If you time it right, a summer afternoon on Mavi Ruya’s riverside terrace can play a pleasant trick on the senses.
The chatter from neighbouring tables drifts across the water, dappled sunlight glints through the trees and the scent of meat grilling over an open flame hangs in the air. Squint a little and, for a moment at least, you could almost convince yourself that you’ve been transported from Abbeydale Road to the Aegean coast.
I’ve known Leo and the team at Mavi Ruya for several years now and every visit leaves much the same impression. There is, of course, the food, but it is the warmth, generosity and sense of hospitality that lingers longest. Spend five minutes in their company and it becomes clear that the atmosphere here isn’t an accident, but the product of thousands of small gestures repeated day after day.
That approach has helped Mavi Ruya establish itself as one of Sheffield’s best-loved independent restaurants over the last four and a half years. Now, the team have unveiled a new brunch menu designed to encourage people to slow down and make the most of the space.
“We always had a breakfast menu,” Leo explains, “but a lot of our guests said, ‘We love the à la carte menu, but we wanted something a bit lighter.’”
Rather than squeezing breakfast into a narrow morning window, the team decided to take a different approach.
“We thought we’d do something from Monday to Friday, from when we open until four o’clock. If people want to have that light lunch because they’ve got plans later, it’s perfect.”
The result blends familiar favourites with more traditional Turkish dishes, including the serpme breakfast – a generous sharing spread of breads, cheeses, jams, pastries and tea.
“Traditionally, it’s something you serve when guests come to your house,” says Leo. “It’s a very communal thing, similar to the big platters we do. We thought it worked really well because people can sit by the riverside, relax and enjoy themselves.”
That sense of generosity runs throughout the menu and the restaurant itself. As Leo explains, the aim has always been to create something that feels simultaneously Turkish and unmistakably Yorkshire.
“Since day one, we always said we wanted to do something that represents Turkish culture, but also Yorkshire. At the core of it, it’s about bringing families together.”
He adds that, in many ways, the restaurant’s story has become intertwined with those of the people who pass through its doors.
“I was having a funny conversation the other day. A family met here for their first date. Then they got married, then they came back for their wedding meal and now they have a child. We recently celebrated the child’s first birthday here.”
For Leo and the team, those moments mean more than any glowing review.
“To be a part of moments like that really makes us feel proud. Now they’ll come in and say, ‘Uncle Leo!’, and run around. We want to make sure that for the next four or five years we continue that process of bringing families together.”
Stories like that crop up repeatedly during our conversation. Customers disappear for a few months, only to return carrying newborn babies. Others celebrate engagements, anniversaries and milestone birthdays. Over time, familiar faces become friends.
The terrace itself is another part of that story. Long before Mavi Ruya opened its doors, the river was almost entirely hidden from view.
As Leo’s uncle Dennis explains, the team were determined to reveal something that had been overlooked for years.
“There’s a Portuguese lady who has lived across the road for more than 40 years,” he says. “When she saw it, she said, ‘I never knew there was a river here.’”
That said, bringing the space back to life took some effort.
“I pulled 21 Tesco trolleys out of that river!” laughs Dennis.
Today, fairy lights illuminate the terrace, greenery lines the water’s edge and the so-called hidden garden has become one of the restaurant’s defining features.
For all the changes that have taken place, Leo is still looking ahead.
“We want to keep doing things differently,” he says firmly.
That much is evident from the new menu and the steady changes around the restaurant. And if whispers of future plans are anything to go by, the team aren’t finished yet.
For now, though, the focus remains firmly on the place that started it all – a little corner of Abbeydale Road where Turkish hospitality, Yorkshire warmth and delicious Anatolian dishes continue to bring people together.
@MAVIRUYATURKISH
MAVIRUYA.CO.UK
593 ABBEYDALE RD, S7 1TA
