Restaurant Review

DARTFORD LIVING RESTAURANT REVIEWS: THE REAL GREEK, BLUEWATER

At the end of last month The Real Greek arrived at Bluewater. Despite Bluewater having a huge variety of drinking and dining outlets this is amazingly the first Greek restaurant to open there.

When we visited I was struck by how beautiful, light and airy the restaurant was. The decor is understandably inspired by it’s Greek heritage and takes me back to holidays spent by the beautiful Aegean Sea. The location in the Lower Level of The Plaza is perfectly nestled within an area of other eateries and is close to the cinema and Gravity. The restaurant felt relaxed with an array of food choices to cater for everyone, from those who want a quick bite whilst shopping to those who would prefer a more leisurely meal. For our visit we were served by a very friendly and knowledgeable server who was able to help us make sure we had enough food and was able to give us more information about some of the dishes we were less familiar with. Also as she was half Greek I was grateful to get a lesson on how to correctly say some of the dish names. Although The Real Greek does offer some larger plates, such as Souvlaki (flatbread wraps filled with a choice of fillings and chips) we chose a selection of the meze as we thought that way we’d be able to get to try more of the foods on offer.

As vegetarians we were impressed with how much choice there was for vegetarian and vegans alike (if you are a meat eater don’t worry there are also plenty of grilled meats and seafood dishes on offer as well). We indulged in two pastry wrapped delights, one with spinach and filo and one with chickpeas and they were both delicious, though I am glad we balanced the fried pastry with some healthier feeling slow cooked jackfruit and vegetables. I really enjoyed the aniseed flavour of the fennel in this dish and would definitely order it again when I go. The food all felt fresh and good quality. We were able to find old favourites such as houmous and new favourites such as the tasty spicy feta dip. Although don’t forget that the dips don’t come with bread so make sure you order some. I loved how the meze were served on afternoon tea style stands, for a start it meant I could see and reach everything we’d ordered without having to constantly reshuffle the plates which would otherwise have more than covered the table.

Having shared about 8 meze between us we were suitably stuffed but we couldn’t go without trying dessert. There were plenty of traditional Mediterranean desserts on offer from Baklava to Greek Filo Custard Pie but as chocolate fiends we decided on the chocolate mousse cake which was somehow rich and luxurious, yet light. We had to share one as we were both so full but it was delicious and I would happily eat a whole one next time if I remember to eat less mains!

We also thought we’d be adventurous and try a pot of their Greek Mountain tea. We found out from our server that this is essentially a tea made of herbs found on Greek Mountain sides. The tea itself was fresh and brewed individually in an infuser teapot rather than a teabag so don’t make the mistake of drinking it too soon. We both enjoyed the taste (we both likened it to sage) and it is meant to have many health properties- something my body was probably more than grateful for by the time I’d eaten so much food!

One thing I would say is that we did sometimes have to wait, however the restaurant was full and the staff were all working very hard so we didn’t feel neglected, if anything it allowed us the time to properly relax and enjoy our long lunch.

I will definitely be a regular at The Real Greek and am excited that Bluewater is getting a number of new restaurants despite it having been a difficult year for the hospitality sector.