Olea
There's a lot of buzz about this new restaurant. I'm normally not s huge fan of Greek food, but I'm giving this place a go.
It's in Electra House, near the GPO. This is an old building, with high ceilings. There will be a 50 minute wait before getting into the restaurant, so I'm perched on the very fancy bar room for now, spending some quality time with my phone.
I'll ask again in 20 minutes. Something always frees up. :)
25 minutes later, and I'm in.
I head upstairs, to a warren of large rooms. Rather unexpected for the centre of the city. I'm perched in a weird corner, on a soft bench, with two small, round tables. It's good enough. Apparently it's quieter here.
I ask the waiter what's best, and he takes the liberty of choosing a succession of small courses. That's fine by me.
The crispy bagels have a strong bready and seedy taste of their own. Adding herbs on top of that gets a bit confusing. Also, eating big chunks of crispy bagel with yoghurt is a bit weird, and difficult.
I tire of chomping on bagels. I'll save the stomach space for later. :)
Something isn't communicated properly somewhere, and I get all the following four courses at once.
It's a bit too much food. The waiter made the clear point that he'd order an appropriate amount of food.
Despite the fact that these prawns look like they've pooed on themselves, their herb paste adds to their nice prawny flavour. :)
Luke, I am your fava…
The char of the lamb cutlets and the black olive paste combine to create a weird kind of burnt taste. The cutlets are otherwise tasty.
This mound of potatoes has a nice chewy exterior, and its flavour is enhanced by the application of salt and herbs. However, this is still a plate of potatoes. If plates of potatoes were the only type of food, this dish would be the best cuisine around.
The almonds, pomegranate, and baked rice add lots of interesting crunchy textures to this dish. However, the dish is mostly barley, so it doesn't have a huge amount of taste, other than the tang of some sour cream. Like the potatoes, I wouldn't mind a bit of this. I just don't want a whole plate of it. So I stop.
Turns out this was actually a half-serve.
Going left to right.
The cake has a big crispy exterior, and a mild lemon tang. 8/10
The roll is made of very fine pastry that instantly turns to weird powder, and a slightly sour lemon cream filling. 4/10
The chocolate thing is actually a solid brick of various seeds. It's like one of those sesame seed bars, but cooked more. It's rather pungent. We're I a bird, I think I'd enjoy pecking at this item. Then I'd fly out the window without paying. 4/10
The elderflower lollipop at the end is a piece of hard candy, attached to a spoon. The idea is that you dip it in the liquid, and then suck on it. I do that. I taste nothing. I have a strong feeling the liquid is just water. Drawing on my previous experiences of drinking water, I taste the liquid. I don't think it's 100% water, but I'm not sure. It might just be water. The candy is almost as flavourless. It's like a boiled sweet, but without the sweetness. I eat the whole candy in one mouthful, and manage to detect the flavour. It's a bit like rose water. This was the least flavourful item of food imaginable. 4/10