Recommended Eats: Mehmet Kitchen in Copnor offers authentic Turkish and Kurdish dishes with welcoming service

Mehmet Ulucan runs Mehmet Kitchen on Copnor Road with his wife, Nicola, and son, Yusuf. Having opened shortly after the second lockdown during covid, word of mouth of their quality food soon spread and they have gone from strength to strength as one of the most popular restaurants in the city.

Mehmet’s relationship with restaurants in the city goes much further back than his current venture, and it was his passion and desire for Turkish and Kurdish food that got him into the industry. He said: “I came here over 20 years ago as a refugee and met my wife Nicola. We used to have to travel to London to have nice Turkish, Kurdish or Mediterranean food.

“We ended up travelling up there quite a lot and I said to myself this needs to stop. So me and a friend opened up a restaurant in Portsmouth and I have been involved in restaurants in the city ever since. I can say we opened the first Turkish and Kurdish restaurant in Portsmouth.”

Having successfully run restaurants in Portsmouth for just under 20 years, the opportunity to open Mehmet Kitchen came at an inopportune time. He said: “It was during covid that we found this place, the worst time to open probably, but it has turned into one of the best things we have done.”

Due to the restrictions at the time, it was initially opened as a takeaway, and its popularity snowballed from there. Serving delicious traditional and authentic dishes such as pide, a pastry dish, and Karniyarik, which is aubergine stuffed with minced lamb, their reputation grew.

Nicola said: “When we first opened our doors it was just after the second lockdown. We only opened as a takeaway first of all and then through word of mouth we got busier and busier. Memhet knows a lot of people in Portsmouth and they supported us, they came and tried our food and spread the word and we have been very lucky.

“We love all of our customers, they have been very good to us, and we are good to them. Hopefully we can carry on succeeding like that.”

Customer have the option of a range of kebabs and burgers alongside the more speciality dishes. The food on offer has attracted customer from across the region, not just the city.

Mehmet said: “People come to us from all over, from the other side of Chichester, Arundel, Petersfield, Selsey. We have people coming from Southampton, and people come regularly from Winchester to have our food. Closer to home people come from Clanfield, Cowplain, Havant, everywhere. We have regulars from everywhere, not just in Portsmouth.”

Mehmet puts their popularity down to the way in which they treat their customers, many of which he has gotten to know well. He said: “They have always been very supportive, they know who I am and I know them, we know each other well. Our priority is to treat people how I would want to be treated and that is why we always do our best. We don't see them as customers, we see them as guests.”