10 Greek Street, Soho

The first time I visited 10 Greek Street was when it first opened. The starter of octopus carpaccio'd with chilli and lemon was punchy, the venison that was served with a comforting and creamy truffle mash was cooked well. Bloody on the inside and seared on the outside, a small wedge of poached quince added some interest to the dish. I missed greenery though and was put off by the extra charge to purchase some.

I would have written about it then, but there were things that were inconsistent. My friend's pigeon was cooked until it was grey and required sawing through. The whole room was smoky and unpleasant, and I sat through the rest of my day at my desk, miserable that I had meaty whiffs emanating from my hair. I vowed to come back to give it another go, something I don't often do but I couldn't make my mind up about the place. 

5 months later, they seem to have sorted their ventilation issues. At around 12:30pm the room was empty, but an hour later, full to capacity, they were turning people away. My starter of smoked eel with grilled peach, horseradish cream and fennel salad (£8) was pretty damn good. The eel was silky smooth, lightly smoked and worked surprisingly well with the sweetness of the peach. The horseradish cream had a proper kick to it and was portioned generously; by the end of the dish I had a tingling scalp. So far, so good. 

I chose the courgette flowers stuffed with ricotta and served with lentils and a radish salad (£14). If I'm being kind, it was light on flavour. If I'm not, it was boring. As pretty as it was, I wonder if I just don't get courgette flowers. The ricotta filling was studded with lemon zest but that did little to improve its flavour and the batter around the things needed a bit more seasoning. The lentils were just a texture, the radish salad a mere distraction from the blandness. All in all it was underwhelming and I ended up wishing I'd chosen another starter instead. 

When I've spoken to other people about 10 Greek Street they've raved about their interesting and well priced wine list; perhaps that's where we went wrong, having stuck to tap water on both visits. But for somewhere that posits itself as a restaurant rather than a wine bar, that their food was disappointing wouldn't encourage me to go back anyway. 

 10 Greek Street

 10 Greek Street

 London W1D 4DH

Tel: 020 7734 4677 Bookings taken at lunchtime only