Lunch at Greeka Kouzina

I’ve been wanting to try Greeka Kouzina for a while now. I’ve read about it in numerous blogs and it’s very near my house. I did try to go there at 6:30 one Saturday night but it was full with a number of people still waiting for a table.

Just before I left for Hong Kong last December I had lunch there with my 2 BFFs for our Christmas celebration. Lunch is a good time to try Greeka Kouzina even without making a reservation.

This restaurant used to be where Power Mac was and it’s in the same building as 50 Feasts Photography School.

with DB and Rochelle

Our unanimous favorite dish was the haloumi salad. There were 4 generous slices of pan fried haloumi cheese served arugula. The cheese wasn’t the gooey kind rather it was salty and had a firm bite to it. Eating the cheese reminded me of the brown bits of cheese stuck on the pan when you make grilled cheese sandwich. With a squeeze of lemon this salad was delicious and very satisfying. Unfortunately the rest of our meal wasn’t as good.

haloumi salad P380

I had a small bite of the gyro and it was just ok. Not much flavor with the beef.

beef gyro P195

The flavor of the salmon wasn’t bad but the fish was overcooked and very dry.

salmon in avgolemono sauce P495

I really wanted to try their famous roasted lamb but 3 friends already warned me against it including Rochelle who already tried it. All their comments were the same – it was too fatty and not that tender. I still wanted to order a lamb dish so I went with the lamb cutlets.

Paidakia – lamb cutlets P560

When the dish first came out it was bloody and too rare so we had to have it cooked some more. There was more fat and ligaments than meat. Needless to say I wasn’t happy with this dish. It was a far, far, far cry from the all meat lamb ribs which I loved from My Kitchen.

Rochelle loves their couscous salad which was one of the two sides we chose.

Greek couscous salad

DB chose the lamb meatball pasta. Rochelle hated the taste and smell of the meatballs but it was fine with me. The pasta was quite soft though.

arni keftedes (lamb meatball) pasta

They only had 3 dessert choices so we ordered all since we all love sweets. It’s obvious only on me though. sheesh. Rochelle and DB can’t stop ooohing and aaahing over the thick, rich Greek yogurt bathed in honey and topped with chopped pistachios. Initially I thought there was too much honey in the bowl but it was just right.

Greeka yogurt P170

It didn’t fascinate me as much because it’s exactly what I eat for breakfast everyday sans the honey and nuts. I buy the same thick and delicious Greek yogurt from Rizal Farms.

I really liked my first bite of baklava. It wasn’t too sweet and it went well with the tangy Greek yogurt.

baklava P180

When we got to the middle part it was too dry and crumbly. This was the first time I’ve seen baklava that looked like this.

The apples were too sweet but they were nice and firm. Maybe a more tart variety of apple would be better for this dessert.

milopita (apple pastry) P180

When I asked for coffee the server asked me, “mild or strong?” Naturally I went with strong. When I took a sip I almost spit it out. It tasted like dish water and it didn’t smell or taste anything like coffee. It was soooooo weak any instant coffee would taste better. I asked what brand they used and they brought out the coffee. It was Craft brand, a local roaster that I’ve been wanting to try. I still want to go to Craft’s store in Broadway to try their coffee. Maybe the servers didn’t put enough ground coffee or they didn’t brew it correctly. I want to give their coffee beans another chance.

Craft coffee

Obviously by review you can tell I wasn’t enamored with my meal at Greeka Kouzina. Maybe we ordered the wrong food? I may just give it another chance one of these days. What do you suggest I order?

Greeka Kouzina menu

Greeka Kouzina
285 Units 4 & 5 P. Guevarra St. , 1500 San Juan, Philippines
telephone: 624-5974, 0917-6292818
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