Blythe’s Verdict
Tollcross has a diverse range of restaurants, a number of which (Mezbaan, Leven’s, etc) we have sampled. To this number we can now add My Big Fat Greek Kitchen, which as the name suggests showcases the delights of Greek cuisine.
We were joined today by regular guest quester, Tracey, who aside from regular appearances over the past months, was our guest on the first ever quest.
The place is smartly arranged, with understated decor and simply presented dishes. Their strengths are the warmth of the welcome and the heartiness of their dishes, which is no bad thing.
Prawns in wine and garlic
Their menu offers a range of options and at least a couple of different approaches to dining. You can opt for a range of shared meze dishes, go for a starter and main course, or somewhat blend the two. We opted for the latter, choosing a small number of meze to share as starters, then choosing main courses.
We opened with king prawns in a wine and garlic sauce, traditional dolmades, and the meatball goodness of keftedes. For mains, Tracey opted for moussaka, MJ for souvlaki lamb, and I went for beef stifado.
Starters arrived looking neat and tidy, and served in an ample amount of accompanying sauce. We ordered a bread basket to help us manage this profusion of sauce.
Dolmades
Each of the dishes was very good. The sauce with the prawns was a particular winner, and was gleefully mopped up. The dolmades were as tasty as you would expect, and the keftedes retained good moisture.
Main courses were of similar quality. The sauce for my stifado was heavily laced with cinnamon, and was fully of meaty goodness.
For the first time in living memory, we all opted for dessert, with the lovely ladies opting for yoghurt with figs and walnuts, while I chomped my way through some nutty halva. Good Greek coffee rounded out what had been a very enjoyable dining experience.
Stifado
So, My Big Fat Greek Kitchen compared very favourably with the previous Greek meals I’ve had, which were almost all in a great family favourite, near to one of my brothers’ house. The dishes we had would lend themselves very well to providing considerable comfort on cold winter evenings, so I can imagine that we’ll be back when we’re looking for that brand of comforting warmth.
MJ’s Verdict
This has been a crazy/wonderful month and last night was no exception. When our friend Tracey and Blythe wandered over to my place of work around closing time, we headed around the corner to the Greek restaurant that I had been wanting to try for a while now.
We walked in and were seated in a room painted with cool blues that reminded me of my holidays on the Greek islands and made me wish for the sea air and the sunshine of Santorini. The menu itself was also reminiscent of that trip, with a variety of mezze that looked great and lots of mains that were heavy on the meat and salads (just my type of menu).
Keftedes
After a lot of deliberation, we decided. I went with the meatballs to start, followed by the lamb skewers with salad and no chips. We also ordered a bottle of the house rose, which was a bit on the expensive side.
After a very short wait, our three mezzes came out and we dove into the prawns first. They were well cooked and the flavours of the lemon juice paired well with them. Then, I dug into the keftedes.
Vegetable Moussaka
These were not quite what I remember from my time on the Islands, but they were tasty and the tomato sauce that they came in was moreish. I would be very pleased for a little cross-cultural mix and have these on my pasta anytime. The dolmades were nice, the leaves were well cooked and the lemon juice cut through the olive oil and these were not the cloying version that can happen from time to time.
Lamb Skewers
Pita bread and a bit of white bread was whisked out to soak up the sauces of the mezze and before long our mains arrived. My lamb skewers were large and very well flavoured. The herb-filled marinade that they had been soaking up gave the outside a wonderful flavour of dill and lemon, though the bits of lamb themselves were just a tad dry. The salad was excellent, shredded lettuce, herbs, and onions tossed with a touch of salt and pepper and good quality olive oil and lemon juice. The tzatziki that came with the dish was a nice additional flavour added to the lamb.
Lamb
Then, just when we thought we couldn’t eat any more, we decided on dessert. At a party this weekend Blythe said I really needed to get on board with the desserts and ordering yogurt with honey and walnuts soaked in brandy was my attempt. He was flabbergasted and said it was wrong for me to order dessert and him not, so he had the halva.
The yogurt was creamy and delicious, with the honey and the boozy walnuts settling well with the sharpness. The figs that were the other option were also nice, not too sweet, and gave a nice contrast to the yogurt.
All this was finished with a Greek coffee that sat somewhere between Turkish coffee and an espresso. It was smooth and quite good.
Overall, I’d go back to My Big Fat Greek Kitchen, but with the price points (16.95 for the lamb skewers), it will have to be on special occasions.
Scores
Blythe scores My Big Fat Greek Kitchen
4/5 for food
3/5 for presentation
4/5 for service
3/5 for setting
giving an overall 14/20
MJ scores My Big Fat Greek Kitchen
4/5 for food
3/5 for presentation
4/5 for service
3/5 for setting
giving an overall 14/20
Today’s questers were: Miriam, Tracey, Blythe
We ate: king prawns in wine and garlic, dolmades, keftedes, beef stifado, moussaka, lamb souvlaki
We drank: rose wine
We wore: a thin film of glistening Book Festival glow
Total bill: £92
