Inside Turkiye Efes, Glasgow's top Turkish restaurant

Serkan Aydin opened Turkiye Efes on Candleriggs in 2019, just a few months before the pandemic.

The 48-year-old was determined to open up an authentic Turkish restaurant since first moving to Glasgow for university in 1999.

He said: “When I came to Scotland I was always missing Turkish food, so much.”

Serkan worked as a chef in Istanbul for eight years, where he owned a hotel and restaurant with his brother.

Eventually running a tour operator business in Glasgow, Serkan still dreamed of sharing authentic Turkish cuisine with the city.

He decided to take the risk and open his own restaurant in Merchant City.

Serkan said: “It was very difficult. The first couple of months were very difficult, trying to explain to the customer what Turkish food is about and trying to get customers through the door, that was the hardest part.

“As soon as the customers started to come in the word-of-mouth advertising was great and we became popular all of a sudden.

“On TripAdvisor, out of the 1600 restaurants around Glasgow, we were actually number three at one time.”

The restaurant has since won an International Dining Award for Best Turkish Restaurant in Scotland and is ranked as the number one Turkish restaurant in Glasgow on TripAdvisor.

The menu is extensive, with an array of hot and cold mezes and meats, chicken and fish cooked on a charcoal grill and marinated in countless different ways.

Serkan said: "I’m trying to get the message out to the public and to customers that the Turkish restaurant is not just about the kebab shop.

“When people think about the Turkish restaurant, about two out of five customers haven’t been to a restaurant - they think it’s a doner house, doner kebab.

“Turkey is really big, and every part of Turkey has their own cuisine.

"It’s not just about the doner house and doner kebabs."

He added: "Turkey is made up of seven parts, seven areas.

"The whole menu covers the seven areas from the north to the south, east to the west, northeast to the northwest, all part of Turkey.

“All my chefs are Turkish. They’ve been in the industry for a long time and they are all from different parts of Turkey.”

There are around 70 different kebab and grill options and everything is cooked on the charcoal grill, Serkan says.

Turkiye underwent a major transformation that forced the closure of the business from January 9 until the grand reopening on March 2.

The new look has been a hit with customers.

Serkan said: “Most of the customers love the new design.

“We didn’t use an external designer, we actually made the design ourselves.

“I didn’t want to copy or look like any other restaurant in Glasgow, we just wanted to do something different.

“We were trying to use Turkish symbols. The flower is a tulip and also the colour scheme, we tried to keep pale blue, turquoise, red and white.

“The feedback so far has been absolutely amazing, and I’m dead chuffed, to be honest.”

Turkiye is available for dine-in and large party bookings. They also have a belly dancer performance on Saturdays and a special Turkish breakfast on Sundays.

To find out more about Turkiye, click here.