Good Sunday evening! Its been a long time since a regular post (apart from our #365DaysofLondonBaby) but I promise it will be worth it 🙂

The Mae Deli by Deliciously Ella has secretly opened their doors in Marleybone and London Baby was lucky to visit today, try the delicious food and take a few pictures of the place. I have to warn you, you’ll find this post slightly biased, but I have been a fan of Deliciously Ella for long. The blog has animated me to get in the kitchen a few times more than I used to and the food is so delicious. So when I heard about the Mae Deli opening in November, I was curious and excited and after a delivery order during their pilot in November, I was sold.  So, you have been warned – happy reading!

What is the Mae Deli?

In their own words, “The Mae Deli- Matthew and Ella’s Deli. A place of health and happiness on 21 Seymour Place, London”. For those who don’t know Matthew and Ella- Ella is the author of the successful blog DeliciouslyElla.com and author of the #1 selling book on Amazon.co.uk this year, the Deliciously Ella cooking book  (no affiliation from my side, just want to provide you with the link). Ella is on a mission to introduce us to healthy and easy to make food (and she even got me in the kitchen!). Matthew is her fiance and has swapped a successful business career to make this dream of theirs come true.  So together, they have created the Mae Deli in the heart of Marleybone. They feature breakfast, salads, deserts, bakery and warm lunches / dinners.

What is the Mae Deli like? Is it not one of those “Celebrities are milking it venues”? 

When I heard for the first time that the Mae Deli was opening, I thought it was an exciting, next step for Deliciously Ella in building her brand and business. It was exciting to follow up on the developments of creating and building the Mae Deli and its menu on Ella’s blog and Instagram. In November, there was a soft launch of the Menu for a few days for delivery  and when I ordered, I was really pleased by the food I received (more below).

So this morning, I realised on Instagram, that the Deli was open now – not in an official big announcement but more a trial run. Excitedly I turned up and it looked inviting, cozy and beautiful. Matthew and Ella were both present, working hard with their team to get all up an running as well as welcoming friends and crazy curious people like me.

As you can see from the pictures, the place is well-designed but its much less “Hipstery” than one would have expected. It felt very inviting. Its on two floors, with the top floor being the counter and a few places at the bar (watching Marleybone life going by) and in the downstairs part, there are a few tables and benches and a very lazy armchair. I’ll get to the food in a minute, but to answer my question above – I did not get the feeling that someone is trying to cash in on their fame but this place really shows that two people (and probably a very talented team behind them) have really thought about what they would like and have made it a reality. Even thought the prices are not really a bargain and a bit on the expensive end (a full lunch with a juice and maybe desert will be between 12-20£) – the quality is absolutely superb and you will leave satisfied and full in the end, so its feeling that the premium is deserved.

How is the food?

It says Deliciously Ella on the tin, and it was every inch as good looking and delicious as the cookbook / blog are promising! There is a breakfast menu from 7.30 to 11.oo and a Lunch / Dinner Menu thereafter. Breakfast is either Rye toast or a healthy bowl – bases here are Porridge, Chia Pudding, Bircher Musli or Acai Bowl and Coyo. Then you can top it with a range of healthy toppings. I chose the Chia pudding with a seeds and apple compote topping and it was so yummy that I totally forgot to take a picture 🙂

For Lunch / Dinner, there are a range of changing cold salads and warm bowls with Stew, Pasta etc. Its possible to mix and match to sample a variety. There is also a soup. All dishes are vegetarian and gluten free, but its possible to add “protein options” – aka Chicken or Salmon. There had been a huge public backlash on this fact from the hardcore Ella fanbase (as she is normally all vegetarian) – which I can’t understand because nobody has to take it and its not featured prominently on the menu! When I asked Ella about it, she explained that it was important for her to cater to everyone with healthy food and not make it an exclusive place or stick a label on it. Well done! And it works – even though I am a total carnivore, I chose a bowl with a mix of four salads (Spuds salad, Raw Asian Slaw, Edamame brown rice and Sweet Potatoes) and I had no urge whatsoever to top it up with chicken and still had a great and filling meal that left me with a beaming smile.

Last but not least, there are freshly pressed juices and a smoothie selection. The juices are high quality cold press (comparable to other high-end juice brands in London) and the smoothies look nice as they not only feature fruits / veggies but also some extra’s like nutbutter etc. I had the glowing green to take away and it was creamy and (hopefully) healthy :). See all the details and prices in the pictures above!

What about the coffee?

So here comes the part that initially suprised me, but in the overall context of the Deli makes more sense – even though there is a shiny machine in the Deli, there is only a small selection of coffee – namely Espresso, Americano and “Ella’s Latte” . No Cappuccino, Flat White or others that you would expect in a high -venue like this. But of course, regular cow milk is out of the question in this Deli. And instead of butchering great coffee with crazy other milks, they have decided to keep it simple with only one Latte, which is not steamed or so, but purely with brown rice milk. As a coffee snob, i was very very sceptical when I heard it but tried it anyway and was pleasantly suprised – it tasted really good. So that saved the day, but if your main goal is a coffee, maybe opt for the Monocle cafe in Chiltern Street 🙂

 

Anything else to say?

Not much! Go give it a try – you might be as lucky as me and meet Matthew and Ella in person. If not, you can buy a signed Deliciously Ella book or a “Love, Peace & Kale / Coconut / Yoga” tote.

The Deli is in 21 Seymour Place, London  and opening hours are: 7.30am-9pm Mon-Fri, 9am-7pm Sat & Sun