For mother-and-daughter duo Pinar and Jade Karpaz, their first cafe venture was a way to bring their family’s recipes and culinary traditions to life. Elk Bakehouse is an ode to Turkish-born Pinar’s late mother, whose age-old recipes are now lovingly recreated from scratch in Elk’s kitchen every single day – and just like their mother and grandmother did, Pinar and Jade love nothing more than to sit back and watch you enjoy the food that they both grew up eating. Elk Bakehouse’s red-brick-clad interior, adorned with Turkish rugs and communal seating, makes you feel right at home –  so kick back with a Turkish tea (or Bear Bones coffee) and gear up for important decisions like what to order.

The hero here is the authentic Turkish simit (a traditional street snack that is a cross between a bagel and a pretzel), which is served either on its own, with fondue cheese, with a side of fetta and jam, or as a toastie filled with sucuk and kasar (Turkish salami and cheese). The cabinet rotates with tasty variants like slithers of savoury-mince borek, crispy sigara borek (cigar-shaped pastry) filled with spinach and fetta, authentic gozleme, pogaca breads, colourful cous cous salads, sucuk and egg pies, traditional Turkish-style dolmades and more. As for the sweets, you can’t go past Pinar’s mother’s Turkish crumpets with rosewater syrup, or a slice of the house-made gluten-free cakes. We’ll leave you with this – if you’re yet to experience chocolate baklava, get it high on your list of priorities.

Elk Bakehouse is now open! You’ll find its opening hours, location and contact details over in our Stumble Guide.