Santo Remedio to re-open as it launches £40k crowdfund bid
Owners Edson and Natalie Diaz-Fuentes have launched a £40,000 funding bid on website Kickstarter, to help with the refurbishment of their new site, which will offer a bigger kitchen and increased seating capacity than the previous location (which had 45 seats).
The new as yet-undisclosed venue will be in London’s central zone one.
Those pledging money – which will only be given to the couple if they reach their total funding goal – will receive rewards depending on how much they pledge, from a recipe e-card for £10 to a free party for 10 people including sides and drinks, plus a table for four at the restaurant guaranteed all year, for £5,000.
For £8,000 or more, pledgers will get a free, week-long trip to Mexico with Edson and Natalie, plus a 'feast for 10 people'. The couple "do not accept responsibility if you fall in love with Mexico, or a Mexican" while travelling, the site reads.
At the time of writing, they have raised £3,490 from 35 backers, with 36 days to go until deadline.
To help publicise the campaign, which will run until 7 June, the restaurant is to collaborate with a series of London-based guest chefs and restaurants.
These will include two one-off evenings with the BBQ group Pitt Cue Co (4 and 5 May), which will combine its slow-cooked meat techniques with Santo Remedio’s Mexican flavours.
There will also be a tasting menu event at Mark’s Kitchen Library with Martin Sweeney, head chef of Tramshed (11 May); and an original taco and tequila cocktail menu with Le Bab in Kingly Court (21 May).
Santo Remedio: a history
The husband-and-wife team opened Santo Remedio (meaning ‘Holy Remedy’) in Shoreditch’s Rivington Street in March 2016, but were forced to close it after just five months, citing “problems outside of our control”.
This was thought to be a reference to the ‘maintenance’ work that had closed the restaurant in the months before, but had until then been described as temporary.
Despite being forced to close, the couple always maintained that they would re-open again in future.
Before opening, Edson Diaz-Fuentes had been head of menu innovation at Mexican group Wahaca, working closely with co-founders Thomasina Miers and Mark Selby.
Born in Mexico, he trained with Alejandro Ruiz at Casa Oaxaca, named one of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
