Eating gluten free usually means reading a menu for what you cannot have. Greek food turns that around. Take away the bread and the pastry, and what is left is most of the menu: grilled meat and fish, vegetables, pulses, yoghurt, cheese and a great deal of olive oil.
The dips
Hummus, tzatziki, tyrokafteri and melitzanosalata are all marked gluten free. The catch is the pitta that usually comes alongside, so ask for them without it.
Salads and meze
- Greek salad, the proper one, with tomato, cucumber, onion, olives and feta.
- Beetroot and feta salad with pomegranate.
- Chargrilled aubergine in tomato sauce under crumbled feta.
- Grilled vegetables, dolmades, gigantes beans and Greek olives.
- Prawn saganaki, in a spicy tomato, garlic and ouzo sauce, without the pitta.
From the grill
The chicken, lamb and pork skewers are all marked gluten free, served with fries and salad. If you are coeliac, ask the team about the fries on the day, since shared fryers are the usual hidden problem in any restaurant.
Seafood
Grilled octopus on fava, sea bass, king prawns and grilled salmon are all marked gluten free, and they are among the best things on the menu anyway.
Breakfast and dessert
At breakfast the omelette is marked gluten free (ask for it without the sourdough), the vegan breakfast can be served gluten free, and so can the Greek yoghurt with nuts, honey and fruit. To finish dinner, Greek yoghurt with honey and mixed nuts is gluten free and about as Greek as dessert gets.
What to skip
Anything in filo or pastry (baklava, the baked feta pastry, the spinach and feta triangles), anything fried in batter such as kalamari, the moussaka, the burgers, the pasta dishes, and of course the pitta.
Tell us
Menu items are marked GF, but a label is no substitute for a conversation. Our kitchen handles flour every day, so if you have coeliac disease or a serious intolerance rather than a preference, please mention it when you book and again when you order, and the team will talk you through what is right for you on the day.