The Real Greek Experience

You just wouldn’t believe the last 7 days I have had! It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions, good food and a chest infection.

Speaking of good food, have you ever been to The Real Greek? They have locations all over London, but for some reason I always end up at the one in Westfields.  Like the time I ended up there a few years ago, when my friend Veronica was visiting, post me just getting mugged on the bus. ON THE BUS! Did you read that? It was so traumatizing, it took months before I took a bus anywhere again. I was also dead broke with not wallet (having just been mugged), and I remember I ordered some meatballs. Which actually was just 4 meatballs on a plate. Thats all I ate and if memory serves me right I think I spunged a glass of wine off of V. (Wow, what a good friend I am! V – if you ever come back to London, vino on me babes!) Having just lost all my personal belongings to a sneaky horrible woman on the bus, I wasn’t in the best of moods and in the right mind frame for the Real Greek experience.

So fast forward to Friday 1st of July ( we are back in 2016 now) I had this amazing opportunity to meet the head chef of The Real Greek AND author of the new The Real Greek Cook Book, Tonia Buxton. (Quick fact for my Norwegian readers, this woman is Fedon Lindbergs new business partner!)  What a babe! She is face of Greek food in the UK and presenter of the award winning ‘My Greek Kitchen’ TV series. Hello total girl crush! It’s incredibly empowering meeting women who are so passionate about healthy eating. Myself and a group of lovely other bloggers had the chance to taste some of the incredible food Tonia has developed for The Real Greek. Everything from cold and hot Meze to mouth watering greek salads. The food was to die for. I left wanting more, and ask everybody I have spoken to last weekend, it’s actually all I have been talking about. Some of my favorites included a Roasted pepper and cheese dip, finished with a touch of chilli called HTIPITI, mouthwatering grilled octopus (which FYI I am still dreaming about!) and TIROPITAKIA which is a filo pastry parcel filled with creamy leek, spinach and feta. If you are a calorie counter, or just trying to watch that waistline, don’t panic, they have stated the calories on the menu next to each dish. Which is golden if you’re like me trying to get beach body ready. (Yes I laughed when I read that too)  You’d be surprised though, how healthy greek food actually is! We ended the feast with some delicious desserts, one of them being GREEK YOGHURT WITH WALNUTS IN SYRUP. My mouth started to water just typing that. Forget everything you think you know about walnuts and open your mind to tastebud heaven.

This dip? Get in my mouth!

 Omg octopus

Walnut heaven!!

Moutain tea, so delish! 

Now if you don’t live anywhere close to a Real Greek restaurant, don’t fret mon petit cheri, The Real Greek Cook book is coming out on July 14th which means you can make these beautiful dishes at home! OPAH! You can pre-order yours from here. Whatcha waiting for? You know you want to! 🙂