Former Ottolenghi head chef Esra Muslu opens her first London restaurant next week, based on Istanbulite home cooking including recipes and traditional methods handed down by her mother.

Zahter, named after a wild herb in the thyme family that grows in southern Turkey, is conceived as Esra’s “love letter” to her native country. It occupies a four-floor former clothing warehouse in Foubert’s Place, off Carnaby Street, and will serve counter meals overlooking an open kitchen at ground level, with open-air dining in the summer and a more standard dining room upstairs.

The chef opened four restaurants in Istanbul and was head chef at the city’s branch of Soho House before moving to London to head up the kitchen at Ottolenghi Spitalfields. Zahter opens on Tuesday 30 November.