Mayfair, London W1 is getting a new Greek restaurant. Maza is the first site beyond Notting Hill for Christina Mouratoglou and Adrien Carré, who opened Mazi in 2012 and added sister restaurant Suzi Tros seven years later, according to Restaurant Online.

The concept

Maza seats 90 and draws on the conviviality of 1980s Athens. Retro design includes a vinyl listening bar, and the menu follows Mouratoglou's vision of classic Athenian cooking, shaped by family recipes and the team's travels in Greece. The name means 'everyday bread' in ancient Greek. Carré explained it was a barley bread served as a staple, the bread of the people, while the wealthy ate wheat bread.

The pair describe the restaurant as communal, built around sharing plates. Mouratoglou said the aim is to take diners to a different era in hospitality, inspired by childhood memories of tavernas where the hospitality was warm and the room was loud.

The food

  • An open kitchen with a central grill, with a focus on fire cooking and spit-roasted meats.
  • Seafood sourced in collaboration with fishermen, who text the restaurant with the previous night's catch. Guests can choose how it is prepared, raw or grilled for example.
  • Bone marrow pasta, which Mouratoglou expects to be a standout.
  • Pork belly gyros, served shredded with warm pitas and garnishes so guests build their own wraps. Mouratoglou said it was inspired by the way Chinese restaurants serve crispy aromatic duck.

The drinks

The team says Maza will have the world's largest exclusively Greek wine list, with 150 selections. At the front of it sit just under a dozen tsipouros. Mouratoglou described the spirit as 100% grape, similar to grappa but more subtle, traditionally taken in small sips between bites of seafood and meze. She said she would like to bring back the idea of the leisurely, late lunch.

Carré, who is French, said he wanted to bring care and expertise to Greek wines, and that the team has worked with importers in England to source the best available.

The site and the design

Carré said he had wanted a place in Mayfair since he was 17. The site is just off the centre of Mayfair, on a smaller street he described as intimate and slightly buzzy. He said nothing in the restaurant was bought off the shelf: chairs, tables and tiles were all made bespoke, which he said is partly why there have been delays. A mirrored corridor leads down to the WCs.

What comes next

Carré called Mayfair a stepping stone. The founders want to build a global Greek brand, with the US likely to be next.

Photo: No Swan So Fine, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.