Peter Morrell samples the delicious food and wine at this authentic restaurant and meets the owner Theodore Kyriakou who is also organising the upcoming London Greek Wine Festival

Before sampling the food and wine at The Greek Larder I had a chat with owner Theodore who is a well known character on the London food scene. He founded one of my favourite restaurants Livebait in Waterloo in the 1990s and then went on to create the highly popular Real Greek chain of restaurants,

Theodore is passionate about quality Greek ingredients, as well as a restaurant The Greek Larder has a deli counter offering authentic ingredients from Greece. If you can’t get to Kings Cross then there is an online shop where you can order a range of foodie goodies.

Theodore is also passionate about Greek wine, many of which are made from indigenous grapes. For the third year running he is organising the upcoming London Greek Wine Festival which is being run in the West Handyside Canopy, a few minutes walk from Kings Cross station.

The Festival is the UK’s only exclusive celebration of Greek wine. When you visit you can relive your summer holiday with talks from Olly Smith, over 100 different wines included in the ticket price and lots of delicious Greek food. This is one for the Mediterranean vinophile in us all and runs from 13th to 14th October.

Back to the sampling, I started with the Domaine Karanika, the dry sparkling Cuvee Prestige made from the Assyrtiko and Xinomavro grapes. It showed Champagne style with notes of brioche with fruity tones and fresh acidity. It had an impressively long finish. This wine was paired with Dolmadakia (stuffed vine leaves) and smoked eel, a delicious combination.

The next wine was a white, the Gerovassiliou made entirely from the Malagousia grape. Pear and mango on the nose developed into lively citrus flavours on the palate and left a clean bright finish. This was matched with my dish of the evening – Rhodes flat bread with cheese. It had a crumbly texture, the Graviera cheese from Tinos and Cretan Dagianta cheese, and topping of caper leaves gave it great depth of flavour.

The third wine, another white was the Domaine Lyrarakis made from 100% Assyrtiko. It was very dry and had good acidity and fruit aromas. The companion for this wine was a Monkfish souvlaki, very meaty fish with good flavours were all wrapped up in a cornet of filo pastry.

The fourth was a red, the Thymiopoulos ‘Earth and Sky’ made with the Xinomavro grape. This wine had a very old world character to it with plenty of red fruit in the bouquet and well structured tannins that made it ultra smooth. This was served with cold smoked wood pigeon, aubergine salad and fava, an inventive combination.

The final was a pudding wine, the Samos Vin Doux. This was a subtle wine with lemony notes and an acidity that stopped it cloying, it showed a very honeyed finish. I drank this with Bougatsa, flaky filo filled with semolina custard. An upbeat end to the tasting

This was a very interesting culinary evening, it was not only a showcase for the quality of the food at The Greek Larder but also a trailer for the exciting Greek wines that will be at the London Greek Wine Festival.

The Greek Larder – https://thegreeklarder.co.uk/

The London Greek Wine Festival – http://londongreekwinefestival.co.uk/