Isn’t that just the BEST name for a restaurant?!
The Hungry Donkey is a Greek restaurant, recently opened in Aldgate.
I saw these guys pop up on Twitter a few months ago, and was immediately interested, just from the name alone.
So I was super excited when they invited me and Gary down to try out their menu!
The Hungry Donkey is a tucked away little restaurant on a side road just a few minutes away from Aldgate East station.
There’s no visible signage outside (which I’m hoping they’re gonna fix cos boy was that place hard to find!) but the inside is lovely and light and clear, with a really chilled out vibe to it.
Lots of white and yellow, with slate grey railings on the ceiling and simple pine furniture.
I really liked it!
We started off with a basket of warm bread and a bottle of the house red.
Because making menu choices is much easier once you have a glass of wine in hand and aren’t actually starving anymore!
We decided to pick a punch of dishes to share cos A) that means I get to try everything and B) cos that means I get to try everything.
So. Here’s what we went with…
Pan-fried sakanaki cheese. Crispy, salty and very more-ish.
Toasted pita bread and fresh tzatziki.
This was a bit of an error on my part. I didn’t realise that pretty much every. single. item. on the menu comes with a generous dollop of tzatziki on the side. So we actually ended up with waaaay more tzatziki than we could ever get through.
I’m really hoping they update the menu to include descriptions of each dish, as I definitely wouldn’t have ordered a whole extra portion if I’d known!
(It was VERY good tzatziki though.)
Zucchini (courgette) fritters.
This was my favourite savoury dish of the night. Really light, fluffy and perfectly seasoned. Gary and I immediately wished we’d ordered two portions!
PS. Tzatiki.
Halloumi and vegetable burger.
I LOVED this. A soft pita bun, stuffed to bursting with roasted aubergine, courgette, red pepper and creamy halloumi. Really simple, but very juicy and delicious.
I definitely had more than my share of it!
It came with a side of fries as well, which were perfectly crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
Lamb Plate Me Up.
Well-seasoned chunks of lamb, halved cherry tomatoes and sliced raw red onion, with toasted pita bread and a dollop of tzatziki on the side.
The meat was a bit on the tough side, but it was beautifully seasoned and we both loved the fact that we could pick at it together.
It makes a great sharing platter!
As a side-note, I really loved all the white and blue mismatched crockery. All of The Hungry Donkey’s branding is so simple but it’s really effective and looks fab!
We weren’t sure we were going to be able to fit dessert in (because tzatziki), but after checking out the menu we decided to get one to share.
Then we couldn’t decide on one.
So we got two.
YOLO.
Gary went for a traditional galaktoboureko.
(And yes I definitely did just Google the spelling.)
Galaktoboureko (I’m literally just copying and pasting this…) is a Greek semolina-custard pie, made with filo pastry.
It was nice, with a nice lemony-vanilla flavour, but it had a bit of a weird texture. Gary and I both decided it got better the more you ate, but it still isn’t something we’d order again.
The Cheesecake.
Oh boy. OH BOY. THE CHEESECAKE.
This was a winner. I’d recommend it to EVERYONE.
A perfectly light buttery-biscuit base, topped with melt-in-the-mouth vanilla cream cheese and dusted with more crumbled biscuit.
I have no idea what they put in the cheese mix to make it so perfect, but it is honestly the best cheesecake I’ve ever had.
True story.
An absolute feast!
It’s a very friendly place as well, and the service was great.
Massive props to the two owners (brothers) who both took the time to go round all the tables and introduce themselves to everyone (not just us as reviewers!)
It was a lovely touch that really made you feel like you were in a Greek taverna, just having a chat with the locals.
The restaurant got busier as the evening went on, so the general atmosphere got really nice and buzzy as well.
I think it’s a great place for groups of friends to meet for a catchup gossip over wine and platters of meat and bread and tzatziki. They’re open for lunch too, so great if you work in the city. And I can tell you now that it’d make a great first date spot.
So if you’re in the area, make sure you head down and check out The Hungry Donkey!
*Our meal was complimentary in exchange for a review.
As always, all opinions are my own! :)
