10 Greek Street

Decent, but not outstanding.

Our first visit on a busy Saturday lunchtime today, and despite an early booking the place was very busy and very noisy by the time we left. The place is small and a bit cramped- truth to tell probably not quite enough space for the tables they have there, and thats not many.

That aside the service was pretty good- not super-friendly- there wasn't really time for that- but certainly very polite and efficient. We had bread and water at the table within moments of sitting down , and whilst the pace wasn't rushed it was by no means leisurely. Which brings me to my only real gripe. If you want a relaxing lunch for a quiet chat with friends or partner, you might want to think about whether the closeness of your fellow-diners and the noise level are consistent with “relaxing”. OTOH if you want a buzzy, convivial sort of place with everyone trying to make sure they get heard, you'll love it.

The food is shown on blackboards . Some dishes are starter sized, some main course sized and some come as either. Its not a huge list. We never got to know about the selection of small plates, because they weren't on a blackboard and the rolled -up menu on our table was a wine list. A comment on the wine. We ordered a half bottle each of their lowest prices white ( a Vermentino) and their cheapest red( a Sicilian). Both these were very enjoyable indeed and they don't charge more for two halves than for a bottle.

Now, our food. We both enjoyed our starters – my wife with soup and me with a small portion of red wine risotto with nicely charred Treviso and burrata. Likewise the mains of monkfish cheeks wrapped in bacon with lentils: and confit of duck with butternut squash and celeriac. Potatoes always seemed to be extra and there was only boiled new on offer. We both felt the same about our dishes- decent but not outstanding, certainly nothing to distinguish this restaurant from many others. Absolutely nothing to complain about, but nothing particularly to remember either. The bill, with coffee and good breads with oil(no butter) came to £74 with service, which we thought was about right for what we had.

Go again? Possibly not. There's nothing much wrong with this restaurant that a bit bigger premises wouldn't put right, but there's not so much that's great about it that I'd forgo a favourite, or the chance to try somewhere new to return there. Its fine- its just not special either in absolute terms, or by comparison with its peer group.

I'm baffled why 10 Greek Street might be described as a ‘gem’, when it sits precisely half way along a line between Arbutus and La Giaconda, both of which have been doing exactly the same thing as this place for a number of years now, with far greater success. Indeed if anyone has a claim to be called a hidden gem of Soho's food circuit, it's La Giaconda which is more intimate and to my mind more foodie.

The menu looks good on first glance, but when you are forced to choose, the options are somewhat limited. It's nice to see smoked eel and partridge amongst the starters, but I wonder how many they actually shift. You might describe the food offering as ‘modern European’, but the pedant in me got a bit cross seeing dishes as diverse as scallops with morcilla, pork belly with polenta, and chickpeas, aubergine and yoghurt all in the same place. You wish the chef would pick one cuisine and stick to it.

The food itself was perfectly good: bruschetta with figs came with a ball of spot-on burrata, the queen scallops were dressed with lovely bacon-y oil courtesy of the morcilla, and wild mushroom rotolo was fine and garlicky although it swiftly collapsed on the plate. There was no arguing wth the sea bream with baby fennel and artichoke, though it is hardly going to win any awards for originality – unlike the more innovative offerings round the corner at Arbutus.

Service was grown-up, confident, friendly and efficient. Pricing was up and down however: the rotolo as a main was costed at £14, but the chickpea starter was £7 which seems daft given the ingredients cost.

Tables are mostly terribly cramped together: the long line of tables for two is well on its way to being a banquette, given the tiny gaps between them; we sat in a draft by the door to avoid this. Somehow La Giaconda, by contrast, has managed to orient their tables so you are rarely cheek by jowl, and Arbutus is actually laid out like a proper restaurant.

If I understand Russell Norman's theory of no bookings correctly, it's that restaurants like this are intended not as a destination but as a neighbourhood joint. On the basis of my experience, that's exactly the right label for 10 Greek Street.

When San Pellegrino anoints its 50 Best Restaurants In The World later in the month, it is a fair bet to assume that 10 Greek Street will not make the list. Good for them: this is one of the new group of places (Duck Soup, The Ten Cases etc.) springing up in Soho and Covent Garden that are not Michelin Star chasers, but want to provide good, honest cooking, in a pleasant atmosphere. And they succeed marvellously.

That they take bookings was always going to make it a plus for me, as it meant that I could be sure that I could meet my companions at a certain time and we would get a seat. Call me old fashioned, but that sort of works best for me.

So a lovely sunny lunchtime found us at a small table, some hunks of bread, some salt and a bottle of peppery olive oil laid out before us. Why do some places assume that you are going to want balsamic vinegar with the oil? I don’t. It ruins the taste of the oil, so top marks to 10GS for not making that mistake.

The menu is chalked on boards around the walls, with a daily changing line up. And what a line up: I could quite happily of had everything on the menu. Instead, we started with some lovely potted crab and an under seasoned steak tartar. Raw steak, with some gherkins, capers and an egg yolk nestling on top, generally needs a little kick of mustard, with perhaps some Worcestershire sauce and some lemon too, to give it some tartness. This had none and, whilst perfectly fine, was not as zingy as it might have been.

Mains picked up where the crab left off and were terrific: a simple old spot chop, nicely cooked, a slick of polenta, some greenery and a nice, crisp piece of crackling. Spaghetti came with dried tuna roe (bottarga), which worked a treat, although maybe we should have tried the silver mullet, a fish that I have never seen on a menu before (or indeed in a fishmonger’s).

The chocolate and pear pecan tart and fine plate of cheese that followed rounded off a really pleasant lunch.

Wines come by the glass, carafe and bottle, and staff will happily recommend pairings for you. If the website is anything to go by, like the food, the wine seems to be ever changing too. Also like the food, the prices for the wines are reasonable. Well, reasonable for this part of town.

Service is friendly, the place a little cramped (why do people think that a bag slung over the shoulder isn’t going to clout somebody sitting down as they walk past?), but overall, a really lovely spot that, like both Duck Soup and The Ten Cases, deserves to do brilliantly well.

This place has potential, but it really is infuriating turning up just before 7 on a week night, and being told you might have to wait 2 hours for a table, due to no booking policy. It was actually a 2 hour 5 minute wait. The tables are very crowded together, the service was excellent. Two successful starters, the mains were not: undercooked fish and mean accompaniments. Regretfully their kitchen is open, and the cooking smells come right through the dining area. One tiny window open above the door was not enough to prevent the strong cooking odours from dominating. This place has potential, but why would we ever try to go back knowing we have to wander round London first for hours?

The best place in Soho, hands down. Delicious food, lovely service, great atmosphere, brilliant wine at a very reasonable price. I'm going back as soon as I can!