If you’re not familiar with The Athenian, here’s a bit of background. Life began as a small street food stall run by two friends, Efthymios and Neofytos, Londoners born and raised in Athens and Cyprus respectively. Wanting to bring the taste of authentic Greek food to the streets of London town, they started dishing up freshly made souvlaki.
The inspiration for the venture came about after a trip to Crete where they met a lady who shared her home recipes. They were so impressed by the flavours, they decided to set up their stall. And boy are we grateful they did!
The first stall was a roaring success so naturally grew to multiple food stalls before opening the first permanent shop in Elephant and Castle with the second, Shoreditch branch opening last July in foodie hotspot, Boxpark. As with the street food stalls, the menu focuses on traditional Greek dishes, including gyros and souvlaki.
Each is served in either a box or wrapped in a pita. We tried the lamb and beef souvlaki with added halloumi in a box and the chicken gyros in a wrap. All come with a choice of salad, housemade dips and oregano fries. Veggies and Vegans rejoice, there’s also one with a mushroom filling and smoked aubergine dip for you guys! Not only that, all dishes can be made gluten free on request.
The dishes are all really good value and you can definitely taste the quality of the ingredients. Many of which are sourced from small Greek producers, for example, the halloumi is handmade in small batches in Messinia, in southern Greece.
If you’re after a tasty, filling lunch or a quick after work dinner then The Athenian is a great little find. If you’ve never had Greek food, this is a great introduction!
