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Hello everyone! I hope you are well and the food coma from Easter has already passed. If anyone’s still hungry, I have just the thing for you! As you might know, Orthodox Easter was a week later this year, and us Greeks tend to do things a little bit differently. We have a lot of traditions during that time and, most of all, during Lent, there’s a day we celebrate the Greek Independence Day and the Annunciation of Virgin Mary. It’s on the 25th of March and, along with our Palm Sunday, are the only days we put a stop to Lent and eat fish, as well as consume olive oil and wine.
This year, there was a new meet-up starting in February called Eat my Greek. As I have probably told you, this is one thing us Greeks love! Meeting up, stuffing our faces (and stomachs) and then singing and dancing. Probably because we can’t help ourselves, and probably because we are in general a happy (and social) bunch of people, these kind of celebrations tend to be very popular. Eat my Greek takes place (almost) every Sunday at a very cool and hippy place in Hoxton Street, very close to Old Street Station and Hoxton Overground Station. The place, I think, encourages talking and socialising, as the mood is very friendly and open. You realise that as soon as you get inside. It also has a lot of events that I would like to check out soon, and some very cool burgers and cocktails that sound delicious. They offer disco nights, Saturday brunch, and everything in between!
I had the suspicion that I would meet a lot of friends and people I know, and I was right! Sometimes, it feels like London is so small (!!), because after you’ve gone to a couple of socials and met people, this is it! You know everyone! So, after we sat down, and started talking (and gossiping I have to admit), it was easily an hour past. It was time to eat! Because of the day, there was a selection of two platters, each of them for £15. For example, I got the fish platter, but my brother got the meat one (if only you would get him away from meat!) The drink was not included, but didn’t break the bank at all! The fish platter included fried calamari, tarama salad, fried cod and garlic mash (skordalia as we call it), cabbage and carrot salad, pita bread and rice pilaf. A very nice and delicious spread, if I’m honest! The meat one had meatballs, baked potatoes, fried pork, oven-baked chicken, cabbage and carrot salad, tzatziki and spicy cheese paste and pita bread.
The food was delicious, as promised, well-prepared, while the platter was huge! Okay obviously not huge, but one person could feel full after eating all that. The only downside for me was that the garlic mash or even the tzatziki didn’t have a lot of garlic (just a hint really). While I don’t put garlic in everything I make like some people I know, in my skordalia or tzatziki, I prefer to at least taste it. But, that doesn’t matter! The food was excellent, the company was the best, the wine was tasty, and the music was fantastic! After eating of course we started dancing, because nothing screams Greek more than eating and singing and dancing. Dances from the islands and the rest of Greece played live by the band was the best way to end a very successful Greek lunch on the celebration of the 25th March. For almost two hours after eating, we danced and danced and danced. It was fantastic.
After that, and because it was late (not really, but anyway), we decided to leave, because I had to reach home and cook (yay, me!). So, after moaning to my bro about dessert, we stopped at the Tesco near our place and bought some mini cheesecakes. You can’t have a nice lunch or dinner and don’t eat something sweet! It’s a sacrilege!
A big thanks to Victor, who organises Eat my Greek and has to coordinate everything (from seating to platters). The next event coming up is next Sunday is Eat my Greek – get your grill on, that sounds promising! Maybe I’ll go, who knows?
If you want to try something different in London, you can look at Number 177 bar and kitchen in Hoxton. You will not regret it for sure!
It Happened Once 