It’s always sunny and warm at Nammos, even on a wet and miserable London evening. Nick finds the Mediterranean atmosphere soon dries his hair and drives away autumnal blues
Is there anything more miserable than a London riven by rain and battered by squalls of wind so strong as to turn your cheap brolly inside out every few yards? Our walk from nearby Green Park tube felt like an expedition to the outer Hebrides, my wife wishing out loud that we’d stayed home and watched telly.
Needs must though when a review is required, and once through the door at Nammos our mood brightened considerably. All reception staff need to be nice, of course, but Nammos has exceptionally welcoming staff who took our wet things smoothly and cruised us into the restaurant.
Nammos (Sand) began life on Mykonos in around 2003 and now has six restaurants and beach clubs worldwide, and will soon have five hotels/resorts as well. Celebrities of a certain kind apparently love it, so my head was on swivel as we went to our table next to the fresh fish counter. No sign of any stars though, perhaps they’d taken one look at the weather and stayed home to watch The Traitors instead?
No matter, Mayfair is always gorgeous and Nammos was buzzing with happy people and I do like a busy restaurant. Waiters were busily pulling line caught fish and shellfish off the counter, weighing them, and conveying them back to the open kitchen. Over our heads a ceiling made of what looked like raffia made us almost feel there was hot sun shining outside. The furniture and the whole vibe has a fresh, uncluttered, feel.
The menu at Nammos is a trifle eclectic, though. Fresh fish is obviously Mediterranean, but what do you make of maki for starters? Bit Japanese? Well I am never one to turn down maki, which I could see being made, so some Ebi Tempura Maki and Avocado & Asparagus maki soon hit the table, along with a big bowl of edamame beans to suck at.
Good maki, elegantly presented, the crunchy tempura prawns good with the smooth avocado which also starred in the other dish. There was enough difference to not make the repetition, repetitive.
Of course nothing says holidays in the sun like fried calamari. One squirt of lemon and I’m in a taverna. This was lovely and crispy, the batter just the right thickness and good to see some tentacles poking about. It came with a spicy mayo, but nice as this was I think I would have preferred plain. The spice was a bit strong for the squid.
A beetroot salad had lots of beet variety colours and sizes. I love the earthy flavour of a fresh cooked beet and this combined with Manouri, a Feta like cheese, and a citrus dressing was a good palate cleanser after the squid.
Mains at Nammos are varied. Some pastas, steaks (of course) including Wagyu, chicken and of course fish. I had the Pappardelle baked with tomato sauce and burrata, but I could have sworn I’d ordered Veal Cheek Rigatoni. Still, the waiter politely insisted it was correct and maybe I was wrong, it has happened before.
This was the one dish I wasn’t too fond of, and this wasn’t out of revenge. It was just a bit boring and the burrata seemed wasted. I’d have been happier with just parmesan, the burrata made it all too rich and a bit sloppy. It was ‘okay’.
We were very happy with the Baby Chicken roasted country potato with yoghurt and lemon dressing though. This really gave the feel of the Med, the chicken nicely caramelised on the outside, succulent inside. Some very good grilled asparagus was perfect with it.
I wasn’t too hopeful about dessert, but I was proved wrong with two cracking dishes. A Portokalopita – orange fillo pie, orange blossom ice cream, was pretty and pretty luscious. Rather like baklava in texture, it’s a sponge made from dried out phyllo dough bathed in syrup and with lots of fresh orange juice. Excellent stuff
Almond Pie with blueberry compote and mastic ice cream was also a standout, the latter is a kind of sap found on a tree on the island of Chios. Again, delicious. The Greeks really know how to make a proper dessert.
And Nannos know how to do International Restaurants. I would imagine that wherever a rich international traveller wakes up, the local Nammos will be pretty much the same. These places know consistency matters and standards need to be high and that’s why Nammos is a big, fat Greek success.
