Although I spend a very significant amount of my outgoings on food and meals out I have to say that I haven’t really tried much Greek Food. I was absolutely delighted when a new independently owned Greek cafe and bistro Amalthea got in touch with me and invited me to try out their menu. They have many gluten free options and alternatives so I knew I would be in for a treat.
We were greeted by one of the owners who was very friendly, knowledgeable and attentive to us throughout our meal. I know that sometimes staff can try extra hard when a blogger comes in for review but I observed her with other customers and she was just as lovely and helpful to them as she was to us. I think that great customer service is crucial a good dining experience and Amalthea staff made a very good impression.
I was absolutely delighted that they had so many gluten free alternatives to choose from. For our starters we ordered a cheese platter and I was provided with my own gluten free pita bread and even breadsticks! I had never even had gluten free pita or breadsticks before so I was over the moon. The breadsticks were absolutely delicious and the pitta (even though it could have been toasted a little more) was pretty good too.
If you love cheese then you simply must visit Amalthea because the cheese platter we had was amazing.
The cheeses we tried were: Graviera which is a cheese made from a mixture of cows. Goats and sheep's milk. It was quite delicate in flavour and my favourite from the spread. Kefalotiri cheese which is made from sheep and/or goats milk. It tasted a little like Gruyre cheese but saltier. Feta cheese, however it tasted completely different to any feta I’ve sampled before. It wasn’t as crumbly or as salty, the flavour was much milder in comparison to the typical supermarket bought feta cheese.
Manouri cheese which was like nothing else I had ever tried. It’s a semi soft cheese with a light almost melt in your mouth texture and it had a gentle milky flavour. The cheeses got served to us with a trio of chutneys, all of them were very sweet and unusual in flavour. Our absolute favourite was the fig and walnut chutney which went amazing with all the cheeses. We actually ended up buying some to take home from the deli shop inside the cafe.
We also had the lentils and herring starter, which pretty different to anything I’ve tried before it but was pretty tasty. I was expecting the herring to be pickled but it seemed like it was more smoked. I’d recommend you give this starter a try if you like fish.
For our mains I had the Mavrodafni moussaka ( gluten free), which was layers of mince meat, aubergines and potato in a tomato and red wine sauce,topped with bechamel sauce made with gluten free flour. First of all I have to say that I was very impressed with the portion size, after having our starters I actually couldn’t even finish it off. The meat was very tender and well seasoned. The bechamel sauce was creamy, the only fault I found with it was that I couldn’t really taste the red wine in the sauce and wished there was a little more of it.
The boy had the Soutzoukakia, which consisted of lamb and beef meatballs in a rich tomato sauce served with rice, yoghurt and a side salad. The boy absolutely loved this dish and was full of compliments about it. He said that the tomato sauce was rich and very well seasoned but tasted very fresh at the same time. The meatballs were incredibly tender and fell apart in his mouth and that the yoghurt was a great addition to the tomato sauce which really helped to bring all the flavours together.
We were both incredibly full after our starters and mains but for you my dear readers we decided to try out the desserts as well…
Amalthea have a great selection of cakes but unfortunately at this time none of them are gluten free. The boy had a very rich syrup soaked walnut cake. The portion of the cake was as generous as the rest of the food. The boy reported that the cake was incredibly sweet and rich, he actually couldn’t finish it all.
I had their vanilla ice cream with their black cherry compote (that I believe they sell in the shop). It was a much lighter dessert option but very satisfying nonetheless. I absolutely love cherries and thought the compote was a delightful (and very sweet!) addition to the ice cream. I also had a herbal tea which was delicate and refreshing. I’m addicted to tea and drink copious amounts of it every day but I was actually surprised to see lots of blends that I had never even heard of before.
Over all me and the boy really enjoyed our meal. The food was the delicious, the service was excellent and the portion sizes were large. I can honestly say that I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone that: likes cheese and Greek food. Their gluten free options are also great so this is a great option for anyone with coeliac disease or gluten intolerance. You can view their full menu here.
*Amalthea invited me for a complimentary meal but as always all opinions are 100% my own.
Until next time,
You can also find me in all of these places!
Oh my god this all looks so good!! I love Greek food. Great images lovely!
ReplyDeleteKay, www.ohkay-dohkay.com