The first London restaurant from celebrated Turkish chef and restaurateur Kemal Demirasal, The Counter is a contemporary ocakbasi restaurant in Notting Hill. Opened on Golborne Road in 2022 as Kemal’s first ever restaurant outside Turkey, The Counter is a 45-cover restaurant and bar showcasing traditional south eastern Anatolian cooking styles mixed with Kemal’s groundbreaking take on his native cuisine. Using the open kitchen’s charcoal-fired mangal oven and the finest Turkish ingredients, Kemal creates innovative twists on classic dishes, with an aim to instill a new, elevated understanding of the traditional ocakbasi dining in the UK.
Kemal Demirasal is one of Turkey’s most highly acclaimed chefs, best known for his avant-garde fine dining restaurant Alancha in Istanbul, which was cited as one of the best restaurants in the Middle East by the World’s 50 Best Discovery Series before its closure in 2021. Kemal is a self-taught chef who started cooking in 2007 after ending his career as a six-times Turkish national champion windsurfer. He has since gone on to run a number of successful restaurants in Turkey and presented food documentaries on national television.
Named for the experience of sitting up at the open kitchen of an ocakbasi restaurant and watching the chefs at work, The Counter brings Kemal’s unique and fresh approach to gastronomy to a relaxed, comfortable setting in west London. Diners will experience an authentic taste of south eastern Turkish cuisine, made with meticulously sourced ingredients. Spices have been procured from the country’s Hatay region, while pepper paste comes from Southeastern Anatolia itself. Tahini is brought in from Edremit, while the molasses are imported from Harran, and salt is sourced from the Aegean sea for its unique flavour profile.
The menu, which changes monthly with the seasons, begins with snacks such as Clotted cream honey sourdough (bal kaymak ekşimaya) with dukkah, wild thyme honey, truffle oil and Ezo The Bride soup (ezo gelin), named after a character of Turkish cultural legend and made with red lentils, pepper, mint and dill oil.
Starters and salads to share include Chocolate babaganoush made with white chocolate, dukkah, dill oil and rose; a Shepherd salad (çoban salata) of tomato, cucumber, olives, sumac and feta, and Head cheese (izmir kelle söğüş), a dish of boiled sheep’s head with red onion, parsley, tomato, mint and cumin hailing from Kemal’s hometown of Izmir. Hot starters include Lamb liver skewers (ciğer şiş) flavoured with lamb fat, molasses and isot pepper, and Kibbeh (içli köfte), a dish of fried bulgur dough stuffed with minced meat and walnut, isot pepper, mint and chilli, with tahini cream.
Focusing on the kebab traditions of Turkish ocakbasi restaurants, main courses feature the likes of Mince kebab (satır kıyma) with lamb, paprika, isot pepper and molasses, served with tabla and onion salads and lavash bread; sirloin kebab (çökertme) made with beef sirloin and tarragon, and served alongside thin cut fries, garlic yogurt and tomato sauce; as well as lamb chops (kuzu pirzola) served with chimichurri and a couscous pilaf made with apricot, mint and pomegranate. To finish, desserts include traditional Semolina cake (revani) with clotted cream, poppy seeds and orange zest, sage infused burnt rice pudding (adaçaylı fırın sütlaç) with hazelnut.
The drinks offering at The Counter includes an extensive selection of wines from Turkey sourced from the Turkish Wine Co. alongside wines from regions in Greece, Croatia and beyond. The restaurant also serves a wide list of premium rakis, such as Yeni Raki’s Giz Kraft Raki No.2 and Kulup Raki, celebrating the breadth of Turkey’s most popular spirit. The cocktail menu has been created by acclaimed bartender and international food and beverage consultant Cihan Anadologlu, whose award-winning Munich bar Circle was listed in the top 100 bars for 2017 by World’s 50 Best Bars. Turkish ingredients are used to make bespoke syrups, cordials and infusions for the menu, highlights of which include a Satir Kiyma cocktail inspired by the kebab of the same name, made using lamb fat-washed rye whisky, red pepper, chilli flakes, orange bitters and molasses. The list also features the Şalgam, a mezcal cocktail made with lime, pandan and salgam juice, a fermented black carrot and turnip juice traditionally served alongside kebabs.
The interiors at The Counter have been put together by Gurcan Dere Design Studio, with the aim of channeling the intimacy of a Turkish home. The exposed brick walls have been subtly inflected with village-style plaster, while industrial steel beams are painted with sand and earthy tones and paired with raw copper elements. The tables have been made with misshapen, clefted chestnut trees, the cracks in which have been smoothed by pouring lead into the fissures, highlighting the organic fractures. Alongside a vintage Persian carpet, the majority of the pieces have been designed and manufactured in Turkey. Artwork includes three wooden wall panels by sculptor Onur Çanka, which emulate the landscape of Southeastern Anatolia. The tableware has been produced by YEK Design, a London-based ceramics brand founded by Kemal, which supplies Aegean-inspired, handcrafted pieces to the restaurant industry. The Counter’s knives are handmade in Tarsus by eminent, third generation Turkish knife maker Tufekci Karadayi, which produces knives for some of the best known chefs in Turkey and beyond.
