George: For this week’s ultimate guide tour I’m here at Kenza, London’s newest and hottest restaurant. Let’s take a look inside.
It’s absolutely incredible at lunch time we’re just finished. It got a really kind of Bohemian slash. Both have feel about it, perfect for that intimate engagement party.
Marcus, thank you so much for allowing us to come down and see the venue today. Now I had a little bit of look around and curious as to where the name Kenza actually comes from?
Marcus Etty: Kenza is an Arabic name for treasure but treasure is the most deluxe format like in Aladdin’s cave.
George: So Marcus let’s talk about the décor. Where did the inspiration come from?
Marcus Etty: From Maracas without a doubt. It’s very our best in everything we do. We’re Moroccan and Lebanese Restaurant so we put a touch of all the Arabic, very much to feel the Maracas. It’s very opulent, luxurious, very ornate in its style, lots of textiles, very comfortable gold and rich colors, very much about the opulence with a touch of sexy.
George: It’s very intimate? Now is that purposeful?
Marcus Etty: Very much so. We specifically choose the site for a reason in the city which is that we want to almost attach of the Western something very glamorous and very beautiful, very opulent in an area that doesn’t have anything like it is old. If you look in the city the moment is in fantastic restaurants and bars whether they’re very cool put it in a way that they be bought together so it would be in quite delivered in our choosing of what we put in this place.
George: And today we’ve come here as Kenza being an ultimate restaurant for the engagement party. What kind of things do you offer?
Marcus Etty: Well the least is endless without a doubt. Not any do you get the venues it is and a breakdown at different spaces as you can see our private dining room and our bar and our restaurant, so you can break the space down into dining and drinking and dancing and entertainment. But it’s also what we surprised on top of that not all energy have the incense and the candles and the rose petals as part of what we do, but then you have the entertainment. We have belly dancers, four of them. They dance for 20 minutes. You come around and do two sets. We have tarot card readers, henna tattoos, flame throwers, original bands that come over from Morocco that the least is endless with entertainment you can have here to really give a sense of the occasion.
George: So let’s talk about the food, because I think you have quite an interesting menu here.
Marcus Etty: We do, yes we do. We’re mix of Moroccan and Lebanese, that’s towards Lebanese. It has very different styles of cooking all that people thinks they’re similar. The menus for extensive, we specialized in the classic wed eating in Arabic style which in feasting which the idea is you have a selection of mezze of hot, cold mezze dips and salads, and the idea is you sit down on the table within two minutes you have food and the food continues to flow for the whole occasion.
So it’s not a stock to main course, dessert option and then at the right time the main course comes which can be from the whole shoulder of lamb. It is a large party. We can actually do the whole lamb which is a fantastic experience. We do think all the salts and spice which is a very, very special which you can choose anything from lobster to whole wide sea basset salmon which are both on joint platter that take two men to carry and can be brought to the center of the table and everyone can dine, enjoying the eating experience.
It’s very communal and it’s very much about sharing and very much about creating an atmosphere through your food as well. So this is a mezze selection, it is a small part of our menu but this is where the feasting begin where you got a lot of small dishes, you can have opportunity to try many different things. We’ve got a small selection for you here. What we got is the Tabbouleh which is fresh parsley, minced salad. We’ve got ham’s here which is made with cheek peas, lemon and Tahini. We’ve got Falafel and here we’ve got chicken wings with lemon and garlic.
George: Is the idea that every just digs in?
Marcus Etty: That’s the whole idea about the cuisine here. It’s a familiar way of eating and it’s a lot of sharing which makes to look more fun. It’s more interactive and you see the atmosphere when you come here to a restaurant that the party is completely different when you’re in the restaurant. And the reason why is the food interactive it makes a lot more social.
George: And most importantly, perfect for the engagement party.
Marcus Etty: Perfect for the engagement party. You can choose a better place.
George: Marcus, thank you so much for showing us around Kenza today. It’s my real pleasure.
Marcus Etty: Thank you very much.
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