“I’ve retired from fry-ups,” says Elliott Kaye, who in 2020 co-founded one of London’s most famous cafés, Norman’s. It was a phenomenon, a modern “greasy spoon” as divisive as it was successful. Queues, hundreds of people long at their peak, continued until Kaye and his then business partner Richie Hayes called time in June last year. By then, the brand had amassed more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, partnered with Burberry for London Fashion Week, and had everyone asking whether or not it was OK, actually, to make ham, egg and chips look a bit posh?
A year later and Kaye, still only 32, is going solo. In September, he’ll open Marrion’s in Hackney, serving affordable drinks and unpretentious food. Dishes, from £6 to £16, include devilled crab rarebit, pork schnitzel, moules frites, prawn cocktail, and a classic cheeseburger. Kaye says the concept is partly inspired by New York venues — he cites celebrity favourite The Odeon as one — and the breezy cafés of Europe.
“We’ve taken inspiration from places that I absolutely love,” he says. “Classics from America and Europe, but not focused on anything too specific. I love approachable, simple food. We want people to come in, have four or five pints, and then think, ‘Oh, I really want a proper tuna melt and fries’.”
“We want people to have four or five pints, and then think, ‘Oh, I really want a proper tuna melt’”
That’s not to say Kaye has shaken his old café’s influence entirely, conceding some dishes will be “Norman’s-esque”. He acknowledges the importance of Instagram, of looking good in modern London hospitality. Marrion’s won’t offer reservations; staff are to wear high-end, checked brown button-up shirts; the venue’s name, written on the window rather than above the door, will appear in a font inspired by the old Watneys brewery, which was cool in the 1920s and will most likely become cool again.
“I’m really proud of what we did and what we achieved,” Kaye says. “We never tried to manufacture hype, and we didn’t expect the idea to blow up as much as it did. I was only 25 at the time. It was a learning curve; we’re thankful it happened. But the lease ran out and we felt it was time to move on. Now I’m ready for a new challenge.”
Kaye is in the kitchen — through which guests must walk to reach the bathroom, wonderfully — with chef Maricella Espinosa-Blohm, formerly of Kol and Rita’s. Overseeing the bar is Jay Davis. The menu will feature “big martinis”, daiquiris, sazeracs and negronis. “We’ll have drinks with strong identities,” Davis says. “Lots of mezcals and tequilas. Vermouths. On draft, there’ll be one beer: Victoria Málaga, served in Spanish caña-style glasses. And there’ll be some funky, natty wines. But also wines for your mum, if you want to bring her.”
Marrion’s is still a building site when Kaye and I meet. The bar — with a midnight closing time that could soon be 1am — will feature red tabletops and a beautifully tiled back bar, cream walls covered in mirrors, and stainless-steel standing tables that give way to low wooden ones. There’ll be a kitchen hatch for all those tuna melts. Kaye says: “It’s a pub layout, sort of. We didn’t want it to look too contrived. It’s supposed to feel easy and fun. It’s a Thursday to Sunday operation.”
Sundays, by the way, will be for day drinking and brunch — bagels, boiled eggs with anchovies, fried fish sandwiches and coffee from Dark Arts. “But,” Kaye sighs, “absolutely no fry-ups.”
Marrion’s Bar will open in mid-September
