Mere

Former senior sous chef at Le Gavroche and Masterchef judge, Monica Galetti is now offering herself up for public judgement with her first solo restaurant. Mere – pronounced Mary – comes from the French for ‘mother’ and the Samoan for Mary, Galetti’s mother’s name and is a joint production between Monica and her sommelier husband David Galetti.

The premises itself is a two-level affair, with a ground floor bar for 20 and a basement restaurant for 60 or more. There’s an elegant bar at street level, sumptuously upholstered with peacock-blue velvet chairs, on which guests can peruse the menu over a glass of the richly rounded house Champagne Galetti has produced with Duval-Leroy. The striking design continues downstairs, where a double-height glass frontage removes any sense of eating in a basement and makes Mere a light-filled rendezvous for lunch, as well as an elegant setting for dinner.

The menu is a highly seasonal affair, created in conjunction with Head Chef Renée Miller. There is six choices per course that is changed regularly and consist of a mixture of both Galetti’s lighter take on the classics and new dishes currently in development. Galetti’s Samoan and Kiwi heritage is blended seamlessly with Gavroche-style haute cuisine for a contemporary take on high-end dining. Galetti said “The menu is pretty straightforward. I want to create the kind of food and environment that guests can visit regularly and come to Mere to just relax – whether it’s a business lunch or an evening with friends and family.”

The letter ‘M’ appears everywhere in the restaurant, from the door handles of the loos to the lapel pins of the nattily attired waters. With Mere, Monica Galetti has firmly stamped her own identity on one of London’s most famous restaurant streets.

Mere
4 Charlotte Street
London
W1T 4QH