Maria Elia
Born and raised in London within her family’s Greek-Cypriot restaurant, Maria is a classically-trained chef who has been passionate about food since day dot. Her career as a chef, supper club host, and restaurant consultant has been varied and vibrant, taking her everywhere from private luxury yachts to Ferran Adrià’s legendary El Bulli. In the UK, she’s manned the stoves in the kitchens of Coast (Stephen Terry’s trailblazing 1990s and 2000s restaurant), Delfina (a stalwart of Bermondsey Street, now one of London’s culinary meccas) and The Whitechapel Gallery Dining Room and Café (which received rave reviews, two AA Rosettes and a mention in the Michelin guide).
She’s also been a regular on the TV-chef circuit, appearing on Great Food Live, Saturday Cooks, Ready Steady Cook and Market Kitchen, as well as writing for BBC Good Food, Olive, and Waitrose, Delicious and The Guardian magazines.
Author of three award winning books: The Modern Vegetarian, Full of Flavour and Smashing Plates which draws on her Anglo Greek heritage-redefining Greek cuisine as we know it!
Maria has recently moved to Suffolk will be cooking a series of restaurant quality dishes using the finest seasonal and local ingredients, to be reheated/finished at home with minimum effort with flavours inspired by her Greek heritage and worldwide travels through time spent working on board a private yacht. These dishes will be available to order through Maria, more details in our Events section, with pick up from The Merchant’s Table on Thursdays and Fridays every week.
Maria will post the menu, consisting of a comforting soup and a more substantial dish with the option of additional sides, (with a vegetarian option always available).
Example dishes include Chicken and orzo soup, slow cooked lamb with gigantes (giant beans) rabbit ribollita, Red braised aubergines, Asian braised brisket of beef and Moroccan spiced duck.
It’s a small project that we hope to organically grow based on your feedback and as our knowledge of what it is you love to enjoy develops (we’ll also be offering a special Valentine Feast too!).