London: Where to Eat: 10 Greek Street
July 20, 2015Recently Trent and I had the rare opportunity to go out on a date. Between the minimal budget of being students these last two years and not having many babysitters nearby, this is something that hasn’t happened nearly enough. Quite unfortunate too, living in a city that is quickly passing up Paris as being the food capital of Europe. One of our favourite date nights is to try a new restaurant. We always share our food, so naturally a discussion ensues pre-order, determining which two dishes we would both like to try. At the end of the meal we usually declare a winner; deciding who of us ordered the better dish. A rare thing happened at the end of this meal: it was a toss-up. Both of us fully enjoyed our own dish as well as the other. When that occurs, we know we need to revisit the restaurant.
10 Greek Street is nestled in a row of Soho restaurants. It is easy to walk past it. In fact, we did. The decor is hip and expected, but I won’t fault it for that. It is clean, simple and lets the food be the show, which is what a restaurant should do.
The menu is written on chalk boards on the walls and reads like a shopping list. If you find ordering from this type of menu a bit difficult (not knowing how the list of ingredients are prepared and fit together) the staff are warm, friendly and knowledgable. You don’t feel asinine asking questions about the menu or an ingredient found thereon.
On to the food. It is all seasonal, giving you the freshest, most flavourful ingredients. In many cases it is simply, but expertly prepared. Cameron Emirali, Australian raised chef is the brains behind the thoughtful flavour combinations. Prior to starting 10 Greek Street he was working at the Wapping Project.
Trent ordered a caramelised onion tart, which looked almost too good to eat, with beautiful spirals of perfectly caramelised onions topping the tart. I had an expertly cooked fish (wish I could remember the type of fish, but it’s since escaped my mind) with fried capers and baby broccoli. We both raved about the dishes. Would definitely recommend this restaurant, especially since the prices are so reasonable.