NEITHER Silvena Rowe's husky Eastern European drawl nor her Ottoman-style cooking have been diluted by more than 25 years of living in Britain.

The 6ft, blue-eyed, spiky white-blonde haired Saturday Kitchen regular, known for her sweet sauces and exotic spice blends, has a formidable presence that is definitely more Istanbul than Islington.

Communist Bulgaria might have been home for Rowe while growing up, but her family kitchen was Turkish. And when Rowe's Istanbul-born father died in 2007, the mother-of-two was inspired to go on a journey through Turkey and Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, eating and tracing her Ottoman roots.

The trip resulted in her first best-selling recipe book Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume. Her follow-up book, Orient Express, is a straightforward proposition, although no less exotic.

This is the kind of book you want to savour on a sultry summer's afternoon. Simple fresh recipes bounce off the page, bursting with originality and subtlety, balancing sweet and savoury flavours.

“While I do use a lot of sweetness, I’m very careful. I use glazes, such as molasses on meat, lightly. And it is always a good sweetness, a fruity sweetness,” said Rowe.

“One mistake people make in this country is to throw the flowers away on the herbs. “I use them all the time.”

At present Rowe seems on the cusp of stardom. She’s juggling her first major restaurant launch, Quince (a luxurious homage to the East based in London’s Mayfair), her recipe book Orient Express is in its second reprint and she hints at some serious television in the offing. Despite the pressure, she wears her responsibilities with the assurance of a sultan.

“My restaurant launch has been compared in importance to those of Heston Blumenthal and Jason Atherton. And I do see myself in that light,” she says confidently.

“I may not have got the male bullying tactics of certain chefs in this country, but I certainly have an amazing cuisine that is very alluring.”

She says fans of the book can buy all the ingredients for her recipes in their local supermarket. Well, almost.

“OK, you might not be able to buy za’atar but you can blend it yourself. There are just four ingredients,” explains Rowe.

“And it’s all very healthy. I don’t use any olive oil or butter in my cooking.”

See for yourself with these exotic recipes taken from Orient Express.