Turkish Pastry Café Plans High Road Opening

Levent Borek looking to take over former premises of Hoji


Asian food grocery store Hoji closed earlier this year. Picture: Facebook

September 15, 2024

Chiswick could be getting a new café restaurant specialising in borek which is a type of pie made with thin flaky pastry and filled with a variety of savoury ingredients.

A planning application has been made on behalf of Levent Borek to refit the premises at 296 Chiswick High Road (W4 1PA) which used to be occupied by Hoji, a store specialising in Asian food produce which closed earlier this year.

The application has been made in the name of Onur Cokuludag who runs Gastro Guru Ltd a London based consultancy company providing support and training to restaurant and coffee bar start-ups.

It is thought that the new café is associated with a chain based in Turkey. This grew out of a food stall run by Levent Usta using recipes handed down to him by his father in Adana which is in the south east of the country close to Syria. The company now claims to be the most famous provider of borek in the world. We have contacted it in an attempt to confirm the link with the Chiswick business.

Börek or burek is a family of pastries or pies found in the Balkans, Turkey, Armenia, the Levant, Northern Africa and Central Asia and often served at breakfast. The pastry is made of a thin flaky dough such as filo with a variety of fillings, such as meat, cheese, spinach, or potatoes. A borek may be prepared in a large pan and cut into portions after baking, or as individual pastries. They are usually baked but some varieties can be fried. Borek is sometimes sprinkled with sesame or nigella seeds, and it can be served hot or cold.

The application seeks permission to make minor alterations to the front of the 1,010 sq ft unit and install a professional kitchen extraction system. The shop was advertised for a rent of £67,500 plus VAT a year, but it is understood that many new businesses setting up on the High Road are getting generous rent reductions for their first year of operation.

Documents submitted with the application state that, if permission is granted then work would start on the premises in November with a view to an opening in January.

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