Greek in Exmouth Market

 I haven't been to a Greek restaurant for quite a long  time, so I was intrigued to read a review of one by Jay Rayner  and when looking for somewhere to go with S&L we decided this was worth a try. The first challenge was booking a table, because Attica doesn't appear to have a website. Tip: the telephone number for its previous incarnation, Kolossi, still works.

Second, it's quite a long way from the nearest tube station. So we arranged to meet at The Eagle on Farringdon Road, part-way there. This has a well-established reputation for its food, but no-one mentioned that this means that the chef will be chopping herbs at the bar so vigorously that you couldn't hear yourself think. Combined with some loud punters and hard surfaces, this made conversation rather challenging. 

We've booked quite early - 7pm - but the restaurant is already fairly full, and soon they are turning people away. It's quite a small place, brightly done out in white and blue. The menu and wine list are both quite short - we do get an SB for £27. There are some mezze options, but we all choose  individually. From the "while you wait" section we order hummus, tsatsiki and tarama with flat bread, though this takes a while to arrive. 

Our starters arrive before we finish the dips. S chose the halloumi, and L the giant beans (gigantes), while our choice is calamari. The halloumi is very good, the beans interesting and the calamari fine, hot and not rubbery. And again our mains arrive before we have completely finished this course, so we're feeling a bit rushed. 

B and S both have the king prawn souvlaki, I have lamb souvlaki and L octopus. They are all good sized portions. My lamb is very tasty, not over-cooked, though the prawns look a little dry. 

We don't have dessert, and just two bottles of wine. That brings the bill to £188 without service, which seems about right. The service has been fine (apart from rushed) and the music (if there was any) is subdued, and not overly Greek. But overall, the feeling was a bit "meh". If it were at the end of your road, then you'd probably make a few visits, but it didn't seem worth the effort of crossing town for.  

April overview (1)

Catching up on some of the places I visited last month:

LAS FUENTES, High St, Purley
Our local tapas bar - very well-frequented. The welcome is always excellent here, with enthusiastic and lively waiters keen to help. We're so predictable in our choice of wine (the house white Rioja) that they are often ready to bring a bottle as soon as we've walked in the door - "quick wine" is what we like!

No sign of Gio, the proprietor, this time. He's still a keen cyclist, doing charity rides to Paris even though he's getting on a bit now. Used to have an eye for the ladies, though I've not seen him do that recently. The style of the place is classic Spanish tiling, with splendidly stocked bar.

Their speciality here is the skewers - lamb, beef, chicken or fish. This time we have the lamb - a good solid selection of nicely cooked meat, hanging over a plate of fried polenta. From their "specials" board (which doesn't change that much), we also have scallops and chorizo (comes with too many potatoes for my liking, but the chorizo is very good) and a relatively new addition, piquillo peppers stuffed with crabmeat. This is starting to become one of our regular choices.

Portions are always good, so 3 dishes between 2 works well enough. Good value as well - lunch usually works out around £50-£60 including plenty of wine.

It gets busy in the evenings, especially weekends. Also has a restaurant section with more formal meals.


WAGAMAMA Park Road Croydon
We're only recent converts to Wagamama, having struggled to find a suitable mix of dishes previously. We're also not that keen on the noodle dishes, so that rather limits things. The Croydon branch is much like the rest of the chain, with shared refectory tables and paper menus/placemats. On this visit it wasn't too busy, but if you're sitting near the back it can be claustrophobic here.

The food comes in the order it's ready, so that can be confusing. But this time it works OK. The spicy edmame beans are up first - good, but not as spicy as those at Dim T in Victoria. Next comes the duck gyoza (rolls) and the spicy squid. The gyoza is good and tasty, but the squid a bit of a disappointment - rather rubbery and no way spicy enough.

Mains come as hoped: beef and coriander salad and chicken tonburi(teriyaki) with a mound of boiled rice. Both good, the beef cooked well and the chicken covered in plenty of sauce. About £60 including wine, so pretty fair.


LE GARRICK WINE BAR Garrick St, Covent Garden
Meeting up with a group of friends for an annual memorial meal, at this cosy wine bar near Covent Garden. Downstairs has lots of nooks and crannies, and tables pretty close together - lovely wine bar atmosphere.

I had the calamari followed by magret de canard. Good service brought excellent French bread, and wines promptly. The calamari was good - sauteed in wine, tender and tasty. Magret de canard was correctly pink, with a fine red wine sauce and a few vegetables. A selection of chips from other people's dishes was also good - presented in the now predictable tin pots. The others all enjoyed their meals too - a very reliable place. Not cheap, as we had plenty of wine at around £20 a bottle, but fair enough to come away with £108 for 2.


AQUA South End, Croydon
It's the South Croydon Food Festival, so after wandering around looking at the stands, (surprisingly not buying anything), we fetch up at Aqua for a late lunch. Not surprisingly with all that's going on, it's pretty busy, and one room seems to have been taken over by a large group.

So to simplify things we order the mezze, while our friend H orders a mixed fish platter. The mezze is pretty impressive - first the dips, hummus, tara, tsatsiki, with plenty of pitta bread. Followed by the fish course: calamari and whitebait, both in batter - OK. Then a selection of keftedes (good and herby), dolmades, crumbly spinach pie, and tomato and halloumi. Finally comes the chicken and lamb souvlaki - a little dull, needed an enlivening chilli sauce. So a pretty filling experience overall.

Rashly we finish off with Metaxas. Outside of Greece this is rarely a good idea, and though we checked the number of stars ("25", said the waiter), the caramel flavour comes through really strongly. Not to mention the feeling the following morning!

£90 for two with lots of wine, was a pretty good result.