After a matinee performance of Kinky Boots at the Strand Theatre, London, we’d had Christmas fizz at Pennethorne’s in Somerset House where both Ann and worked when HM Revenue and Customs were located there.
We were now starving and although we had no booking, we decided that the pre-theatre crowd should by now be having their G&T before their evening shows, and so we’d risk getting a table at one of our favourite restaurants – “The Real Greek”:http://www.therealgreek.com/covent-garden/ in Covent Garden (on the corner of Long Acre and Bow Street).
The fairly small restaurant (seating about 50) has had a makeover since our last visit, with the high tables and chairs being replaced by more user-friendly low ones in dark wood. It was still busy but we were shown to a table wedged in between two others (this is a very intimate place). Just as we were taking off coats I spotted a couple of high chairs in a window alcove with the chairs looking out into the street. We felt this would be quieter for Ann who suffers with tinnitus. With our backs to the main restaurant it could have made getting attention difficult, but our young waitress was efficient and friendly.
This is food for sharing and although there were three set menus with a variety of mezze for two, we thought they might be too much for us.
The “menu”:http://www.therealgreek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/TRG_Food_Menu.pdf has over a dozen hot and cold mezze (around £5). Rather disconcertingly each dish shows its calorie content – after spotting salted cod contained a whopping 778 calories, we pretended the dim light meant we couldn’t see any more. It also shows which dishes are gluten free and vegetarian (many of them are the latter).
We settled on three choices from this section: our favourites of houmous and taramasalata and something new: the unpronounceable htipiti which was roasted pepper and cheese dip with a touch of chilli.
We also chose two dishes from the Grilled Meze section: grilled halloumi cheese which arrived with delicious shreds of pink picked onion and lamb kefte with a mint and yoghurt dip.
The blue and white plates are served stacked high on a type of cake stand which is vital bearing in mind the number of dishes you end up with and the size of the tables. Cold dishes were brought first, followed by the hot (although we ate in reverse order to enjoy the lamb and halloumi whilst warm).
All our dishes were excellent with lots of flavour – a particular favourite was a light dusting of lime zest over the chick peas in the middle of the houmous.
This type of food was ideal for a leisurely chat along with a bottle of Bulgarian chardonnay (reasonably priced at £18).
There was a variety of more traditional puddings (e.g. chocolate mousse cake) and Greek favourites like Baklava – all under £5 – which we resisted
Our total bill came to £45.
There are nine restaurants dotted over London.