Six New Turkish dishes to Try at Ottoman Kitchen Southampton. Despite winning Best Middle Eastern Restaurant in the UK, we dont rest on our laurels and offer six new dishes for our customers in southampton to enjoy:
Tavuk Sarma
A classic Turkish dish, succulent chicken breast with fresh asparagus, diced carrot and melted halloumi cheese, grilled until golden. Each bite offers a perfect harmony of flavours, complemented by your choice of aromatic rice or chips and a fresh seasonal salad.
Calamari with Lemon Sauce
Tender fresh calamari delicately seasoned and seared to Perfection, dressed with a fragrant garlic butter and fresh-squeezed lemon sauce. Garnished with hand-picked dill and a drizzle of premium olive oil. Served with a choice of rice or chips and salad
Seafood Pasta
Seafood mix (muscles, octopus, shrimps, prawns, white fish) tossed with linguine in our signature rosé sauce. Balances rich cream with sweet tomatoes, creating a sophisticated pasta dish for seafood lovers.
Hamsi
Delicate whitebait lightly dusted in golden cornflour and fried to achieve a golden crisp exterior. Served with green salad and your choice of steamed rice or chips. A taste of the Turkish coastline.
Karniyarik
A beloved Turkish comfort dish of aubergine, split and filled with aromatic minced lamb, slow-baked in a light tomato sauce until meltingly tender. Served with fragrant rice, this dish captures the essence of Turkish home cooking.
Patlican Kebab
A celebration of Anatolian flavours – chargrilled aubergine filled with layers of lamb meatballs, sweet bell peppers, and vine-ripened tomatoes. Brings the warmth of Turkish street food to your table, accompanied by your choice of rice or chips and a vibrant side salad.
Once you step inside Ottoman Kitchen in Southampton, it’s the smoky aroma from the charcoal grill that hits you first. There’s something about the way Turkish chefs handle fire that’s almost hypnotic—centuries of tradition packed into every glowing ember.
At Ottoman Kitchen, the grill isn’t just for show. It’s the heart of our southampton restaurant, where chefs—most of whom have roots deep in Turkey—work with a kind of easy confidence. Watch for a minute and you’ll see hands flipping lamb shish and chicken wings, turning skewers just enough to soak up the flames without losing the juices. The chefs here know exactly when to pull a kebab off the grill, so it lands on your plate tender and smoky, edged in that perfect char you can only get from real charcoal.
What makes it special isn’t just the food, though that’s definitely a big part of it. It’s the way the kitchen feels alive. There’s banter in Turkish and English, bursts of laughter, and the constant rattle of tongs against metal. Everything moves fast, but nothing is rushed. Each dish—from the Adana kebab to the grilled vegetables—comes out looking like someone actually cared.
It’s not fancy in the traditional sense. You won’t find molecular gastronomy or tiny portions here. What you get instead is food that’s honest, cooked by people who grew up on these recipes, and a grill that’s been fired up so many times it feels like part of the family. At Ottoman Kitchen, the chefs let the smoke do the talking.