Elezar is an Eastern European chophouse in the crypt of St George’s Church, Hanover Square, in Mayfair. Restaurateur Misha Zelman, who has more than 30 years in steakhouses and beef behind him, runs it with Head Chef Erik Miotto and Consulting Chef David Bury. The name is adapted from the Hebrew eleazar, meaning ‘God has helped’.
Pickling, fermenting, curing and preserving underpin the cooking. Miotto draws on his Ukrainian family roots and stints at Cycene and Akoko, while Bury’s Polish heritage shapes the kitchen’s raw fish carving and whole-carcass butchery. That butchery is the room’s centrepiece: meat fridges stocked with whole carcasses and dry-aged cuts sit in full view, and counter seats put you close to the action.
The menu opens with zakuski, open rye sandwiches laid with a thick slice of butter (not a spread) and topped with herring, pork cheek, anchovy or caviar - ideally chased with vodka or a house eau de vie. A separate caviar section offers 125g for £180. Starters split into hot (Miedzy, meaning ‘between’) and cold (Malasol), taking in the kitchen’s distinctively shaped pierogi and a mackerel tartare. Mains centre on whole fish and big cuts: tuna ribeye on the bone, a Dingley Dell pork chop on smoked parsnip, Denver and pichana. Every meat and fish main costs £28, so you order on appetite rather than price, with on-the-bone ribeye and T-bone as daily specials. Sides include sauerkraut, hasselback potatoes with garlic and dill, tomato salad and bitter leaves.
Cocktails include a Pickle Martini and a Fernet Spritz made with Czech Fernet, while a separate, vodka-heavy menu gathers curiosities from Poland, Hungary, Serbia and Ukraine. There’s a Czech house beer and Polish wine by the glass from Kamil Barczentewicz. Head of Wine Merlin Ramos’s list runs from the Balkans to Burgundy, with house claret on tap and a strong French showing for Mayfair, plus six themed ‘journeys’ for anyone who wants to dig deeper.