When entrepreneur Johnny Tomazos brought the cuisine of his homeland to Dubai, he avoided all stereotypical notions of what a Greek taverna should look like. Rather than offer diners a museum piece of 60s souvlaki-styled culinary delights, he wanted Eat Greek Kouzina to incorporate the wholesomeness of traditional Greek cooking into the contemporary lifestyle of upbeat Dubai. Three restaurants later, the South-African born Greek-Cypriot hasn’t looked back.
The idea came to him after he found that Greek cuisine was shamefully under-represented in Dubai.
“Being of Greek heritage, we always long for that piece of Greece and realized that there was only one restaurant offering this cuisine in the city,” said Tomazos, who opened up the first of his three Greek restaurants two and a half years ago.
Greek tastes have gone down well in the Persian Gulf. The open plan kitchen ensures that diners get a salivating eyeful of what they can eat. The centerpiece is the charcoal grill rotisseries for traditional kontosouvli, a large chunk of skewered meat. Apart from the usual traditional Greek favorites are the playful Grecian-inspired dishes. For instance, the baked feta mezze dish is a spin on saganaki (usually made with fried graviera cheese) as well as the decadent feta cheesecake.
“We have many specialties, but the prawns kadaifi are definitely the best sellers as they are wrapped in filo pastry and served with strawberry sauce,” says Tomazos. Then there’s the aptly named Nutella Spartan, a thick gooey chocolate milkshake with a Nutella-filled Donut on top that is a chocaholic’s dream. Dubbed by many as the best milkshake in Dubai, it’ll have you scratching your head as to what it has to do with traditionally militant and frugal Spartans.
“When we first opened we kept some traditional dishes but also changed a few recipes to appeal to the eaters in Dubai,” he says. “We soon realized that the Dubai expats and locals are keener on traditional recipes which surprised us, but made us go back to our grandmothers’ recipes and keep it traditionally Greek.”
“We get many Greek diners who are our regulars, but we also get all the different nationalities that live in Dubai, including the local Emiratis,” says Tomazos. The three restaurants have been especially embraced by the 7,000-strong community of Greeks and Cypriots living in Dubai. Not only do they feel at home at Eat Greek restaurants, but they also take the chef aside to make suggestions as to what temperatures the horta (greens) should be served and the exact amount of oregano to spice up those recipes.
BACKGROUND
The idea for the restaurant came during a family trip to Corfu. The Tomazos family dined at the Michelin-starred Etrusco where they were served by Greek celebrity chef Ettore Botrini. Between glasses of Greek wine and mezze bites, they discussed how a Greek restaurant with affordable prices would fare in the Gulf. Seven years later, the dream became reality with Botrini appointed consultant, whereas Greek chef Theodoros Rouvas was shipped over from Etrusco to Dubai.
