Costa's Grill (Greek)
Above: Costa’s Grill: the nicest place in Notting Hill to fritter away a sunny day?
Two years ago, I was privileged to be invited to the first (and probably, the last) International Conference on Greek Gastronomy, in Athens. Since the general consensus on Greek food is that it has been getting slowly worse since Plato and Socrates loafed around the Symposium, feasting on figs and honey, knocking back Lesbian wines (Ancient Lesbos was renowned for them), and playing lewd drinking games, I was intrigued.
My most memorable meal was in the Athens meat market at three in the morning, dining on patsas, a particularly slimy sort of tripe soup. Around me were glistening tangles of animals’ innards, slung from hooks above the stalls, like rather macabre macramé. In the café, middle-aged Athenian women in evening gowns chain-smoked as they slurped tripe. It was an experience.
Generally, the simpler the food I ate, the better it was: with the noble exception of Christoforos Peskias’s superb food at 48 The Restaurant, which was worth a three-hour flight on its own. Grilled fish, roast kid, tomato salads, tzatziki and fresh breads…these are the foods holidaymakers shed tears over as, back in Blighty, they crank up the Demis Roussos and swig ouzo, vainly attempting to recapture the idyll.
Costa’s Grill, the stalwart and venerable Greek on Hillgate Street, has done more than its fair share of idyll-recapturing over the decades. For many locals, it is simply their canteen, a place where a few nibbles and a bottle costs around £25 a head before they shuffle off to watch Newsnight.
Costa’s décor does not scream ‘Greek’. If anything, it screams ‘1957’ – roughly when the ubiquitous veneer was first applied. Service is gruffly friendly, the food passable. It is also cheap.
There is, though, a small garden at the back which is a strong contender in the ‘nicest place in Notting Hill to fritter away a sunny day’ stakes. If winter’s here, can spring be far behind? It will soon be time for languorous bottles of rosé. Book ahead, however: it is one of the most fiercely fought-over patches of ground in London.
My last meal there was much like all my other meals there: probably London’s cheapest gin-and-tonic, bracing Kourtakis retsina, tangy taramasalata, cheap and cheerful sardines, rich and resonant stifado (made properly, with hare and meltingly cooked onions), and a soggy baklava. Proper Greek coffee, lovely service, and they have even tarted up the toilets. It’s hardly gastronomy, but I still can’t wait for summer. Bill Knott
Costa’s Grill, 14 Hillgate Street, Notting Hill, W8 7SR
020 7229 3794