After two restaurants tried and failed to make a go of it in the crypt beneath St George’s Church in Mayfair, Misha Zelman, the founder of Goodman, Burger & Lobster and Beast, is giving it a shot: he’s about to unveil Elezar, a new eastern European chophouse in the subterranean spot.
Enveloped in time-aged brick and sweeping vaulted ceilings, the serene yet sensual centuries-old space is, like Zelman’s other ventures, a shrine to meat. But this time, the project is much more personal.
Russian-born Zelman is focusing on the food he and his team grew up eating. The kitchen is helmed by head chef Erik Miotto, who draws on his Ukrainian family roots, while consulting chef David Bury pulls inspiration from his Polish heritage after years spent working in Japanese kitchens such as Niju.
When it opens this coming Tuesday, November 3, you can expect to find a menu of generously proportioned dishes both inventive and familiar, made for hunkering down with while sheltering from the blustery autumn weather.
Bury is relishing the opportunity to cook the food he loves, inspired by some of his most treasured memories. Growing up in west London, he ate at Polish restaurants when his mother wasn’t cooking, while at home he often made pierogi with his grandmother.
The team is particularly excited about the lacto-fermented cucumbers. “I’m so proud about the pickles because it’s my family recipe,” Zelman tells Broadsheet over vodka and sour, crunchy pickles. The leftover liquid also finds its way into sauces, including a beurre blanc, as well as a soon-to-be-signature cocktail that sits somewhere between a Gibson and a dirty Martini.
The menu opens with zakuski, which Zelman considers an essential ritual and the restaurant’s introduction to eastern European hospitality. Here that means small open rye bread sandwiches topped with thick slices of butter and either herring, pork cheek or caviar; they’re designed to be enjoyed in two bites alongside a shot of vodka.
“It’s part of my mission to explain how to drink vodka,” Zelman says. “When you drink it you feel the warmth inside of your stomach, your ears start hearing what you didn’t hear before, you start thinking whether you can jump or fly. But those are just side effects. The most important effect is to open your palate.”
From there it’s difficult not to fill up on former Impala pastry chef Adiyatu Sambu Balde’s fluffy, challah-inspired knots, dusted with bagel seasoning. Made with added dairy and tangzhong (a cooked flour and water mixture, to make it softer), they arrive served with a thick wedge of butter or a liberal slather of smalec, a Polish pork fat spread, with crackling and crispy onions.
There are cabbage rolls filled with fish and rice inspired by Paprykarz Szczecinski, a Polish tinned sandwich spread Bury grew up eating, as well as parcels of cheese and beef pierogi. For Christmas, Bury has been working on a sauerkraut and porcini version with a sauce made from fermented beetroot. “So, kind of borscht style,” he says.
The core meat and fish mains will all cost £28. General manager Josh Learwood says the point is that guests can choose according to their appetite instead of what’ll bring down the cost of the bill. “Eating out is expensive, right? We want to bring the best quality that we can find, but we also want it to be accessible for people.”
Whole tuna is butchered and dry-aged in-house, with a bone-in “ribeye” cut cooked over the grill. Meanwhile, meat will be recommended according to the taste and mouthfeel each diner craves, rather than by traditional cuts. “The beef today is like wine,” Zelman says. “We want to represent what we butchers and chefs love to eat.”
Meat will arrive from all over the world, and will be chosen based on what tastes best according to the team. “Just like fruits, vegetables and other produce, beef is very seasonal,” Zelman says. “We’re going to start with beef from Finland. Also the Lake District, because November is a very good time for beef from the area. And there will be a little bit of Australian beef because it was an amazing season there recently.”
Puddings roll up on a trolley, ready to be served family style. Caramelised apple tart and a towering layered honey cake are cut tableside, offered alongside a winter-spiced crème caramel. The honey cake’s thin sheets of sponge soften overnight beneath a cream filling, with cake crumbs and candied walnuts adding crunch on top. “It will be served like this,” says Zelman, moving an imaginary knife over an imaginary cake, raising his eyebrows to question whether he can tempt you into a more generous slice.
To drink, there’s a Fernet Spritz made with traditional Czech-made Fernet tracked down by brand manager David Ellis, alongside a vodka-heavy cocktail menu of curiosities from across Poland, Hungary, Serbia and Ukraine, including a beetroot-based take on a Bloody Mary and a sour made with Romanian fruit brandy.
Head of wine Merlin Ramos has put together a list that represents Poland, the Balkans and the wine-producing regions along the Danube, with a substantial Mayfair-appropriate French selection, too. Despite the restaurant’s neighbourhood, glasses start at £7.
Like its holy neighbours, above all, the team wants to create a warm, hospitable, welcoming environment for fans of eastern European cuisine and prospective converts. Though, judging by the team’s passion for vodka, Elezar may not be quite as restrained as the man upstairs would hope. “We want to excite people. We want to have fun,” Learwood says. “We want this restaurant to be a really good, fun place to come to.”
Elezar
The Vestry, 2A Mill Street, W1S 1FX
Hours:
Daily midday–10pm
