A Generous Bowl of Guacamole With Love From a Turkish Chef

“No tomato. The acid makes it go off.”

Yavuz Ozborme barely looks up as he speaks. Knife in hand, wooden block in front of him, he continues working through the avocados. More than three decades in professional kitchens have taught him that some things last longer when you’re willing to make adjustments.

The Türkiye-born chef arrived in the United Kingdom in 1992 after following his younger brother, Cuneyt. The plan was simple: Work hard, save money and eventually return home. Instead, life took a different direction.

In 2001 he and his brother opened Buffalo Grill in Greenwich, southeast London. Twenty-five years later, the restaurant remains part of the neighborhood’s fabric. Regular customers still walk through the door. Families have grown. Plans have changed. What was meant to be temporary became permanent.

Just as Ozborme adjusted his plans for life, he adjusted the guacamole he first learned to make in a Mexican restaurant only a few meters from where Buffalo Grill stands today. “The texture was too smooth,” he recalls. “Too close to the ready-made kind.”

So, he changed it.

Less cumin. Better salt. Olive oil. No tomato. He adjusted in increments. Together they created something better. “You always improve and learn. There’s no end,” he explains.

As he folds coriander through the avocado, the statement feels less like cooking advice than a philosophy for living.

When Yavuz arrived in London, he expected to leave. Instead, he built a family, a business and a life. The guacamole evolved alongside him through years of paying attention to what worked and what didn’t. “My first guacamole wasn’t as good as what I just made,” he says, adding, “At the moment, we are doing the best one.”

Then he pauses before sliding the bowl across the table.

“If we find we can make it better, we will.”