Director of Programs and Special Projects, Strategic Initiatives Group, Yeni Lokanta and Yeni London; London, UK

Civan Er is a chef and restaurateur at Yeni Lokanta in Instanbul and Yeni in Soho, London. Born and raised in Istanbul, he has an educational background in economics, with a master’s degree in international relations. During this time, he also worked as a commis chef in a Turkish kitchen to help him survive in London and to practice his hobby of cooking in a professional environment. The moment he put on the chef's whites in 2003 he realized that being a chef was what made him happy. While working as a chef, he also wrote the Sunday food column for the Hürriyet Daily News, for four years, a major Turkish newspaper where he created and shared recipes that were new to him. The hundreds of recipes piled up and encouraged him to open his own restaurant where he could have his own take on Turkish cuisine using traditional cooking techniques. He has been shuffling between the wood fired ovens of reputable Yeni Lokanta Istanbul, opened in 2013, and Yeni London, opened in 2019. His ethos at these restaurants has been to put his own interpretation on the local cuisine he grew up with. Civan’s cooking celebrates Turkey’s role as a cultural and culinary bridge between the Middle East, the Balkans, and the Levant—an approach reflected in both his restaurants and his storytelling. @civan_er