Saturday, March 29, 2014

Rated: Eat Greek

I'm sure you've all been to the new area, The Beach, of JBR where there's a full new strip of restaurants alongside the gorgeous beach filled with elements of art, sand sculptures and even work out stations. I love this area. Only downside is the traffic (for parking & people in general) but hey, nothing new there about JBR so just accept it!

One of the restaurants on my radar was 'Eat Greek' since I rarely ever eat greek food in Dubai. There aren't that many that I know of (have only heard of El Greco and Elia - have yet to try either). If you know of any good Greek restaurants that ought to be tried, please let me know below.

Now since it was a Friday, there was a waiting time to be expected of 20-30 minutes as described by the hostess. However, I must admit they did only call me after 40-45 minutes and at this point, our hunger levels were somewhat soaring through the roof.

We were seated outside (as requested) and the weather was gorgeous! Pure bliss. Our waiter was so energetic & friendly from the start, that he put us in a great mood to start. Whilst we look around our menus & try to figure out what to eat, their fresh piping hot bread basket arrives and this is what happens. Suddenly we're just distracted...

I told you we were hungry. But in all serious note, their bread was delicious. It had a crispy crust and airy filling and was topped off with olive oil, salt and herbs. Two more baskets coming right up, please. Thank you.

On to the starters! For cold, eggplant "salad" & giant beans "plaki" and for hot, baked feta cheese (after Foodiva's enticing picture on Instagram - could not let that one go), greek salad (of course) and roasted beetroot salad.




I thought the eggplant salad would be something similar to a baba ghanouj (arabic eggplant mezze) but it wasn't at all. I would say it's a much brighter & fresher version of baba ghanouj which was quite tasty. It was very simple and focused on the true flavors of eggplant seasoned with citrus and herbs.


The giant beans were a win! Baked lima beans in tomato & herbs - pure yumminess. Spoon that over with the baked feta on their fresh bread - you will be super happy! That baked feta was just melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness. Pretty much devoured in seconds. Trust me when I tell you try this combo out!

The Greek salad was fresh, simple and perfect portion. My best Greek salad was in Greece itself but this was still very tasty. The roasted beetroot salad with yogurt, walnut, apple & croutons was alright. I thought there was too much yogurt on the beetroots & took a way from the roasted flavor. I also didn't think there needed to be croutons on the dish.

For the mains, we ordered the Moussaka burger, 'Kleftiko' roast lamb, Greek eggplant Bayildi and a couple of pita lamb gyros.


The burger was moist, juicy and had sweet taste from the caramelized onions (if you don't like a sweetness in your burger at all - this is not for you). I'm pretty sure there was honey in there with the onions - which I liked. If you're thinking that this is going to be a typical "burger" taste, I'd think again. I really enjoyed it as it was quite different but the downside was it was too messy and sort of collapsed as I was eating it. Also, you couldn't taste the grilled eggplant that much because it was such a thin piece. They had chip/fries on the side which were pretty yummy! The eggplant 'bayildi' is a great vegetarian option. I really loved all the Mediterranean flavors singing in my mouth and the sweet kick of honey it made it that much more interesting & harmonious. As for the lamb braise, ooh-wee!, this was tender, fall off the bone, melt in your mouth, sort of meat. It was delicious and quite a hefty portion. It did have quite a lot of fat to discard but it added flavor during the cooking process for sure! As for the 'gyros' sandwich, I myself wasn't the biggest fan however, my family members did enjoy it. I found it to be too heavy and in a sandwich form, I wasn't that comfortable to have that much fat on my meat. It made the process of eating a little less enjoyable. Try it out for yourself as my family did say it was delicious :)

We were too full to try out any desserts and decided that a walk around the beach was much more suitable :)

Total price break down below (for 6):
1 x eggplant salad = 15
1 x giant beans "plaki" = 25
1 x baked feta cheese = 45 (this is overpriced!)
2 x greek salad = 35 x 2 = 70
1 x roasted beetroot salad = 30
1 x "moussaka" burger = 50 
3 x pita lamb gyros = 45 x 3 = 135
1 x "kleftiko" lamb braise = 100
1 x greek eggplant "bayildi" = 50
2 x large local water = I forgot this one but you can take an estimate of what a local water bottle costs :)
Total (AED) = 520

I've rated Eat Greek 4.0 out of 5!

I would definitely return and try out some other dishes and I particularly enjoyed their mezze (or starters) the most! The ambiance was also great in terms of music, service and overall vibe. We also had THE coolest waiter in town! (check him out on my Instagram). I read that the Eat Greek in Australia (the original one) does traditional live entertainment and dish breaking on the floor - would have been great if we had that!

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2 comments:

  1. I love greek food! I was spoilt growing up in a state with a lot of Greeks so I am always skeptical of places in Dubai, but this one looks great. I will have to try it! That feta looks fab!

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  2. Thanks for returning the blogger love Noreen! Let me know your thoughts when you get round to trying it.

    Which state did you grow up in? I've got family in San Diego - love it there. It has the best weather all year round.

    X

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