Penarth Nub News aims to support our community - promoting shops, businesses, artists, charities, clubs and sports groups.

We are profiling some of these in a feature called 'Up Close in Penarth'.

Today's installment first appeared in our weekly newsletter. Please sign up for free here.

Yaylica

Yaylica is a small and dry village situated deep in rural southern Turkey, perhaps 15km from the coast. Since his birth there in 1975, Mehmet Yildaz has been drawn irresistibly to the sea.

And since taking on his first job aged 12 as a second waiter (or komi), Mehmet has been unbreakably obsessed with the restaurant business.

"It was a very big restaurant, very popular - so I learnt from the best," he tells me over an espresso. "I was promoted to waiter and after that I went to work at a seaside holiday resort and learnt to be a barman."

Within months Mehmet had become a so-called 'flair bartender', capable of juggling bottles and shakers while mixing drinks. But seaside cocktail making is a seasonal occupation, so Mehmet did what talented rural Turks tend to: move to Istanbul.

There he joined a hire agency and continued developing his waitering skills until a friend recommended him for an opportunity in London.

Although his resume impressed, Mehmet was not hired after failing an English test at the final hurdle. Burning with ambition and resolve, he returned to school and learnt the language.

Coming the the UK

"I got the visa came over here and started work at a hotel in Warrington," he said. "They made me supervisor after three months and bar manager after five. You have to keep learning in life. I always look for new experiences and to educate myself."

But then, in 2008, the credit crunch struck and Mehmet lost his job. He was grateful to find another in London.

"This place hardly ever hired new people, but I got very lucky because someone was retiring and I worked there for two years. But the thing is, it was boring and I didn't like living in London. There was no social life and it wasn't for me.

"I went on a break to Bournemouth and loved the sea - it reminded me of Turkey. Money is important, but I think lifestyle is more important."

Mehmet left his job and stayed in Bournemouth for seven years, working in the Vitality Stadium and various hotels. He then received a call from a Turkish friend who was looking to open a restaurant in Cardiff.

"It was a Halal restaurant and my background is in alcohol. But eventually he persuaded me to join him."

In 2018, after two years of working and accumulating loans in Cardiff, Mehmet began to hunt for a venue in which to establish his own restaurant - the brainchild of a man who knows everything there is to about hospitality and Turkish cuisine.

Keyif is born.[H2]

That's when another friend recommended 21 Glebe Street, which was being vacated by the French restaurant Chez Francis.

"It was my dream. I never thought I would find such a good area," he remembers with an emotional smile.

"The restaurant was brilliant straight away. People were so helpful, all the other businesses. There's a big community and people help you.

"Moving to Penarth was like a big hug. Even in the lockdown time, people ordered from my takeaway service saying 'Mehmet, we have to order from you because we don't want to lose you'."

The takeaway service was a resounding success and the restaurant has been jam-packed since reopening. For over a year - perhaps two - TripAdvisor has considered Keyif the very best in Penarth.

[H2]The Garden by the Sea

"That's what I've learnt; You always have to put yourself in the customer's shoes. In English there is the saying 'look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves.' We think 'look after the customer, and everything else will fall into place'.

"When I came from Turkey, I was looking for a sense of family - happy customers and a happy family. That is what I see in Penarth, a happy family."

Mehmet lives in the Marina. He is never far from the sea.