Many people around Woodbridge will be familiar with the wonderful Maria Elia. The chef, who has worked all over the world in restaurants cooking or as a consultant, and released three cook books, has shared her sunshine-filled food across east Suffolk.
Her popular ready-to-heat meals, with their cheery hand drawn illustrations and instructions regularly sold-out during lockdown from The Merchant’s Table.
She launched private dining at a specially designed barn at her home this summer.
And more recently she stepped in to lend a hand at the Old Hospital Hub’s Canteen in Southwold, where customers were delighted by her food – made with local ingredients and a nod to her Greek heritage.
Now, after a successful pop-up there earlier this year, the creative chef is back in Woodbridge, opening Maria’s @ New Street Market on Saturday (November 12), serving lunch and weekend suppers until Christmas.
“I absolutely loved being in Southwold,” she says. “But it’s an hour from home, and most of my customers and contacts are in the Woodbridge area. My Smashing Plates night at New Street Market was so brilliant (we had a waiting list) that I couldn’t resist coming back.”
Describing the process as “totally organic” Maria says she will be bringing a little flavour of Greece to the ever-changing menu...but really it will focus on showcasing whatever’s good that day. That could include pumpkins, tomatoes and leeks from her garden and polytunnel, or the freshest catch of the day from her fishmonger.
“I’ll be taking all those glorious autumn ingredients and making them shine. It will very much be a case of ‘what shall I cook today?’. There’s no rules. I’ll be able to spend my time being constantly creative. What I want is for it to be lovely and not pretentious...and fun. For people to have a really nice time and walk out happy saying they can’t wait to come back.
“That’s all you can ever wish for as a cook...to make people happy. Especially with the way things are in the world at the moment.”
Lunch will be served from 12noon to 2.30pm Wednesday to Saturday, and dinner on Fridays and Saturdays from 6pm to 8.30pm (beginning November 18).
There may be pastries on Saturday mornings, and a one-off Bacon Brunch is planned for November 27. “I’m doing that with my friend, the food blogger Niamh Shields (Eat Like A Girl). She’s going to come over for the day and we’ll be cooking things like chipotle cola bacon slabs with fried eggs!”
As for the regular menu? Many lunchtime dishes will run into the a la carte dinner service.
Expect generous, hearty portions of rib-sticking food. Maria lists lunches of ribollita – a thick Tuscan stew of bread and seasonal vegetables. There could be venison ragu with fresh gnocchi. And her famous moussaka will definitely make an appearance.
“I’ll post it on social media. So I might have a moussaka coming out of the oven at midday and it will be a case of ‘come down now and grab it while you can’.”
Maria describes her succulent porchetta, to be served in rolls with homemade apple sauce, aioli and crackling.
“And I came up with a very exciting dish the other day. I took some smoked ham and cooked it down with white beans and some fennel. Then I made a delicious emulsion with lobster shells. That will definitely make an appearance.”
Evening diners can expect the likes of beef short rib stifado, Maple Farm beetroot with bitter leaves and Hodmedod’s green lentils, kleftico-style lamb shanks with orzo and feta, and roast Crown Prince squash with St Jude’s curd, sage burnt butter and red chillies.
Something Maria’s rather giddy about is her as-yet-to-be-named trolley, which will be laden with a very special offering every day – that could be a little tapas, a big sharing dessert to be spooned out at the table, or a cocktail. It’ll be wheeled around the dining room for customers to pick from.
“I have so many ideas in my head,” she says, “and the trolley is kind of my way of expressing some of those ideas. One night it might have a fig leaf negroni or a martini made with my fennel-infused gin. Another time a huge plate of hummus topped with different things like moussaka-spiced aubergine or charred pumpkin with spicy chickpeas. There could be a couple of puddings, like a big quince kataifi cheesecake.
“We’ve got such amazing produce in Suffolk so it will be a celebration of that too.”
The space is licensed, and Maria has worked with locally-based Flunder Wines and Smashing Wines to create a “small but sweet” wine list, as well as some more unique offerings like Something & Nothing’s lower alcohol spritzes in flavours such as Yuzu, Cucumber, and Hibiscus & Rose.
Book at reservations.maria.nsm@gmail.com or on 07843220860 from this Thursday.
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