The Real Greek, mezze restaurant Westfield Stratford REVIEW

Mezze restaurant offering taste of Greece

The Real Greek serves small plates of mezze dishes allowing you to mix and match according to appetite and tastes. It’s food that feels freshly prepared and straightforward, and somewhere to choose whether you want a sharing banquet or some grilled meat or fish with salad. Representative of “the Mediterranean diet”, the menu offers plenty of options to stick to a healthy eating plan. We first visited The Real Greek in 2012, and have been back too many times to count. The outdoor terrace is a lovely place to eat outdoors in summer. The restaurant is now immediately next door to its original unit having been refurbished in 2024. First published in 2012, out-of-date content and prices have been removed from this review. Menu items may have changed.

Interior shot of The Real Greek restaurant at Westfield Stratford, East London; a waitress in white short-sleeved t-shirt dashes past a stainless counter stacked with black metal serving stands, a chef stands in soft focus behind these.

On a chilly December day, I joined several friends for a taste of summer. Mulled wine was served on arrival, Christmassy displays twinkled outside. However, with a friendly welcome from our real RealGreek host, the chain’s Head of Operations, Christos, we soon felt we were in a white-washed Aegean taverna. We were presented with a full range of dishes served at The Real Greek; no corner of the menu was left uninvestigated.

Triangles of flatbread piled on a white plate, glasses of black olives with cocktail sticks and red wine lie in soft focus in the background. As served at The Real Greek restaurant at Westfield Stratford, East London.

In Greece, we were told, an empty table is a sin. Immediately, mezze and drinks began to appear on small plates. Calamata olives, Greek flatbread and shots of Mavrodaphne of Patras, a sweet red Greek wine (similar to France’s Pineau de Charentes) opened this Olympic feast.

With small plate menus, it can be tricky gauging how much to order. At The Real Greek, 6-7 dishes between 2 people would be plenty. A typical selection for one person might be flatbread or potatoes, a dip or salad dish, a meat or fish dish and dessert or another random savoury choice.

A plate of hummus on a white plate topped with chickpeas, herbs and glistening with olive oil; a spoon lies on the plate upon the vintage wooden table and in background soft focus lies a glass tumbler.

Hummus started a debate; some felt it was too grainy, whereas I thought it was just right with chickpeas not outshone by tahini. All appetisers were dressed with a pool of olive oil: perfect for dipping and scooping with soft triangles of freshly-baked flatbread.

A plate of tzatziki cucumber and yogurt dip garnished with herbs on a white plate with a serving spoon; in the background in soft focus lies a glass tumbler and a white ceramic bowl filled with cucumber, carrot and pepper batons. All lie on a vintage wooden table. As served at The Real Greek restaurant at Westfield Stratford, East London.

Tzatziki, that familiar blend of yoghurt and shredded cucumber, I do question the mark up on what is essentially a plate of yoghurt. Taste wise, I have no complaints.

A white plate of white taramasalata cod roe dip garnished with dill, as served at The Real Greek restaurant at Westfield Stratford, East London.

Taramasalata, the essential Greek fish roe dip, was much better than the Barbie-pink, stinky goo sold by supermarkets. Normally I don’t like taramasalata, now I know I like the good stuff.

A white plate of htipiti, red pepper and feta dip as served at The Real Greek restaurant at Westfield Stratford, East London.

Htipiti [hit-ee-pit-ee] is a dip combining red pepper and feta cheese. Everyone in Greece apparently has their own htipiti recipe; some areas prefer it spicy, this version was more mild.

A white plate of gigandas-plaki or "gigantic beans" scattered with chopped herbs, as served at The Real Greek restaurant at Westfield Stratford, East London.

Gigandas-plaki or ‘gigantic beans’ slow cooked in a tomato and herb sauce would please vegetarians. The skins that can sometimes be tough on big pulses were very soft.

Not shown, we also tried Tiropitakia, filo pastry parcels stuffed with leek, feta and spinach, were definitely one of my favourites. They were fried but not greasy with soft pastry. Nor would any trip to a Greek restaurant be complete without Dolmades, vine leaves stuffed with rice.

A white plate of puy lentil salad topped with large pieces of feta cheese and beetroot as served at The Real Greek restaurant at Westfield Stratford, East London. Adjacent is a shot glass of red sweet wine. A serving spoon, handle facing towards the foreground, lies face down on the plate. In the background of the vintage wooden table, a wine bottle with red label and a white plate with another side dish are shown in soft focus.

We especially liked the beetroot and lentil salad featuring home-made feta cheese. Another good dish for vegetarians.

Moving onto seafood, tiger-prawns with garlic and chilli arrived infused with flavour in a blini pan. Tails intact, skins had mostly been removed. Alongside salt cod, these were my favourite of the seafood dishes. Grilled octopus was much lighter and less greasy than versions sold in cans. The octopus had a meaty texture but wasn’t tough.

Salt cod fritters, scattered with green herbs, piled on a small plate with lemon wedge and lemon mayonnaise, as served at The Real Greek restaurant at Westfield Stratford, East London. On the vintage wooden table, another white plate of food lies in soft focus in the background.

Salt cod had light battered chunks of fish with lemon mayonnaise. Despite the name, the fish is soaked for three days to remove saltiness. It’s upmarket fish and chips really!

Slices of chargrilled calamari scattered with herbs and garnished with spiky lettuce salad leaves and lemon wedge, as served at The Real Greek restaurant at Westfield Stratford, East London. Two further white plates of food lie in soft focus behind.

By now the dishes started feeling like the Olympics’ opening parade of countries. Another traditional Greek dish, grilled kalamari, was similar in texture to the octopus, but juicier and more tender. Not remotely rubbery.

A pile of sliced pork belly garnished with red onion slices and green herbs upon a white plate dusted with red paprika, upon a vintage wooden table; as served at The Real Greek restaurant at Westfield Stratford, East London.

Pork belly is popular on gastropub menus: in my experience, it’s too much belly and not enough pork. This was completely different. To die for. Long tender strips of meat with slivers of red onion and oregano.

If I’m honest, the remaining meat dishes were a blur of minced patties, balls and kofte for which my descriptions would be meaningless.

A white plate of Greek meatballs topped with bright red tomato sauce, slithers of red onion and chopped green herbs as served at The Real Greek restaurant at Westfield Stratford, East London.

These ones were Greek meatballs topped with yoghurt, tomato sauce and red onion; we also tried Bifteki Greek burger patties, and Lamb kefte with mint yoghurt.

Plate of two small wooden skewers loaded with grilled chicken pieces upon a white plate with spiky salad leaves and large blob of mayonnaise, as served at The Real Greek restaurant at Westfield Stratford, East London.

The chicken skewers with lemon mayonnaise had plenty of chargrilled flavour without sapping moisture from the meat.

Bright segments of orange citrus flesh, skins removed topped with chopped mint and pistachio nuts and honey, upon a white plate as served at The Real Greek restaurant at Westfield Stratford, East London.

For dessert, fresh orange segments with pistachios were served on Greek yoghurt with honey. I didn’t really notice pistachio flavour although evidently these were there. Also not shown, four sticky triangles of baklava were the perfect serving at a fair price. I like desserts served in a modest quantities at a lower price, a taste of sweetness is enough after a big meal.

A large triangular slice of caramel and pecan cheesecake on a white plate zig zagged with caramel sauce. As served at The Real Greek restaurant at Westfield Stratford, East London.

Caramel and pecan cheesecake, however, was the bumper size choice. We were undecided whether this was made in-house or brought in from outside. Most likely the latter, but it was still good.

A white plate of Greek yogurt, dark brown walnut pieces and honey, as served at The Real Greek restaurant at Westfield Stratford, East London.

Best dessert for me, and more classically Greek, was Greek yoghurt and walnuts with honey. These walnuts were a surprise, they looked like fig or black grape and seemed soft enough to be chestnuts.

Compared to similar small dish menus at chains such as La Tasca or Zizzi’s short-lived Venetian cichette, this was my favourite. The Real Greek was busy all afternoon without ever seeming chaotic or being too noisy. I’m really pleased to update in 2024 that The Real Greek is still going at Westfield Stratford but have not yet visited its new home next door.

Meal hosted by The Real Greek. Compare other reviews by my fellow diners; Greedy Gourmet, Pebble Soup and Cook Sister.

The Real Greek
Chestnuts Plaza, Westfield Stratford City
8 Montfichet Road
London E20 1GL