World Food Thursdays

Country No. 16: Greece

 

Date: 06/10/2015

 

Venue: Hungry Donkey, Wentworth Street

 

Attendees: Lee, Kimberley, Ben, Ellen, Poppy, Maor, PK

 

Cost: £32.50 a head

 

It seems that the new tradition of pre-starters for early birds is driving a wave of punctuality as three members of WFT arrived at least half an hour early and on meeting up discovered that they had all spent the looking mournfully at the London Cocktail Week events in nearby Spitalfields Market wishing they’d bought tickets. Despite the clear attraction of watching other people have fun there comes a time when even the most dedicated moocher gets bored of wandering and staring and decides what they most need is a comfy seat at a bar or table, a drink, and some pre-starters and it was in this fashion that the Greek adventure at venue #13 began. The menu at Hungry Donkey is brief and to the point, but conveniently split into snacks, starters, and then more substantial dishes. Helpfully there is also a surprisingly varied selection of Greek craft beers (aggressively priced at c. £6 a 1/3l bottle). To complement the beers, we ordered a selection of bio-dynamic olives, some deep fried cheese balls, and some tomato and garlic toasts. All delicious, particularly the cheese and the toasts, although there wasn’t anything particularly dynamic about the olives.

 

As the official tee off time neared and the rest of the team found sanctuary from the Autumnal showers thoughts naturally turned to starters. From the intriguing selection we ordered some pitta bread (of course) to go with a couple of dips, one made from fava beans and one from feta cheese, some zucchini fritters and a spanakopita. While the feta cheese dip far exceeded expectation the other starters split the crowd, in particular the usually ravenous Lee who was suffering from an overindulgent lunch and therefore was practicing an ill-advised selective eating technique. More for Ben!

 

Grabbing the menus again gave us the chance to debate the merits of wraps (yes for Poppy, no for Maor – the first big disagreement for the newlyweds??), smashing plates (not literally), sharing, not sharing, is Poppy vegetarian again (no, she just doesn’t like chicken or lamb), what’s in a Greek sausage (pork and wild boar – aren’t they the same?) and to eventually come up with an order for the patient waitress. It was decided that the girls would order wraps for themselves, chicken and vegetable, and that the boys, who were (Lee excepted) hungry like the proverbial wolf, would order each one of the plated offerings (lamb, chicken and the aforementioned Greek sausage) as well as two salads, a Moussaka and a plate of stuffed vegetables. At this stage Ben raised concerns about the volume of food ordered – to think he was actually considering that we had under ordered!

 

The kebab style offerings arrived pretty swiftly. Each plated dish was served with deliciously crispy seasoned chips, a large helping of fresh cherry tomatoes and some tsatsiki. Each meat was succulent and delicious, words don’t really do it justice. The wraps were equally good, stuffed full of veg, meat and delicious sauces and encased in a beautiful, slightly chewy, thick wrap. The salads – Greek with no peppers and beetroot and orange were less of a standout than the mains but by no means disappointing. The Greek salad was fresh with a sharp tangy dressing but it was blown away  by the flavour of the beetroot and orange salad – absolutely delicious.

 

Finally, just as we were dividing up the remaining scraps the waitress paid us a visit to let us know that the moussaka and the stuffed vegetables were on their way – we had attempted to cancel the moussaka but there must have been a miscommunication as after a short pause they both arrived. Unfazed we dived into both and despite being full to the brim we were glad we did. The moussaka was gooey with cheese and laden with potatoes and minced lamb. The vegetables (a beef tomato and a green pepper) were stuffed with inventively seasoned rice and vegetables. For the second time this meal Ben was glad to help in cleaning the plates.

 

Due to the insane amount of food that had been devoured dessert was taken off the agenda, a shame as the options looked appealing although it does present the opportunity to revisit the Hungry Donkey, avail of the lamb and the sausages and the beetroot salad, maybe steer clear of the beers, but this time save some space for a little post feast treat.

 

Facts:

 

• Geographers estimate that there are between 1200 and 6000 Greek islands

• The Greek Gods were direct descendants from the Titans whom they over through in a battle that shook the ancient world

• The highest mountain in Greece is Mount Olympus