Chef Mahdi of The Great Chase to open Méli-Mélo in Camberwell
HALAL STATUS Fully Halal
Credit: Meli-Melo; Rehan Siddiqui
The chef behind the success of two Halal London restaurants will be going solo tomorrow when he launches his very first eatery.
Elevated The Great Chase to dizzying heights
The former head chef of Islington’s fine dining restaurant The Great Chase will be opening a small site in south London’s Camberwell at 10am.
Located on Coldharbour Lane, fully Halal Méli-Mélo will celebrate its grand opening with 20% off the entire menu until Tuesday 8 February.
Owner Mahdi has plied his trade working under Michelin chefs like Angela Hartnett while also having been head chef at a 2-Michelin restaurant.
With almost two decades of experience, he will be serving enhanced brunches and roasts, as well as sophisticated tacos, burgers, pancakes, and French toasts.
Going by Méli-Mélo’s Instagram account, emphasis appears to be on refined European cuisine with dishes that include the following eye-openers:
- Salmon Tartine – Creamy scrambled egg, hot smoked salmon flakes, miso and roasted red pepper cream, beetroot powder and chives, all on a homemade toasted focaccia.
- Aniseed macaron, strawberry tagada mousse, lemon-thyme milk panna cotta, raspberry sorbet, charcoal sand, rhubarb gel, and coriander cress.
- Pumpkin risotto, wild mushrooms persillade, pecorino chiboust and dill chimichurri.
- Pancake – orange curd butter milk, mandarins, pomegranate and sour creams.
Chef Mahdi of The Great Chase (and Brioche Burger) comes full circle
Originally from France, Chef Mahdi reverted to Islam in the UK before deciding to shift his focus towards working only at fully Halal food establishments – his first turning out to be Brioche Burger.
Helped establish former Brioche Burger as a leading Halal brand
Taking over as Executive Head Chef, the former east London restaurant quickly acquired a formidable reputation as one of London’s leading Halal gourmet burger brands.
Chef Mahdi introduced Halal burgers that elevated the UK’s Halal burger market while setting a new benchmark which, arguably, still remains the standard.
From the dazzling heights of The Super Saiyan 6oz Wagyu beef, and the Fillet-o-Fish inspired Oh My COD, to the extraordinary spinach and mozzarella patty of the Roger Rabbit, these were never-before-tried Halal burgers.
Following the closure of Brioche Burger in 2019, and a brief stint with Band of Burgers, Chef Mahdi’s talent was secured by The Great Chase, which went on to acquire a reputation of being London’s best fully Halal fine dining destination.
Chef Mahdi also has his own Instagram food account called @yummyflo where he chronicles his extraordinary culinary creations.
Méli-Mélo
16 Coldharbour Lane, Camberwell, London SE5 9PR.
W: @melimelo.uk
Opening Hours: Weekdays 13:00-22:00 | Sat 12:30-23:00 | Sun 12:30-21:30
