We stumbled upon The Real Greek whilst we were dining at Ping Pong in Marylebone, so on a sunny afternoon, which is a rare occasion in London these days we went down to give it a try.
On arriving at The Real Greek, there are a few tables outside where you can dine; unfortunately these were occupied so we were seated inside. Looking around the décor it’s modern with hanging garlic and dry chillies, wooden tables and chairs and a view of the kitchen depending on where you’re seated.
It was slightly empty when we arrived, but this was soon filled up with a party group and a few other diners. As well as the main menu, The Real Greek has a spring £10 menu which includes a two course meal. You can select one from each section, so from the starter option you can select the Greek soup of the day, 2 meze’s from the selection served with crudities or warm flat-bread From the main menu either an option from the grilled meze selection or from the Greek skewer plate.
As we were celebrating we started off with a glass of bubbly: Phieo Pinot Ro Se Brut (£5.75) which as stated in the menu was fresh and fragrant, very tasty. We could have definitely had more.
After deliberating over the spring menu we finally decided on what to have, from the starters we ordered between the two of the following meze; Hummus (made of chickpeas in tahini with cumin and chilli), Gigandes Plaki (giant beans cooked in a tomato sauce) served with warm flat bread. We also selected the Revithia (chickpeas in herbs, oil and lemon) and Melitzanosalata (smoked aubergine, garlic, shallots and lemon served with crudities of carrots, celery and cucumber.
The tastes of each meze were all different, my favourite was the Revithia it had the freshness of the lemon coming through and blended well with the chickpeas. The flat bread was nice and warm and so soft, which complimented the meze’s very well. Finally onto the main course where we both chose the Greek skewer plate one with chicken and the other Halloumi. Both served with Greek salad, Tzatziki (Greek yoghurt with garlic, cucumber, dill and mint), saffron rice and a warm flat-bread.
On arrival we were looking forward to the main, nothing special with the presentation, but it seemed like a big portion. The Tzatziki, and rice were lovely but I wasn’t so keen on the Halloumi skewers, it was dry and quite chewy, the chicken was also dry and both lacked in flavour. A disappointing main, not sure if the other options from the main menu would make up for it, but doubt I would visit again in a hurry. So having been to two Greek restaurants this year including the Mosfilo Greek Restaurant I’ve not been impressed with the food at either, so I still need to keep an eye out for a good Greek restaurant in London, any recommendations welcome.
