Page 278 - The Bite Magazine - Issue 11

Huseyin was born in a village called Yenikoy, on the borders of
Kahramanmaras and Malayta towns in the south central east of Turkey.
After finishing secondary school, he came to the UK at the age of
16, where he was given an opportunity to finish a BTEC National at
Hackney College. He then went onto Middlesex University, “the only
known university amongst the community at the time”, to study a BSc
in Engineering. “For the first couple of years, it was difficult adopting a
new life, financial difficulty, language barriers, helping mum and dad, and
trying to keep a social life at the same time. I ended up dropping out
of university and was forced to work for dad at his new fish and chip
shop.” This takeaway fish and chip shop happened to be called ‘Diane
Fish Bar’.“Yes, named after the late Princess Diane! My father had a soft
side for the Royal Family. I guess because back home, his business was
shut down by the fascist local regime in Elbistan and he saw no future
for us Kurdish Alevis in Turkey. So when the UK opened their arms out
to the Ulus family, providing us with opportunity and accepting us for
who we are; without questioning our background and faith, not only my
father but we all were and still are grateful to the Queen.”
After selling the fish and chip shop a year later, Huseyin’s father then
opened a barbeque style Anatolia Grill House that seated 45 people
on Mare Street. Anatolia is the ancient name for Turkey meaning a
‘mother’s fullness’. Sadly, in 2001, the restaurant stopped trading when
a large construction company forced them out, but, thankfully the
story didn’t end there! Moving next door to the famous Hackney pub
Maddigan, the newly locatedAnatolia restaurant now had 120 seats.Two
years later, Anatolia was sold and this ended the partnership between
Huseyin and his father in the restaurant business. The following year,
Huseyin set up his own restaurant next to Hackney Central station with
100 seats and a year later, sold this to restaurant chain Cirrik.Amazingly,
that same year the construction of their first restaurant finished and
the landlord decided to give the site back to them. It is here that Tad
Restaurant, a 120 seated restaurant, still stands.
Taking inspiration from different parts of Anatolia, the dishes served
at Tad Restaurant are traditionally part of people’s everyday life in the
village culture.The concept of the restaurant is simply “choose the meat
and the food you want and it’s cooked in front of you”, along with the
passion and touch of Huseyin’s hands that go into every kebab cooked.
bitecuisine
Tad Mix Grill
Halep Kebab
Chicken Shish
Lamb Beyti