Londoners love for Greek food is rising, which is evident in the expanding number of new openings.

One such arrival is Taverna Ermou on James Street, also known as St Christopher’s Place, the popular restaurant stretch in Marylebone.

Backed by the hospitality group ERGON, with a strong footprint in Greece and the Middle East and a few in London its expansion is only natural.

The interior is designed to fit the name – beautiful dark timber, washed walls and bric a brac on the walls.

Taverna Ermou offers a sharing plates concept with classics, plus some modern twists such as spanakopita dip. A good layer of tender sautéed spinach with melted feta and a few crisps of golden filo pastry on the side, it’s ultimately a deconstructed börek.

Our favourite dip is smoked aubergine, a larger portion than expected. It’s delicately creamy and smoky, a divine dish, if you are ordering only one dip, it has to be Melitzanosalata.

For drinks I find a house wine is always a win in tavernas, it’s young and fresh and at such brisk rotation, you won’t end up with a stale bottle. Not to mention it’s sold at a friendly price.

Ours is dry white, it’s aromatic but with structure from Manolesakis Estate in Drama, Northern Greece. Part of the ERGON collaboration line, that focuses on modern, food-friendly Greek wines.

We don’t explore the drinks menu further but there is an extensive list of regional Greek wines by glass and bottles from white to red via orange and sparkling.

The food menu is split to sections, grill, pot, meze, pasta, cold and hot, so we try to do a bit of a tour.

From the pots section we go for a seared tuna with oregano and onions, served warm and drizzled with olive oil and capers, their briny acidity cutting neatly through the richness.

It’s aromatic and beautifully balanced although could benefit from a few more tuna chunks for £14.

One of my must-haves in Greek restaurants is Saganaki Graviera, and Taverna Ermou makes their version with chilli honey. Graviera is a gruyere like cheese made from a combination of goats, sheep’s and cow’s milk.

The ratios are dependent on the region. The cheese is wrapped in kataifi phyllo pastry, fried and then drizzled with honey it could be thyme, rosemary or else also subject to the region.

Kataifi is the kind of texture that’s hard to explain whisper-thin strands, fried to a delicate crisp that almost disappears the moment it hits your tongue revealing warm graviera cheese.

The savoury and sweet combination, with the spiced honey, rounds it all off perfectly making the way for the main.

We pick it from the pasta section, a crab giouvetsi. And although we only order one main I think we definitely score here.

Al dente orzo pasta is nicely folded through a balanced tomato sauce that’s also a little bit creamy.

The crab’s delicate sweetness tempers the tomato’s bright acidity, resulting in a dish that feels both light and quietly luxurious.

The dishes here are light yet filling, with that distinct Mediterranean touch, by that I mean loads of olive oil, having said that we can’t leave without a dessert.

There are only two to choose from: galaktoboureko, a warm phyllo filled with sweet, milk cream for two and Greek yoghurt cream for one.

The yogurt is still large enough to share. Bouncy like a panna cotta, I didn’t expect it to taste this good.

It’s lighter and has that pleasant fresh tart of Greek yogurt, with pistachio crumb and honey comb adding textured bite to the creamy base.

Taverna Ermou a solid stop if you’re in the area simple, satisfying and worth dropping in for.

Taverna Ermou, 38-40 James Street, Marylebone, London W1U 1EU