Marani

I’d heard of Marani, a family run Georgian tavern in Mayfair, from various sources, mainly because it had just opened, and a few reviews were making their way around the internet.
So I decided to take my best friend on a Monday night to sample the fine Georgian cuisine (which I knew nothing about). I did no research or anything, I prefer to be surprised.
It’s located in the heart of Mayfair, so it was just perfect after an evening shopping on Regent Street :)
Quite unassuming from the outside, the interiors are beautiful.
Dimly lit, downstairs has a collection of paintings, murals and original pieces of furniture.
We were greeted by a lovely waitress which took our coats (you get a Chinese fortune cookie style ticket for your coat which is cute) and we were shown to our table.
Whilst she explained the menu, another waiter gave us a plate of freshly baked Georgian bread with butter (yummy), and explained that that’s what you do in Georgia when you have guests.
On to the food.
The menus look a bit shoddy (they’re pages put together with string), and prices vary from £8 for a starter to £15/​25 for a main.
You can have anything from broths to dumplings to veal’s brain.
The idea is that everything is shareable, so everything is served in the middle of the table.
We ordered the typical dumplings, which you have to pick up, turn upside down, bite and suck the juice out before eating the meat, and a lamb stew with apricots and tarragon. All delicious.
Wine is also excellent. There’s a variety of wines from all over the country, but we opted for a Georgian red which was yummy.
After our dinner, our waitress was kind enough to show us the rooms upstairs.
I actually gasped. They hired a Georgian interior designer/​artist to do it and it’s a mix of quirky traditional furnishing and more contemporary takes on it. Also, check out the bathrooms, unbelievable!
Overall the food and wine were great, as was the service and location.
My only observations are that a few hosting things need to fine tuned (waiters are a bit disorganised, but never rude!), but I’m sure that will come with more experience.
Also, some of the prices aren’t quite right. One of our mains was £15 and the other was £24, and there was genuinely nothing that could justify the nearly £10 difference in price. Maybe £5?
But overall it’s definitely worth going. Charming, good atmosphere and will please people that like having fun with their food.