Meraki is a Greek restaurant in the heart of Fitzrovia, London; established for over 12 years and a popular spot for lunch and dinner with a strong local following. Taking over the restaurant 12 months ago, the Dunham Massey group elevated the restaurant with a full refurbishment including internal décor, as well as front and back of house equipment. While still retaining its traditional Greek cuisine, the menu now has a fine dining edge, courtesy of Executive Chef Laszlo Toth and his French training.
“Meraki, it is a big name here, in Fitzrovia and the food is everything. We focus on traditional Greek food with a French fine dining infusion. This comes through in our tableware, we chose the Crème range, it’s my favourite brand. Clean and white with plates, bowls, cups – everything to make our food stand out. We pair our favourite dishes on the menu with a Crème piece, like our Octopus – it’s really popular on the menu and we serve it in the Crème bowl, even our customers, they say, I love this bowl.”
Working with Lockhart Catering Equipment, the Meraki team visited the London Innovation Centre to choose the style of table and bar ware for the restaurant. With a raft of brands to choose from, Chef Laszlo and his team were able to see everything, all in one place.
“The Innovation Centre is incredible. For a chef, it’s just amazing to have everything laid out in front of you, and not just plates, but bowls, cups, cutlery and bar ware too, everything is just there, it’s such a big help for us and the team there are so helpful, we have a great relationship.”
Relationships are a key part of the industry for Chef Laszlo, and when discussing an event that Lockhart had planned to hold at the Innovation Centre, Chef said, why not also have it here at Meraki?
“I said to Mark, let’s have the lunch here, at Meraki, it will be great. Chefs talking to chefs, and building relationships, it’s what the industry is all about and for us, the relationship with Lockhart works so well, not just in London – we have restaurants in Sheffield, in Nottingham and in Cheshire, it’s a relationship that works across all our restaurants.”
For Mark Lombard, MD of Bunzl Lockhart Catering Equipment & CCS, holding an event at the London Innovation Centre saw forty chefs interacting with partner brands as well as hosting a networking lunch at Meraki.
“Holding the event at the Innovation Centre is really important for me, we had three partner brands, Victorinox, Metcalfe and Blendtec, each running a short product demonstration and then we all went over to Meraki for an amazing lunch. It’s about people coming together and sharing ideas and networking. It’s key that we show innovation and that it’s affordable innovation. Talking to chefs about what they’re doing and how we can help to elevate what they’re doing, and how we can all move forward in a really tough market. Having these relationships is critical, people buy from people in this industry!”
