year’s supply of baked goods or coffee as well as private dinners have been offered in return for donations.