Traditional Turkish Grill at Zeytin Greenwich

When you finish a meal and want to keep eating the same thing for the rest of the week, you know you’ve had a good one! That’s what happened to me at Zeytin, a traditional Turkish restaurant in Greenwich. I’m glad I was introduced to this place by my housemate’s friends, as I probably never would have visited it on my own…

The restaurant doesn’t scream ‘Turkish’ at first glance, as the decor is quite standard, but the menu looked completely traditional, offering hot and cold starters, grills, casseroles, vegetarian dishes, salads and even sea food.

Before we ordered our mains, we were served with complimentary starters, which included salads, dips, olives and yummy bread. Complimentary food is a very, very rare practice in London, so we were all pleasantly surprised with the generous offer in both senses of the word. I was all over the bread and the tzatziki-like sauce, so much so, I wasn’t even feeling hungry anymore by the time our mains arrived.

Not being a fan of lamb and certain mediterranean spices, I went for the safe option and ordered Chicken Shish (12.45 GBP). I have to say the meat exceeded all my expectations. It was soft, buttery and tasted very similar to the meat my dad prepares when we’re having barbecues. That’s one of those things I miss the most about my life back home in Slovenia, and the fact that my family never fails to bombard me with photos of delicious food whenever they’re having fun without me, doesn’t help the situation one bit. If I had Zeytin right around the corner from where I live, I would probably be there picking up my takeaway every weekend.

The chicken aside, all sides were delicious too. I got some grilled veggies, rice and bulgur wheat, which I topped off with that tzatziki-style sauce we kept on ordering. The combo tasted perfect! Bulgur wheat, by the way, is quite similar to rice in case you haven’t tried it yet yourself. I had it for the first time at this restaurant, and after finding out it has twice the fiber, fewer calories and less fat than rice, I already made a replacement in my kitchen cupboard.