London’s new Greek Greek restaurant: Myrtos by Asimakis, Brompton Road

There’s absolutely no point trying to sugarcoat it or downplay it. This is the best mousaka I’ve had in London (sorry Yiayia).

A modern expression of true, traditional, authentic Greek flavours, and exactly what London has been missing all long.

Below, you’re looking at the famous Myrtos beach on the beautiful island of Kefalonia. Alongside it a highway hugs the mountainside, tracing the Ionian coastline, and converges with the bay on its northern edge. The result is one of the most breathtaking viewpoints on the island. One which overlooks a bold, vast beach embracing a deep, infinite Ionian blue with open arms.

Not only does Myrtos beach give London’s newest Greek-restaurant opening its name, it also symbolises it pretty well. If you’ve ever seen that picture of Myrtos beach, it’s likely one from that viewpoint. Because the viewpoint is situated on a highway that connects the northern peninsula with the rest of the island, almost everyone is bound to pass it. Of that everyone, many will stop to take that trademark picture, many of whom will also take the bypass down to the beach.

However, only few will fully explore the bay and its treasures, like the hidden cave on its southern edge. Although popular, Myrtos doesn’t lose its charm or authenticity. It has depth and layers, which protect it. In other words, its popularity doesn’t detract from its value. Just like its motherland, it welcomes everyone without debasing itself. Just like Greek food.

From Kefalonia to London

Just like Myrtos in Chelsea. Here, the journey might start at that picturesque, romanticised snapshot – but it takes you all the way down to the crystal clear water to see it for what it really is. Of course, the restaurant, its interior, the custom-made glass artwork by Greek artist Yorgos Papadopoulos and Kefalonia-inspired paintings by Christos Raptis are all easy on the eye. As you embark on your descent towards serene beauty (if you’re still following the beach analogy), you encounter a menu that is unequivocally Greek. Popular Greek classics like moussaka – “the non-deconstructed, traditional way” as it says on the menu – and the guaranteed dips of taramosalata (spelt correctly), tirokafteri and Santorini fava. Dolmadakia, prawn saganaki (actually served in a sagani, which literally refers to the pan), and briam. The recognisable, universally popular classics that ambassador Greece.

Credit: Lisa Tse.

Carry on looking, and you’ll begin to uncover surprises: a dorset snail pita with Cretan graviera, Kefalonian sea bass that arrives in a salt crust, and intricate skewers with subtle but sparingly-used twists like coconut tzatziki. Those who order the Greek salad will be in for a surprise – all of the main ingredients of an unbastardised Greek salad, just served differently. 

When the dishes arrive, they are so well presented that you begin to worry that this might be one of those situations where style betrays substance – or that you might leave hungry. Oute kan. Asimakis Chaniotis is a chef that meets you at the viewpoint, but challenges you to go further with him, showing London a real Greek food experience that stems from his upbringing in Athens, his childhood memories in Kefalonia, and his own creative touch. In his words: “every plate that leaves the kitchen carries the balance of heritage and innovation”. As you’ll see below, his dishes are refined yet homely, hearty and fulfilling. All deeply root themselves in Greek cuisine and its ingredients, without any stretches or conceptual acrobatics. Black and white traditional Greek food, with a colourful signature touch.

Asimakis Chaniotis: the first Greek chef to earn a Michelin Star abroad

Credit: Claude Okamoto.

Many know Asimakis Chaniotis as London’s Greek Michelin-star chef and the youngest chef to earn a star in London in 2017, during his executive-chef tenure at Pied à Terre on Charlotte Street. After 12 years there, he is opening his first London restaurant at 35, telling a modern story of his Greek roots. If you haven’t already guessed it, he traces his roots back to his beloved Kefalonia, where he spent his school holidays at his grandparents’ farmhouse, and still spends a lot of time. You see him hunting and fishing. He makes his own wine and doesn’t draw a line between Mother Earth, her ingredients, and the dishes they inspire. To quote him again, “great Greek food starts with the land”. Myrtos might be easy on the eye to everyone who visits – and on the palette – but underneath is a project that Asimakis has curated end-to-end.

You get to try smoked Metsovone cheese from the quaint mountain village of Metsovo, sourced from a well-respected local dairy, and cheese from Asimakis’ childhood friend in Kefalonia. Beer from a Kefalonian microbrewery, sea bass from the island, and truffles from Metsovo too. Even before the wine list is ready, we still manage to try Kokotos’ crisp, elegant Savvatiano-Roditis blend and the fruity red Agiorgitiko. It’s refreshing to see a notable Greek opening in London that is well and truly celebrating and showcasing Greek ingredients and working with independent Greek producers that keep the real essence of Greek food and good ingredients alive, much of it made possible through the trusty purveyorship of Maltby & Greek.

A Greek pita that is still a Greek pita

Onto more dishes. A semi-deconstructed, seductively-dressed hortopita looks stunning without abandoning the fundamental form of a classic Greek pita. Smooth, silky, but structured pillows of feta-fused greens between crunchy, moreish shards of fried filo pastry are a mouthful of Greece, albeit deceptively framed like an artist’s impression. In one dish, Asimakis simultaneously shows you his fatherland, both the way in which much of the world dreams about it, as well as the way in which locals understand it deep down. The untarnished, romanticised impression meets earthy, natural, rustic beauty. Pites are Greece. Pites are the village and the mountains and the islands. Pites are the land and organic produce that fill them. Pites are indisputably Greek food heritage. In Asimakis’ hortopita, the flavour is there, the texture is there, plus you also get the surprise factor of a fine-dining look that keeps it all a secret. Tasting all of that in a refined context, in London’s Chelsea, is unforgettable and incredibly noteworthy.

The best taramosalata and the best moussaka

Expectations were always going to be high for a £10 taramosalata. One of those where if it disappoints, it’s daylight robbery, but if it delivers, it’s incredible. Light-coloured (not bright pink), creamy and smokey, with trout roe pearls on top, and an earthy dill oil that keeps it all grounded. Easily the best taramosalata I’ve ever had in London – and I’ve been eating taramosalata in London for the best part of 26 years. The same is true of the lamb moussaka. And, as it turns out, the fava too: perfectly seasoned, fluffy, slightly aerated and served with smoked eel, which together with lightly pickled onions, couldn’t complement it any better.

Step into my shoes for a second: the tarama is the first dish, and I’m already struggling to stay calm. It’s becoming all the more difficult with every sip of the silky smooth Myrtos Negroni – London Dry Gin, Italian Bitter, Bianco Vermouth, toasted fennel seed and goat butter. (Sidenote: the cocktail menu, designed in collaboration with award-winning Line Athens, is in itself worth a visit.)

Then, the hortopita and the moussaka arrive at the same time. I don’t know where to start. I start with the hortopita and, for a second, I’m not there, in that room, with the waiters who are watching the theatrics on our table unfold. By the end of the meal, they’re laughing at us for tearing up at (and tearing up) every dish that is put in front of us. We’ve not had enough to be tipsy nor drunk (yet). That’s just how long we’ve been waiting for Greek food of this quality in London. Sorry, I’m getting carried away again. 

To be clear: this is the best moussaka I’ve ever had in London. The potato is soft and full of flavour. The courgette and aubergine are sliced thinly and have a sweetness about them. The meat is meaty but not tough or gristly. Together, it’s creamy, a spoon glides through it like a hot knife through butter, and it’s charred to perfection on top with the precision touch of a blowtorch. The bottom layer sits in a luscious, layered sauce and the bechamel that tops the meat is light and fluffy. I’m still debating whether I should break the news to Yiayia or not. It’s as good as the best moussaka I’ve had in Greece, if not better. Actually, I think the only difference was being in Greece, and this is the closest London has ever felt in my eyes.

Can you eat the païdakia with your hands?

Then, you arrive at a cross-roads. You’re in a restaurant where you might think you are supposed to use your cutlery, for a dish that Greeks invariably eat with their hands. The staff know the drill: before you face the dilemma, they’re already cheering you on to get stuck in and eat the lamb chops properly. Filoxenia – hospitality, welcome, or ‘love of foreigners’ – is a fundamental pillar of Greek cuisine, and one which Myrtos’ FOH staff embody. This might be Chelsea, but no one here is betraying the ethos of the cuisine in question. Just as the pricing is fair, there is no forced or unnecessary pretence – just beautifully-presented, high-calibre Greek food made with the best ingredients for those who want to enjoy the accomplished endeavour of a talented chef who has managed to reconcile two hitherto contradictory notions, i.e. refined + Greek food, in London.

In Greece, païdakia are the centre of the table, for all to share and pick away at. The best I’ve had are cooked well-done, well-seasoned with salt and oregano, and topped with a compulsory squeeze of lemon juice – the outcome being an addictive, delectable mountain of moreish grilled meat that you gradually snack away at and prize off the bones between hearty, open conversations.

Again, Asimakis manages to reference all of that with a section of the menu designed for sharing (“JUST LIKE WE DO IN GREECE”, to quote the menu verbatim). Half of the reason why I tend to prefer the old-school family tavernes of North London over refined reimaginations of Greek cuisine in central London is that I sometimes want to be able to share a good platter of lamb chops without the faff. This dish invalidates that dilemma. The fact that there is a dish of lamb chops on the menu is something that screams Greece, screams village, and screams taverna. You pay more for it here but, crucially, you get what you pay for.

For a refined restaurant of this calibre, by an accomplished Michelin-star chef in one of London’s most affluent neighbourhoods, the pricing is undeniably fair. In terms of value-for-money, it’s even better. Sure, £50 for lamb chops isn’t cheap, and the expectations are high again – but I don’t think these chops would want to be a cheaper version.

First, everything is optimal: the right amount of salt, the right amount of oil, the right amount of oregano. The only disappointment being that we don’t need to use the beautiful little bowl of salt flakes on the table at any point, everything being so perfectly seasoned. Second, these aren’t the well-done, crispy païdakia that you’ll find in the village, as indispensable as those might be. These are the lamb chops of a technically-trained chef who loves the village taverna just as much as fine dining.

All at once, you get the crispy bits on the edges, tender meat, and juicy fat that melts effortlessly in your mouth, bursting with another layer of tasty richness. It’s a dish that captures the true character of Greek food, which is about cooking good ingredients well without adding much to them at all. In this case, good, quality, thinly-cut Scottish lamb chops that the chefs grill to perfection. A masterpiece in the rare art of invoking a Greek taverna in a refined setting. 

Check our Instagram reel of Myrtos to open the salt-baked fish.

As for the fish: an ample Kefalonian salt-baked sea bass is prized out of its crust in front of you on the table and tastes incredible. It’s good-quality fish, well-seasoned and brought together by a luscious ladolemono (oil and lemon) emulsion. Actually, it isn’t ladolemono; it’s the ambrosia of the Gods. Again, you get what you pay for without the disappointment or question marks, and it’s a large fish meant for sharing. It pairs well with the side of charred greens that are topped with Cretan staka butter, which you can’t stop going back for. Again, given that the exact same kind of fish could cost you £180 in some other upmarket Greek restaurants in London, the value-for-money is there (£60 at Myrtos).

At least until the desserts. Honey-kissed loukoumades that arrive fresh and warm out of the kitchen and a deconstructed, millefeuille-esque galaktoboureko. The latter is a crisp and fresh take on a warm, syrupy Greek semolina custard pie, with the custard piped between layers of crispy, sugar-dusted filo. The same structure as the hortopita. Admittedly, I’m dreaming of the warm, sticky version at the iconic Galifianakis in Greece, but all of the flavours are there. Plus, it’s elegant and beautiful to look at. If you’re worried that the spongey, light but hearty portion of portokalopita with kaimaki ice cream might send you into a food coma by the end of the meal, the Greek yoghurt parfait is the refreshing and strikingly beautiful alternative, with dehydrated rose petals that have the appearance and aroma of sea shells(!), Kefalonian mandoles (candied almonds) and a subtly sharp rose sorbet.

Is Myrtos worth it?

Although we have managed to eat everything, as usual (nothing should go to waste, especially not at this quality), we are ordering and mixing dishes here that we wouldn’t normally have all at once. We just can’t say no to anything on this menu. Take out the cocktails, and we’re looking at £82.50 per person for pita bread, taramosalata, moussaka, hortopita, lamb chops, sea bass (which we were already full by the time we were eating) and greens. If you’d rather keep the cocktails and take out the excess that we didn’t need to order (say, the fish), we’re looking at about £125 per person, which is great value for food and drinks of this quality in London, let alone Chelsea. 

I repeat, for food of this calibre in this location, this is great value for money. For context, I’ve spent £75 on smaller portions that disappointed at the kafeneio/taverna-inspired spots in London that you’d expect to be cheaper and don’t showcase anywhere near this level of culinary prowess using the same ingredients (and suppliers). Instead of that £75 disappointment, you may as well spend the extra tenner, add in another for a glass of wine or cocktail, and enjoy a big, heartwarming hug from the best Greek food in London.

Is Myrtos the best Greek restaurant in London?

At Myrtos, Asimakis successfully shows you the beautiful view, then takes you down far enough to see the deep blue turn a clear turquoise. You get to see both. He shows you Greek food, both from the picturesque vantage point, and up close and personal. It’s an accurate and substantive entry-point into Greek cuisine for anyone who is new to it or wants to go deeper, and an impressively novel and honest celebration of Greek culinary heritage for those who know it well. This doesn’t feel like a reimagination; it feels like Greek food, embellished with the meticulous touch of a talented chef.

This is the restaurant that has finally bridged London’s gap between the viewpoint and the destination. In other words, between its idea of Greek cuisine and the reality of it. Moreover, it proves that the beautiful picture and innovation can absolutely co-exist with substance and heritage. Without ripping people off for no reason. Myrtos is a masterclass in all of that. And, above all, it’s a Greek Greek restaurant.

Myrtos by Asimakis opens on Monday 12th May 2025, at 260-262 Brompton Road, South Kensington, London SW3 2AS.

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