Cardiff based sisters’ food is so popular people travel from all over UK to try it

Two sisters who only took up cooking in 2018 have opened a restaurant in Cardiff – their second food venture in the city. They are so popular people travel across the UK to eat their unique dishes. One morning they had 45 people travel from London for breakfast.

Sisters Simge Yalcin and Gizem Yorgun run Longa together, alongside Pınar Öğün. Simge takes care of the food and Gizem deals with marketing and customer engagement. After opening a breakfast and brunch café on Whitchurch Road in 2018 they have now opened a café and restaurant in Park Place where they also serve dinner.

After growing up on the western side of Turkey, Gizem moved to Cardiff to study a marketing degree and her older sister soon moved to Oxford, before moving to Cardiff to join her sister. Simge said: “I told her: ‘If you’re going to stay there, I’m coming.'” For the latest restaurant news and reviews, sign up to our food and drink newsletter here.

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Despite having worked as a teacher for eight years in Turkey, Simge had become very passionate about cooking since her mum was diagnosed with cancer in her 20s, before then she didn’t know how to cook. When her mum was ill in bed Simge started cooking some of her mum recipes.

Simge said: “I made them to make her happy because we all knew she wouldn’t survive and I wanted her to trust me to look after the family. The first time I cooked one of her recipes she couldn’t believe her eyes. She said: ‘It doesn’t even look homemade, how did you make it so perfect?'”

The more recipes she tried, the more she realised the talent she had. “I realised food is not only about feeding people. Food is much more emotional, you can surprise people, you can make them happy, whatever you want to do you can do through food.”

When she lost her mum 11 months after her diagnosis, Simge used cooking as a way to cope with her grief. When she moved to Cardiff she wanted to use her passion to do something and so she looked for somewhere to open a café.

“We found Longa cafe (on Whitchurch Road) and it was bigger than I was thinking. Because I didn’t have any experience, three or four tables would’ve been ok for me, but that one was 10-13 tables.”

’45 people came from London for breakfast’

As she embarked on the dream of setting up a restaurant, Simge created dishes known for their rich and diverse flavours and inspired by Turkish cuisine and aspects of Greek cuisine like olive oils and fresh vegetables. Simge added: “People think that kebabs are a lot of Turkish cuisine but in my whole childhood I think I only had a kebab two or three times.”

She continued: “We aren’t trying to redo something that people have done before, we are creating something new inspired from my past and nostalgic memories. It’s not just food, it’s also our unique stories.” It is that very individuality that has seen Longa quickly become a Cardiff favourite, even becoming popular further afield.

But Simge admitted they’ve had luck along the way. She fondly recalled the day the “godfather of Spanish food”, Jose Pizarro, visited just after they’d opened. Pizarro and his friend loved the food and after they’d left he shared their food online and a series of food bloggers came. Since then Pizarro’s been back many times.

Simge said: “He said: ‘You will have a queue in front of your door one day and it’s not so far (away).’ I didn’t have experience, I wasn’t professional by then so I didn’t know if I was doing well or not. I was doing something I believed in but I needed to see that from other people.

“We have lots of customers come from Bristol and London which is incredible because it’s London and you think people have options for Turkish but they’re coming to us. They say they’ve come from London because they wanted to try our food. Once 45 people came from London for breakfast, it’s unbelievable! Some Turkish people have even said they’ve never had this sort of food before, even in Turkey!”

Opening their second restaurant has also proved a hit, they often have a queue at the weekend and Simge doesn’t think it will be long before people struggle to find a space in the restaurant. On their new dinner menu they have Turkish street food, small plates, big plates and mezzes including okra tzatziki and sultan’s delight.

Next, the sisters have plans to bring out their own Longa cold-pressed olive oil, made at their olive oil factory in Turkey. Simge explained people often ask which olive oil they use and soon they will be able to purchase it.

Whilst some people might not like the sound of working with their sibling, for Simge and Gizem it couldn’t have worked better. Simge said: “We are like a puzzle, we complete each other. I was cooking and she was sharing what I was cooking with everyone else, I’ve always liked cooking but if no-one knows what we’re doing in the kitchen it’s not going to be successful.”

Longa in Park Place is open Monday – Friday 9.30am – 11pm, Saturday 9am – 11pm and Sunday 9am – 5pm. Walk-ins are available, with bookings online.