The Life Goddess
London doesn't have all that many Greek restaurants, especially if you aren't counting the Real Greek chain or the more common Cypriot places, so I took the opportunity to try the Life Goddess, when I had the chance. The Life Goddess has two locations, one on Store Street, in Bloomsbury, and the other in Kingly Court, in Soho. I chose the latter, finding it's menu the more interesting of the two. As well as serving food, the Life Goddess prides itself on its cocktails. I opted for the Goddess Zombie (£12) – it was fruity, sweet and pretty strong! I enjoyed it, but next time I might try and explore their extensive range of Greek wines. My girlfriend and I looked through the starters on the menu – although there was a wide selection, I was slightly limited in what I could choose, because I don't eat cheese and most dishes seemed to contain this. In the end, we ordered one portion of vine leaves (£8.50), the melitzanosalata (£6.50), the Octopus (£15.50) and a portion of garlic pita bread (£4.50). The vine leaves, served warm, were a world away from the claggy canned ones you usually find! The rice inside was delicate and the yoghurt they were served with made a pleasant dip. The melitzanosalata was enormous – half a large roasted aubergine, topped with feta cheese, peppers and garlic. I looked on as my girlfriend demolished it with glee. The garlic pita was baked and delicious – again, very different from what you usually encounter in London. The octopus consisted of a large grilled tentacle, served with fava, capers, vinegar and olive oil. This was the most outstanding dish of the evening – the octopus was tender and crisp, the fava (made from split peas, like a Greek pease pudding) was fluffy and nutty in flavour and the oil and vinegar livened it up a bit! There weren't many capers, but I don't know if the dish really needed a great deal of them. At £15.50, this isn't cheap, but it was a large portion, perfect to share. For the main courses, my girlfriend ordered the lamb chops with country potatoes, salad and hummus (£17) and was delighted with the texture and flavour. I ordered the seafood kitharoto (£19), which was described as 'octopus, shrimps, calamari in a delicious handmade orzo pasta'. This was delicious, with the rice-shaped orzi serving as an alternative to a risotto, however it was a bit light on the octopus – there was plenty of prawn and cuttlefish though. We ordered the soaked orange pie with vanilla ice cream (£8.50) for desert. Unfortunately, after it arrived we discovered that there was no ice cream available (the ice cream had been what my girlfriend was really after), but it was tasty nonetheless. I would actually have described it as more of a cake than a 'pie', but I am glad that I tried it nonetheless. I would definitely like to come back to the Life Goddess, to try some of the other dishes and to explore the wine list. It's not a cheap restaurant, but if you choose carefully, it doesn't necessarily have to be expensive either.
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