From page to plate, Rowe turns her cookbook into a restaurant.

Empire-building is in Silvena Rowe’s blood. The platinum blond Bulgarian, who’s father was Turkish, feels deeply Ottoman. “It will be a work of art,” she says, as we swoop around her not-quite-finished Eastern Mediterranean-inspired restaurant Quince, due to soft launch on Tuesday, May 24. At present, marble worktops are covered by dust sheets, coloured glass windows look dull without back lighting and the glorious red velvet furniture has been covered to prevent paint splatters. But in Rowe’s eyes, it’s ready.
Her blue eyes shine with visionary zeal. This is Rowe’s most important venture and a result of the rave reviews she received for her first cookbook Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume. Now she is about to demonstrate whether her pistachios, zaatar, flowers, sumac and pomegranate flavours will combine as well on the plate, as on a page. If Ottoman food can once again dominate in this new world order. Her cooks are already in the kitchen practicing. “This is the most important time in my career,” she says with a determined smile. “I do not want to fail.”