Opso

Focused on “social style dining”, Opso sells itself as “Greece inspired, London made”. Thirteen words in, and I’ve already used quotation marks twice – which either means good marketing on the restaurant’s behalf or a massive state of sloth on mine.

Location: Opso, Marylebone, London

Cuisine: Greek(ish)

Camera: Nikon D40, 18-55mm Nikkor Lens & 50mm Nikkor Lens

Much akin to the Penny Dreadful character John Claire (aka “Creature”), I am maladroit when it comes to “social style” anything. Despite the ever increasing trend (including such events organised by Forza Win to which I’ve been to) of social dining, I am much more comfortable in environments such as traditional Japanese restaurants. Your business is to eat, and chatting tends to get in the way of it.

When I do eventually crawl myself out of my introvert cave, however, places such as Opso offer a good way not just to try out food, but to socialize as well. This style of eating is clearly a more Mediterranean way of doing things (such as the concept of tapas); sharing food, and dishes, in general is associated with an interest to try things (or with gluttony). The menu is created with such scope in mind, and swapping dishes feels natural and encouraged. The restaurant itself has a beautiful wooden feel to it, which, combined with large amounts of natural light, gives the place an airy vibe.

The food is rightly “Greece inspired” – but not something I would ultimately fully consider as Greek food. There is very good value for money – their fixed menus are 15£ for two courses and 18£ if you want to add a dessert. The starters – both salads – were fresh and light; I think it is here where you can tell most the quality of the ingredients sourced. It’s much easier to hide a poorer quality when you cook anything (from veggies to meat), but salads are often a giveaway. Opso clearly stands true to its commitment to good quality food.

The mains were also delicious: the chicken was tender and delicious, coming with mash (the protein/carbs ratio might not be very well balanced towards the carbs – but perhaps I’m just accustomed to them being roughly the same amount). The beef cheek was of a somewhat smaller size than anticipated for my fellow foodie – but there were plenty of chicken drumsticks to go around.

The one department I wasn’t particularly happy about was desserts: the only two options on the set menu were fruit salads and walnut cake (despite Greece having much fresh fruit, neither I would consider to be quintessentially a Greek desserts). They were nice, despite my fruit salad coming with some rather undesirable mini-meringues whose role in the dish I was completely perplexed about, but I would have preferred some baklava.