Rocking Chair Fuel

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Oleana – No.18

Oleana

Funny.  We had a few “yuck!” comments about the fish head picture from the last restaurant.  Please note, the comments were from non-fish eaters.  I promise, no disgusting photos on this post (although I can’t promise for future restaurants).  We’re off to No.18 – Oleana, for some Middle-Eastern meze.

The restaurant feels really cozy as soon as you walk in, with a couple of separate areas for dining.  There’s even an outside garden with seating, which looked really pretty as the trees were hung with fairy lights.  It was actually a cold evening when we went, but to prove the restaurants popularity, there were still people sat in the garden, with outdoor heaters to keep them warm; Still…burr. 

Have you ever found yourself eavesdropping the table next to you?  Of course you have.  We were seated next to an adorable older couple and couldn’t help but flap our ears. They have been going to Oleana every week for over 10 years; That’s quite an accolade, and to be fair, we had to reserve our table a month in advance.  High expectations.

Meze/Sharing food – something Clark and I love to do is share food and get to try lots of different things.  It was difficult to narrow it down to just four dishes as everything looked interesting and delicious.  But we managed the tough task.

The Dishes - Fatoush

Oleana Fatash

I’m not normally a big salad orderer, but this was too tempting.  Apple, Radish and Pomegranate Fatoush.  I know, what’s Fatoush?  Oleana very smartly put a glossary at the bottom of the menu for such questions.  Fatoush was not on there, but basically it’s a bread salad.  Fresh pitas are a staple in the Middle-East and delicious when they are fresh, but what of the leftover pitas?  They created whole dishes based around day old bread where they fry or bake the leftover pitas to become the main part of a dish.  Dah, dah….Fatoush.  Delicious, and elevated even more when served with whipped ricotta for a creamy texture.

Scallops and Brussels

Scallops with chickpea stew, cauliflower aioli and fried Brussel sprouts, topped with little crispy flakes of chorizo – genius.  Perfectly cooked scallops and probably the best Brussel sprouts I’ve ever had….we put it down to the amount of butter they were probably cooked in.  I used to hate Brussels when I was young, but I have discovered in my wiser years that actually I love them.  Apparently when Brussels are overcooked, not only do they turn mushy (yuck), they release excess sulphur which makes them taste bitter.  So, it’s not that I hated Brussels, I just hated Brussels that had been boiled a tad too long (sorry Mum…love your cooking).

Honeynut Squash

Honeynut squash – I’ve never heard of it, so of course we had to try it.  The fact that it came with gigantes (a large white Greek bean – not to be mistaken for butter beans), oyster mushrooms, goat milk labne (a thick yoghurt) and Basturma crackling, was just a bonus.  I know, I know, what’s Basturma?  Back to the glossary.  Basturma – air dried beef with Armenian spices.  Great combination; soft sweet squash, creamy slightly tart labne, full flavoured mushrooms and then the crunchy Basturma. Mmm.

Lamejun

The final dish – Lamejun.  Loving the glossary again.  Lamejun – a flatbread with a ground meat topping.  In this case it was ground lamb.  Alongside it some spicy roasted shishito peppers and more of that delicious labne.

We were having such a lovely time we didn’t want it to end, so what do you do?  Order dessert and dessert wine.  And who can resist a preserved lemon ice cream.

Oleana- preserved lemon ice cream

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