the real light lunch

The real Greek
Originally uploaded by chowen

This is a nice little restaurant tucked away in a corner just crossing off the busy streets in Covent garden, it's always packed and one can only envy the people inside with all the eating, clinking of the beer glass behind the see through glass window.

Finally on a quiet Sunday afternoon, served by a waitress who looked half-asleep, we ordered what we've wanted to try, the Mezedes Sharers. The 5-tier plate rack with different dipping sauces, accompanied with fresh pita bread and Greek beer; it was the ultimate brunch.

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The Real Greek
60-62 Long Acre
London
WC2E 9JE (020 7240 2292)
Souvlaki for Two and beer: £25

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fancy that

De Kas
Originally uploaded by chowen

When we arrived at the restaurant I thought we had come to the wrong place. Crossing the wooden bridge to the glass-walled restaurant right in the middle of a park, it was not only surrounded by grass, but greenhouses too.

No menu, no what-shall-I-have's, no fuzz. The dishes depended entirely on what was harvested that day; apart from the ultra-fresh greens, it wasn't totally vegetarian, luckily. Two types of starter came; salad and impressively juicy scallops decorated with pansy petals, so delicate that it felt almost wrong to eat it. While waiting for the main, we munched on gigantic olives that were as big as the nose.
With the raised expectations by the exotic starters, the roast/poached veal with boiled root vegetables main seemed somewhat dull.

Wine, food, more food, dessert, and more dessert. I had little idea that the best was yet to come - a pot of fresh mint leaves brew. The whole leaf swayed gently in the glass pot with its stems; the light green reflected the stars above through the glass ceiling.

There was more to it than the home-planted specialty.

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De Kas
Kamerlingh Onneslaan 3, 1097 DE Amsterdam
Set meal with wine for two: €130

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