Our Story
A quiet kind of luxury
Kıa was born from a love of evenings that slow down — rooms that hold you, food that surprises you, service that anticipates.
Philosophy
We cook with what the season gives us, and nothing more.
Kıa opened with a simple ambition: to build a Southampton restaurant that felt like a destination — somewhere worth dressing for, somewhere worth travelling for. Our menus are short and seasonal, our wine list curated with care, and our team trained to make every guest feel like the only guest in the room.
Chef‑Patron
Kia Phonon
Southampton, UK
Kia grew up between two kitchens — a grandmother's coastal home in the South of England and a father who cooked with the precision of an engineer. That duality shaped a cook who is at once instinctive and exacting.
After training at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, she spent more than a decade between three‑starred kitchens across Europe — Arpège, The Fat Duck, Noma — before returning home to open Kıa.
"Restraint is the hardest thing to teach in a kitchen. We work very hard so the plate can look very simple."
14
Years
3★
Kitchens
1
Vision
Specialties
Live‑Fire Cooking
Open flame, charcoal embers and aged hardwoods for depth.
South Coast Foraging
Sea herbs, wild garlic and coastal botanicals from local shores.
Modern French Technique
Mother sauces, classical butchery, contemporary finish.
House Fermentation
Koji, garums and lacto‑ferments from our cellar lab.
Selected Career
2010
Le Cordon Bleu, Paris
Grand Diplôme
2012
Commis · Arpège
Paris
2015
Chef de Partie · The Fat Duck
Bray
2018
Sous Chef · Noma
Copenhagen
2021
Head Chef · L'Enclume
Cartmel
2024
Chef‑Patron · Kıa
Southampton
The Room
A space designed to disappear into.
Deep emerald velvet, warm oak, hand‑finished brass and the soft flicker of beeswax candles. Forty seats, never more — an intimate room where conversation lives.
What we believe
Four quiet principles
01
Seasonality
Menus written each week around what the South Coast offers — never the other way around.
02
Craft
Classical techniques, sharpened by years in some of Europe's most celebrated kitchens.
03
Hospitality
Warm, considered service that knows when to speak and when to disappear.
04
Restraint
Plates of three or four ingredients, treated with respect and curiosity.
The Cellar
200+ bottles, hand selected.
Our wine list spans classical Burgundy and Bordeaux, biodynamic growers from the Loire, and a quiet championing of English sparkling — much of it from just down the road.
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