Halepi, London: The best Greek restaurant in London? A Cypriot Taverna? Either way, it’s one of a kind
When you step into Halepi, you step back into your childhood. It’s someone’s christening or birthday – or perhaps a pre-wedding gathering, or an engagement. Expect it isn’t: it’s a well-adapted Cypriot taverna right near Hyde Park and, just like Hyde Park, it’s an oasis that is standing the test of time. While the London around it fast changes, it feels like Halepi is holding on to everything we’re all missing.
Stepping into Halepi feels like stepping into a time capsule. It’s like stepping into Narnia… or your great aunt’s home. From the maroon carpet and iconic red chairs to the tapestry table cloths and exposed wooden beams above. Just like the framed film prints that adorn its walls with memories, Halepi is rustic and retro – something the personable, giving, caring, sincere Mediterranean touch of the front-of-house staff reinforces.
It’s cosy and intimate. At its peak the taverna is absolutely rammed, with tables lined compactly in private-function formation that will take UK Cypriots back to those childhood memories of special occasions in rustic tavernas and community halls. Except, here, you also hear upbeat chatter in a range of languages – Slavic, Balkan, Arabic, Italian, English in all its accents – all against a modest backdrop of the popular folk ‘taverna’ classics of Gen-X (Terzis, Theodoridou, Sfakianakis, Karras, Ploutarchos, Mitropanos, with some Oikonomopoulos, Hatzigiannis and Vandi mixed in for Milennials). Again, while London’s demographics have changed, Halepi has continued serving it all the same while staying true to its same authentic self.
(Here is a playlist of all the songs I remember hearing in Halepi if you like.)
One circle of influencers have labeled this as ‘London’s best Greek restaurant’ – a statement that is somewhat reductive. It’s not a cunning ploy from the restaurant, it’s just overly simplistic content creation. Don’t get me wrong, Halepi calls itself a Greek taverna and has every right to do so. It also calls itself a 'kebab house', often used interchangeably in Cyprus with the term souvlitzidiko (to Greeks, just souvlatzidiko, aka ‘souvlaki joint’). But let’s be honest, Halepi is not your average Greek restaurant or taverna, nor just a ‘kebab house’. In a good way. If anything, to be as specific as possible, it’s a homely Cypriot taverna with a few twists. But even that doesn’t quite encapsulate it all. Why reduce it? While a Cypriot taverna might be the best descriptor as more Greeks arrive in London with a slightly different offering to the Cypriot style the city knows best, there is still something more to it than that. There’s something different about it. It feels more international. It has flair and charm. It’s unique. That’t not to say it isn’t Greek at all.
Of course, you find the many overlaps of Greek and Cypriot cooking here that justify the Greek label – with the tzatziki, the dolmades, and the mousaka. The Greek salad comes in the Cypriot sense – with lettuce (whereas in Cyprus a village salad is served with lettuce, a ‘Greek salad’ aka ‘horiatiki’ won’t contain lettuce in Greece). The souvla – rotisserie meat – is Cypriot souvla, with the slight twist of deboning the lamb. Just salt, pepper and oregano, allowing the meat and the cooking to do the work (a key distinction being that Greek kontosouvli is typically marinaded – read about the differences here). It’s always difficult to keep the souvla from drying out on the spit, which is why many Cypriot tavernas tend to only serve it at set times. We didn’t order it at the best time, admittedly, but a bit more salt wouldn’t have gone amiss.
The halloumi isn’t your official traditional Cypriot sheep milk halloumi that Cyprus Airways pilot-turned-cheesemaker Pantelis of Kouella preaches about – because you never find that in London, nor is it a guarantee in Cyprus anymore (FYI traditional halloumi never has cow milk in it). It is, however, among the best we get here in London: a very good, meaty and authentic goat milk halloumi brought in from Cyprus, grilled perfectly and served with a tabouleh and a dressing that has a surprising sweetness to it. As a dish, the halloumi really does taste very good, and it’s a welcome fact to see a Cypriot taverna sourcing good halloumi and serving it in a novel way that actually does work and elevate the dish. I’m aware I might often come off as a minimalist and traditionalist, but I don’t remember enjoying the halloumi part of the mezes so much before in London – thanks to those surprise embellishments.
There’s clearly a strong focus on sourcing good ingredients, with the prawns also quite meaty and endowed. Grilled shellfish is a taverna classic that everyone can recognise, but a touch less cooking wouldn’t have gone amiss here either. For us, it was the scallops that were perfectly cooked and tasted great before the large, eye-catching platter of slow-cooked, milk-fed lamb ribs took centre stage. Other meat options are lamb shoulder or, alternatively, kleftico. Altogether, it’s fair to say that the slow-cooked meat sharers are the crowd favourites at Halepi. I’d have loved a bit more salt here too but, more importantly, Halepi does the very-simple-but-difficult-to-execute thing of serving good meat in a universally honest and accessible way and cooking it well. It’s no surprise people are going mad for it in London – it’s increasingly difficult to find those simple, homely dishes. If you’re stuck between the souvla and the slow-cooked meats, the latter is probably, it’s fair to say, the trademark here.
The crowdpleasers, then, are something more universal. Large trays and platters of slow-cooked lamb is of course a staple of Greek & Cypriot cuisine, but is served in more of a plural invocation – one which loyal Arab customers can also strongly relate to, i.e. big sharing dishes, with rice. Ours came with a British-esque gravy too. International chef’s specials like Steak Diane, Escalopes, and Beef ‘Stroganof’ show that Halepi isn’t trying too hard to stick to a category; it’s all about a warm and welcoming Cypriot family sharing their love for food and hospitality with a diverse audience in what is basically their home. The family shares what they know and what they love, authentically, sincerely, without restricting themselves. Halepi actually started off as a tea and cake shop, as Kosta explains here.
With that in mind, the homemade baklava... Owner Kosta's mother makes it, and you can tell. Honestly? The most memorable baklava I’ve had in a Greek or Cypriot spot in London (the best overall, I’ll bravely admit, is at Zahter in Soho). In general, there is something different about homemade baklava that is finished with homemade syrup, which always has more of a delicate, natural, lemony flavour (lemon juice is typically added to the syrup to stop it crystallising). This one is fragrant, crisp and syrup-glazed. It’s also incredibly neat and uniform for a homemade baklava, such that you feel quite blessed to be eating something someone has made at their home with so much love in a restaurant setting. That’s Halepi.
Plus, you get the best service I’ve ever personally experienced in a Cypriot taverna. That was largely thanks to Tina, a lovely Montenegrin lady who has been at Halepi for over three decades – something which speaks volumes about the quality and character of the family that have made this a widely-beloved hideaway with such longevity. Before I could get pictures of most of the food, Tina was already serving us individually, transferring the contents of hearty platters to our plates. Where else does that happen? As you walk in, a plaque tells you that the same family have owned this spot since 1966. Inside, you feel it.
Whenever London wears you down, whenever you feel disillusioned and dreary from the big brands and swelling chains, this is the place where you can feel human again. Where you feel welcome, where you feel like you’ve stepped foot into somebody’s home, in a place that is independent of time and conceptual boundaries. Halepi isn’t just a Greek restaurant. Perhaps it isn’t even just a Cypriot taverna. Actually, no labels do it justice. Halepi is Halepi, and it’s in a league of its own. Go and feel it and you’ll see what I mean. They make you feel at home here.
📍 Halepi, 18 Leinster Terrace, Bayswater, London W2 3ET
* This is neither a paid-feature article nor an advertisement or promotion. All views are those of the author and all photos are copyright protected and not permitted for reuse without explicit prior permission.