Earlier this week, North London welcomed the arrival of Oui Madame, a modern European pop-up restaurant opening inside Sawyer & Grey in Highbury, Islington.
Spearheaded by experienced restaurateur Martin Lange (Salut!), with a kitchen led by Matthaios Kollias (ex-Dosa, Café Royal, Pied à Terre), Oui Madame will deliver an ingredient-led menu built on classical technique and seasonality.
The pop-up will run for a limited period, with plans to evolve into a permanent space in the local area following its initial phase.
Martin Lange, whose Islington restaurant Salut! earned critical acclaim and a place in Time Out’s Top 100 London Restaurants, brings more than three decades of European hospitality experience to this new project. Raised in a family-run restaurant in Germany, Lange’s approach is rooted in craft, precision and personal service.
“With Oui Madame, the goal is simple: to create a space where guests return not for one signature dish, but for the evolving conversation between kitchen and season,” says Lange. “There’s a looseness in the format; sharing plates, no hierarchy of courses but underneath, the technique is precise.”
Heading the kitchen is Matthaios Kollias, a Greek-born chef with a decade of experience across Europe’s top kitchens. Kollias has refined his culinary voice under chefs at Mandarin Oriental Mayfair’s Michelin-starred Dosa by Akira Back, Café Royal Hotel and Pied à Terre. At Oui Madame, he presents a menu of small and large plates that balances modern European foundations with flashes of Mediterranean warmth and East Asian acidity, always anchored by well-sourced produce.
“This isn’t about fusion,” says Kollias, “but about how flavour can travel, how a Korean gochujang can bring clarity to British beef tartare, or how a burnt carrot can become a focal point when treated with care.”
Guests can expect a regularly rotating selection of both meat and plant-forward offerings, shaped by Kollias’ agile kitchen and seasonal availability.
