From imam baildi and tyrokafteri to grandma’s meatballs and armenoville, everything reminds of Thessaloniki at Suzi Tros
By Maria Mathiopoulou
She brought the gastronomic Thessaloniki and its history to the “heart” of Notting Hill, utilizing her flavorful memories from the city where she grew up. Christina Mouratoglou wanted to introduce the concept of Thessaloniki’s gastro-taverna in London, creating Suzi Tros together with her husband Adrien Carré, a Greek restaurant inspired by Thessaloniki, where the ingredients play the leading role in the dishes and are the ones that… speak. From imam baildi, grandma’s meatballs, and seafood treats to tyrokafteri, tarama, and armenoville, everything evokes Thessaloniki at Suzi Tros, which took its name from the well-known phrase in the movie “La Parisienne,” a phrase-ode, as Christina Mouratoglou describes it, to the love of food.
Suzi Tros is the sibling of Mazi, the first restaurant Christina Mouratoglou created in London in 2012 with her husband, and is located right next door. It is the result of all her childhood memories from the legendary restaurants of her past in Thessaloniki, as well as her family’s well-meaning obsession with good food that always accompanied her. In fact, the entire team at Suzi Tros hails from Thessaloniki, with which Christina Mouratoglou speaks the same gastronomic language and shares the same flavor memories.
After a dynamic three-year journey of Suzi Tros post-pandemic, there are discussions about a pop-up Suzi Tros in Greece, and it is not excluded that we may see a gastronomic venture in Thessaloniki in the future when the right concept for the city is found, as Christina notes during her conversation with Voria.gr.
Beyond Mazi in London, Mazi restaurants have also been established in Abu Dhabi and Morocco, as part of the couple’s broader strategy for international expansion, while a new restaurant of a similar nature in London is in the works.
The imprint of Thessaloniki and the love for food
Christina Mouratoglou left Thessaloniki in 2002 at the age of 19 to study communication in Edinburgh, later moving to London to pursue a master’s degree. She initially worked in public relations for a time, but her desire to do something she truly enjoyed changed her course. With a family business background and the culture of entrepreneurship in her blood, along with a great love for hospitality and food, everything pointed in that direction.
It is characteristic that she consistently spent her money on restaurants, and as a student, she eagerly awaited her parents to go out and dine together somewhere nice. Thus, seeing that there was no Greek restaurant in Great Britain at that time that reflected true Greek cuisine and that foreigners had a rather distorted image of what Greek food is, she decided to make her own attempt. After all, the memories of Thessaloniki and her family were always around a table.
Her grandmother on her mother’s side was born in Constantinople, while her grandfather and grandmother on her father’s side came from Caesarea, so the love for good food was etched in her DNA. Through all these influences, Mazi emerged with Greek cuisine presented in a more modern way and unique techniques, where the Greek characteristic of the flavors was clear.
However, Christina Mouratoglou had not… severed her ties with Thessaloniki. Her memories of the old Krikela, of Hermes, Lepehn, the old Olympus Naousa, Diagonal, Mrs. Magda and her stuffed cabbage simmered within her and surfaced in all their dimensions with Suzi Tros, which opened just before the pandemic, had to remain closed for some time due to quarantine, and returned strongly from the end of 2021.
Christina Mouratoglou returns periodically to Thessaloniki and continues to draw inspiration from it, seeking new flavors. She has noticed tremendous development in the city’s gastronomy in recent years and very serious work from the new generation of local chefs.
September 28, 2024