Autumn is well and truly here. And I love it, I really really do. It’s my favourite season!
But I gotta admit, the season definitely has its downsides. Getting wet feet (because of course you chose today to wear ballet flats, instead of your sensible wellies…), having your head whacked by umbrellas, cramming into sweaty tube lines with all the other damp commuters… It’s not fun is it?
Well here’s what you should do instead. Delay your inevitable soggy journey home, and book yourself a table at Suvlaki.
Because nothing beats the autumn blues more than grilled meat, baked feta, and mountains of tzatziki…
The whole menu at Suvlaki is laid out in a meze style, and most of the dishes are made to be shared. This means you get to try a bit of everything, which is awesome!
We started with tzatziki and flatbread, because I LOVE tzatziki. This one was creamy, punchy, and a lovely accompaniment to the crispy, hot, light-as-a-feather flatbread.
Then we had Mediterranean baked feta, topped with juicy cherry tomatoes and a generous sprinkling of oregano and parsley. This was hot and salty and absolutely divine.
I love feta any way at all, but there’s something extra satisfying about smearing the gooey melty cheese all over toasted flatbread, topping it with a tomato, and then stuffing it in your face!
Courgette fritters. These were almost like arancini in texture. The crispy crumb coating blended beautifully with the soft courgette on the inside, and the smoked cheddar added extra depth to the flavour.
Definitely a highlight, and one to order!
The roasted aubergine was the prettiest dish of the night, and a favourite with both of us.
The smokey aubergine was roasted to soft, sweet perfection, then topped with feta and pomegranate seeds. It was colorful, beautiful, and SO tasty. We were both surprised by how much we really loved it!
The house special is (obviously) souvlaki. These meat skewers are Greece’s national street food dish, and they are YUM. (I ate so many of them when I was in Syros last month!)
You choose your meat, and then whether you want them served on the skewer, or wrapped in pita bread. We did one of each!
The spicy prawns were juicy, plump and wonderfully spiced with chilli. The crispy kale adds a lovely bit of greenery and crunch too, which helps cut through the richness.
We opted to have our wild boar suvlaki served in wrap. The hot crispy flatbreads are wrapped around chunks of proper meaty sausage and crunchy veg, and it’s SO satisfying. It would make one hell of a drunk snack!
Our final savoury dish were the spicy lamb chops.
This is the only item we ordered from the Signature menu. We asked our waitress for her favourite dish (I LOVE doing this because they usually say something that I’d never have chosen!) and she immediately, no-hesitation said the lamb chops.
And guys, no joke, they were the best lamb chops I’ve ever had.
There was so much meat on the bone. The outside was seared and crispy, the inside was perfectly pink, and the marinade had a wonderful balance of herbs, spice and seasoning.
Definitely don’t miss out on these!
We had an absolutely wonderful evening, and the only thing that really disappointed us were the desserts. We’d been dreaming of baklava, pistachio, honey, a cheese board… but they only had three options: a chocolate biscuit cake, chocolate truffles, and a ginger and orange cheesecake.
We tried all three, and really disliked them all. The flavours weren’t right, and they didn’t fit in with the rest of the meal. It just felt like an awkward and entirely unnecessary addition to the menu.
Such a shame, because everything else was really good!
The savoury food is stunning, the interiors are lovely if a bit cramped (the cheeky graffiti is a highlight!), and the staff are wonderfully friendly and attentive. It’s a bit pricier than what I’d want to pay for a cheap night out with the girls, but it would be a lovely place for a date.
Basically: get yourself out of the rain and into Suvlaki. Order the lamb chops, the baked feta, and a glass of proper Greek wine. Then sit back, relax, and pretend you’re tucked away on a sunny island somewhere. You can thank me later.
161 Brick Lane, London, E1 6SB
(They also have a venue in Soho!)
*We were guests of Suvlaki for this visit.
