I am not much into urban villages and their trendy restaurants. But after having successfully avoided the Shahpur Jat area all these years, I found myself in the neighbourhood again within a span of a few days. Last week, I visited the Big Bongg Theory, and enjoyed quite a sumptuous Bengali meal there. This week I revelled in a Greek meal.
My friend, Indu, had been telling me about a new Greek restaurant in Shahpur Jat. I was interested because I enjoy Greek food. I had some wonderful meals at a small restaurant called Odyssia in Connaught Place several years ago, and then again at It’s Greek to Me in the Safdarjung Enclave Market. Like Odyssia, this new place, I was told, was run by a Greek lady.
So I landed up there on a pleasant evening. The restaurant is called Mykonos and you have to take the lane into Shahpur Jat that’s closer to Panchsheel (opposite the Hauz Khas police station). Just drive down the lane and after about 100 yard or so, and you’ll see the large neon-lit sign of Mykonos on the second floor of a building in front of you. There’s parking space near the building.
The place does look like a typical Greek eatery – the walls are uneven and white, and the interiors are mostly the shade of blue that we associate with Greek houses. We entered and were greeted by Anastasia, the woman behind the restaurant which opened some three months ago. She is a friendly soul and likes to guide you through your meal.
We asked for a plate of dolmadakia, vine leaf parcels stuffed with rice. These were nice, but just a bit too tart for me. We debated between the Mykonos special salad and kritikos dacos. We asked for the former, but I think we got the latter – without the crisp hard bread that it comes with. But it was a nice salad, with fresh veggies and a dressing that she’d prepared with a bit of milk, olive oil and oregano.
For the main dishes, we settled for moussaka, padakia, or lamb chops, and chicken tigania, small boneless chicken pieces cooked with green peppers and served with flavoured rice. The chicken-rice dish was delicious, and the lamb chops were truly excellent. The meat was soft and juicy (Anastasia says they always get tender meat), the spices were just right, and the cheesy potato fries the dish came with were perfect.
My moussaka – a baked dish of eggplant and minced meat — was nice, but I think the mince layer was a bit too thin. A thicker layer would have made it even better. We ended the meal with the sinfully delicious baklava – filo pastry filled with walnuts and smothered with sugar syrup.
We were told that the bill for two people comes to Rs.1500 – and that proved to be right. We were three, and the bill was for Rs.2250.
You’d enjoy a meal there – the food is good, Anastasia is most helpful, and the servers are pleasant and friendly. Now that Greece has a new government, let’s raise a toast (no wine there, though) to hope!
