Coskun Uysal on modern Anatolian cooking in service

Coskun Uysal is chef-owner of Tulum in Melbourne. He keeps Anatolian flavour intact while using modern technique and Australian produce with tight control in service. His focus is integrity, discipline and showing Turkish food beyond kebabs and dips.

Uysal grew up in Istanbul playing football in the street, then joined a professional team and played until he was 17. An ankle injury kept him out for a year and forced him to reassess what a long career in sport would really take.

He moved into tourism and hotel management and completed a hotel internship to finish his studies. The rotation mattered because it showed him the whole operation, from the bar to the floor to room service, before he reached the kitchen.

“The moment I stepped into the kitchen, I felt so at home.”

He talks about teamwork, repetition and precision as the things that felt familiar after sport. Football taught him discipline, consistency, focus and the drive to improve, and those habits transferred into mise en place and service.

He also traces his flavour memory back to home cooking. His mother was a strong cook, and those tastes became reference points he still protects. For him, that is a benchmark for whether a dish still tastes like what it claims to be.

ondon lessons

London widened his view of restaurant execution without shifting the centre of a cuisine. He studied at Prue Leith, Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen and River Café, and he describes the time as transformative.

He already believed Turkish cuisine was rich and satisfying. The new lesson was how plating, restraint and technical consistency can elevate a dish visually while keeping flavour and identity intact.

That focus on control stayed with him. Clear prep, clean cooking and repeatable finishing became the way he translated Turkish food into modern restaurant work.

“The biggest lesson was that you can elevate a dish without touching its soul.”

Those years shaped how he translates Anatolian dishes for Melbourne diners. The goal is always clarity of flavour, respect for the dish, and control over every step of production.

Building Tulum in Melbourne

After London, he returned to Istanbul and spent 12 years with The House Cafe Group, helping open 12 restaurants and three hotels with the owners. He learned systems, standards across sites and what it takes to lead teams through long weeks.

During that time he also opened his own restaurant, Moreish, with his best friend. He describes it as one of the early places presenting modern Turkish cuisine in Istanbul, and as a period that built confidence in his own voice.

In 2013 he opened Tulum in Melbourne with a single aim: show that Turkish cuisine is much more than kebabs and dips. Turkey has seven regions, each with its own dishes and traditions, and he wanted that breadth to be visible on the plate.

The first years were hard. Some guests arrived with fixed expectations and asked for bread and dips without reading the menu. When they learned the restaurant was not built around stereotypes, some left.

Uysal kept the menu aligned to the story he wanted to tell. Over time he watched a shift in what guests asked for and how they ordered.

“People no longer ask for kebabs. They trust us to guide them through the flavours and traditions of Turkey.”

A turning point came on a quiet winter night when Yotam Ottolenghi and the original judges of MasterChef Australia walked in. Ottolenghi came into the kitchen mid-service, hugged him and told him how much he enjoyed the food. Uysal says that recognition introduced the restaurant to a wider audience.

Tulum received its first chef’s hat in its second year and has kept it since. He calls it a major milestone, and notes it is the only Turkish restaurant in Victoria’s history to achieve a hat.

He says he has never been motivated by awards. The work stays centred on doing the best for the food, the team and the guests, and he treats recognition as confirmation that the kitchen is on the right path.

Technique, leadership and the long view

Uysal uses integrity as a working standard. It means respecting the soul and authenticity of a dish, then making it contemporary through technique and ingredient choices without changing its essence. He describes his approach as a memory of tastes and keeps original flavour as the anchor.

One dish that shows that balance is tavuk göğsü, a chicken and milk pudding from Ottoman palace cooking. He put it on the menu, sold very little for three months, then considered removing it.

The next morning, MasterChef Australia asked him to bring the dessert onto the show. After it aired, he put tavuk göğsü back on the menu and demand changed quickly.

For chefs, the takeaway is persistence with unfamiliar dishes, and the discipline to keep cooking a story clearly until guests can meet you where you are.

During lockdowns, he and his business partner Kemal pivoted to Istanbul street food, including fish sandwiches, böreks and desserts. The goal was to keep working and keep all kitchen and floor staff employed.
They stayed hands-on, making and delivering food themselves. Uysal says it reminded him that hospitality is community and adaptability, and that leadership is practical action under pressure.

As a SCARF Ambassador, he mentors young migrants and refugees and tells them their background is a strength. His advice is direct: work hard, stay humble, and let mistakes teach you.

“Trust your instincts and follow your passion, even when it seems impossible.”

His cookbook, Tulum: modern turkish cuisine, was written for chefs, home cooks and anyone curious about Turkish food. The aim was to share culture and history alongside method, and to keep widening what Turkish food can mean in Australia.

In rapid-fire, he names imam bayıldı as a dish he wants to serve one day, once he can be creative while staying honest to its original flavours. He also says he learns from many chefs rather than copying one.

At home, he keeps a boundary between work and rest. After 23 years with Peter, his one condition was that he would never cook at home, and Peter cooks while he tastes.

He sums up the work in one line that also reads like a kitchen brief.

At Tulum, every dish tells a story. It is a journey through Turkey’s flavours with technique, discipline and integrity.