"We should have been open months ago," says Maresco's owner Stephen Lironi in the bright but slightly punchdrunk way of anyone trying to open a restaurant in London in the current climate. Apparently, energy supplies have been the last remaining piece in the puzzle for this Spanish, by way of Scotland, seafood restaurant that's just getting ready to open its doors in Soho.
The whole project has actually been five years in the making for Stephen and his partners Pablo Rodriguez and Naroa Ortega who are also behind Bar Esteban in Crouch End and Escocesa in Stoke Newington. After an early site in Shoreditch fell through, they happened upon this site on the corner of Berwick and Noel Street during the pandemic. "We saw this and it seemed perfect," says Stephen, "so it turns out it was good to wait for the right place".
As with his other two places, Maresco - a conjunction of mar (sea) and esco which is short for Escocia (Scotland) and just one vowel away from Marisco (seafood) - this will be a continuation of the team's passion for serving up Spanish dishes with a focus on Scottish seafood. "I'm not someone with loads of new concepts, this is my thing."
The former record producer turned restaurateur (he's married to Altered Images' Clare Grogan) first fell in love with Spain following the annual pilgrimage of his family by car from Scotland to Spain on their holidays. "I've travelled around it so much," he says, "and I remember its transition from a fascist state under Franco to becoming really modern and leading the way in fashion food and culture."
After reading a piece about how so much Scottish seafood was exported to "countries where it would be really appreciated", Stephen decided to open his own place using the best of it in Spanish dishes. He co-opted Pablo who was ex-Barrafina and Moro and Naroa who'd worked at Extebarri to help him realise that dream.
The only problem was that his neighbourhood places wouldn't support much of a lunchtime trade, making it hard to be around for all those overnight deliveries of live seafood direct from Shetland. The opening of a place in Soho means that the menu at Maresco is going to be seafood-driven from the start.
As chef Pablo explains, they'll be keeping the menu in Soho deliberately short so they can play around with the specials board. But dishes he could confirm would be on there include:
- Txistorra del mar - sausage made with mackerel and monkfish
- Bomba Escocesa stuffed with Shetland mussels and a fennel sofrito
- Scottish oysters with green gazpacho
- Fideuá with langoustines
- Highland venison with cauliflower pil pil
The wine list will be exclusively Spanish with "lots of our favourite wines that have been discovered on our travels, so more esoteric regions," Stephen's particularly excited by the Tenerife red which he describes as Burgundian in nature and which they serve slightly chilled. "We really like the low intervention wines verging on the natural - from winemakers that tend to be small production and spend a lot of time in the vineyard."
All in all, Maresco when it opens will have room for 48 diners in total. There's a more intimate dining room downstairs and the ground floor will be a light bright space with people dining at the kitchen counter and looking out over Soho. It sounds like oiur kind of place.
More about Maresco
Where is it? 45 Berwick St, London W1F 8SF
When? 9 November 2022
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @maresco_soho
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