met my 2 RI bros at Kings Cross St Pancras Regent’s Canal exit..no problem for them, they said – directions was clear..

Giffgaff SIM card working well. so we had whatsapped each other when they arrived at Heathrow T4.

i had intentionally passed by dishoom on the way. queue was like 40pax & 1.5hrs & had to queue physically not by taking queue no. dishoom was off…

so after putting down the luggage at the apartment, we decided to go to The Greek Larder at Arthouse for dinner instead..

nice place, great ambience & crowd.

imo as much happening place as dishoom.

difference is – we got table immediately.

great food, wine, and we had some dessert also.

my friends had moscato too. celebrations!

and service was good, friendly.

we had water. and they replaced the bread & butter when we finished the first.

angelo, the waiter from latin america (forgot the country) was cheerful & friendly. he took photos & also had a photo together with us after dinner.

the greek prawn dish, crevette saganak, had a nice presentation (top photo & above).

prawn is prawn, so good if ordinary, the salsa was good with the prawns. may look at some online recipes later.

the grilled octopus was good, especially the “chao-ta” bbq flavours. not enough i think. the texture itself slightly tough, not tender enough, not quite the standard of the italian dish at lake como, milan & cinque terre.

still it was a good dish, quite pricey now at £13.50

my friends heard about the salt cod & didn’t mind to try it.

one friend said it was a bit salty but quite ok with the skordalia mash(greek potato & garlic spread) …overall quite ok dish..

the best turned out to be the grilled scottish steak. it’s done like the italian tagliata (which means serving the steak in slices).

it was done nicely medium rare.

i think it was about 300g – anyway a very good helping for 3 of us.

& came with nice mushrooms & tasty mash.

the steak, though grass fed & not top quality, was very nicely done – sweet, tender & flavourful.

my friends wanted to try the desserts.

we ordered 2 desserts to share. i am not a dessert person. so i took just a little to try. both desserts were competent. not my kind of dessert, but pretty ok standard..

galaktoboureko is a traditional greek custard pie.

carmelised icing, custard inside…

baklava is a filo pastry with chopped nuts & cream layers. ok too.

dinner was £85.50, inclusive of 12.5% service.

not including the 2 moscato & dessert, it would be £54 for the food alone, 3 appetizers & one main to share for 3pax. i think quite ok price in London.

the servers & chef all quite cheerful, and the overall ambience was quite engaging. a place to come back again.

c.h.e.f andy

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