Second Time around

Review from "What's On" magazine on 11 June 2003, by Michael Darvell.

My Colleague Mark Shenton reviewed a Greek restaurant in Bayswater at the beginning of the year which he wholeheartedly recommended. When he went the room was filled to bursting point so it mean that many others diners also thought highly of the place. It's called Kalamaras and is tucked away in Inverness Mews, a tiny cul-de-sac that runs parallel with Queensway. However, once you are away from all that clamour, it is delightfully peacefull, that you could think you were in a Greek backwater rather than the bustle of Bayswater.
Kalamaras has an interesting history, it began life in 1966 and was made famous by the appearance within its portals of the likes of the Beatles, Mick Jagger, Dusty Springfield and Peter Sellers, among many other icons of the day. So it has been on the London map for getting on for four decades. It recently changed ownership and was bought by Takis Kalogroulis who owns the home of Tango in London, Las Estrellas, the dance club and tango school situated opposite to Kalamaras.

Takis decided to bring the restaurant right up to date and he has done a wonderful job. The whole building has been repainted white both inside and out, so that it looks like an authentic Mediteranean restaurant. On opening night last week the sun was pouring down, and it really did feel as though we were on holiday somewhere more comfortable tha just London in May.
Air-conditioning, central heating, an air extraction and purification unit have all been installed as well as a state of the art charcoal barbecue, to give authentic Greek flavours to the freshest and finest ingredients that Takis and his chefs use.
The room is in two sections with a smaller section by the front door and a larger room stratching out to the back of the building. We enjoyed some fine Greek wine (£10 for the excellence house bottles) and good Greek beer too before ordering the speciality of the house - the famous Mezze menu.

There's a choice of two Mezzes, the Fish or Mixed, and both are £20 per person for a minimum of two people. The mixed Mezze, which we tried begins with a selection of cold starters, opening with the Horiátik Saláta, a typical Greek village salad lettuce,cucumber, tomatoes, peppers and feta cheese. This delicious bowlful of salad ingredients was followed by Tzatziki, the youghurt, cucumber and garlic dip, Houmus, the chickpea paste with garlic and olive oil, and Taramasaláta, made from smoked cod's roe. All these went well with the hot and fresh pítta bread.

If you wish to go a la carte, there's a huge range of startes (£1.90-£4.60), main courses including barbecues and casseroles and fish dishes (£8.50-£12). The restaurant has a full license bar but regular customers may still bring their own wine. It looks as if the new Kalamaras is going to be even more successful than the old one, and if you can still move after the meal, you can always pop over to Las Estrellas and shake a leg on tango night!