Greek Taverna

Stereotypical Greek restaurant Discuss this article

From Time Out Dubai Eating Out 2008

This Carlton Tower Hotel outlet offers all the stereotypical trimmings you’d expect at a Greek restaurant. Even the charming Athenian female chef – who takes the time to meet the diners – admits the decor is ‘too Greek, even for Greece’.

But is the food quite so trite?

The spanakipita parcels of melted feta cheese, spinach and egg break apart in splinters of crispy filo pastry, and whet your appetite wonderfully for the hot and cold mezze that follows. Pick from the pikilia platter, where tasty splodges of taramasalata, black and green olives, perky sticks of cucumber, and scarlet olive oil-drizzled tomato slices are scattered among herby meatballs, deep-fried packages of cheesy aubergine and bruschetta-style toasted breads with cheese and tomato.

The feta saganaki – more cheese dipped in egg batter and fried – is amazingly light and creamy, while the melitzanes fournou offers delicate slices of aubergine with tomatoes, onion, cheese and hints of garlic, all baked into mushy softness.

This is comfort food at its best – the dolmades are packed with tender minced lamb and grains of rice in vine leaf parcels, and then drenched with a subtle lemon sauce, while the moussaka is layers of softened aubergine and potato, huddled between choice grains of minced lamb and snuggled in a silky cheese sauce.

Despite its hackneyed setting, the Greek Taverna is certainly the real deal

• Previous reviews
  • 04 April,2007- reviewed by Time Out Dubai Staff

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