Olive Greek & Middle Eastern

32 Elgin St, Soho.
Visited Saturday 24th March.

Last Saturday Naomi and I headed into Soho for a relaxed night trying another new eatery. We decided upon Olive a 'Greek and Middle Eastern' restaurant, whose menu I have been eyeing off for some time.

To start we shared an excellent Meze plate. Hummus and Baba Ghanoush were accompanied by grilled pita, fresh cucumber and delicious 'Fatima's Fingers'; a twisted and fried finger of filo pastry stuffed with feta. A glass of d'Arenberg Dry Dam Riesling - an excellent wine from one of my favourite produces in South Australia's Maclaren Vale - went very well along side this dish.

Our mains were both superb. Naomi enjoyed a heaped plate of chicken shish kebabs accompanied by pilaf and grilled vegetables. The kebabs were both amazingly tender and richly flavoured, heightened even further by well timed char grilling. This was truly delicious chicken, huge chunks that tasted like ... well, like real chicken. I had a Grilled Australian rib-eye with mashed potato and mushrooms, kept company by a glass of decent Chianti. The large steak was good and again char grilled to perfection, while the mash was smooth and creamy. The dish was only slightly let down by shriveled and dry mushrooms, they should have been better. Bursting to the point of silly, it was with deep regrets that desserts were refused. The options however looked both interesting and original.

With a bill of over $700 for a shared entree, two mains and three glasses of wine Olive wasn't cheap, but what it was, was extremely good. The service was professional, the food of excellent quality and the portions generous (which certainly can't be said for all eateries in Soho). The number of keen punters that we watched being turned away from a full house perhaps signifies how good this restaurant really is. Olive is definitely recommended for superb, quality food that is a refreshingly different option to all the usual French and Italian places.

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