If I told you that a restaurant was serving some of the best Greek food in London, then what would you imagine? A tiny, family-run souvlaki spot in Palmers Green? Some luxe, Mykonos-inspired ocean liner in Mayfair? Or maybe an expensively dishevelled blockbuster in Soho, backed by deep-pocketed investors and run by a world’s 50 best-approved Athenian tyro?
Well, Catalyst Cafe, perched unassumingly on Gray’s Inn Road in Holborn, is none of these. It has no hype-stoking publicist or obvious Hellenic signifiers. And yet, thanks to the considerable gifts of two Greek head chefs (initially, the since-departed Vasilis Chamam and, as of late summer, Dimitrios Blachouras) it is genuinely home to some of the most inventive, exhilarating, taverna-inspired cooking that I’ve ever experienced. In fact, no. Scratch that. The accumulative details of its ever-shifting menu — the complex stews, the Michelin-level produce, the wildly creative evening "bar snacks", the fact they painstakingly make everything, from filo pastry to crisps, themselves — point to one of the more dynamic restaurant kitchens of any category operating right now.
It is not remotely new, having opened in 2016 and steadily grown its cult following since then. But, friends it is very, very special. So special, in fact, that I feel a little guilty in grassing about its brilliance. Or as a dismayed food writer friend emailed when I first asked her along for a review lunch: “You’re about to ruin my ability to get a seat there aren’t you?” But any sense of Catalyst’s supposed status as a food scene Masonic handshake dissipates the moment you actually walk in there.
Its natural state is semi-mobbed, with contemplative international students, tourist couples and occasional business-suited regulars filling the low stools in the light-flooded room. If it gives a sense of familiarity slightly askew, then the bulk of the menu very much follows suit.
Spectacular: the merguez sandwich
Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd
The merguez sandwich, for instance, unites Maghrebi flavours with American deli counter proportions: doorstop slices of toast, spiced lamb beneath a duvet of melted provolone and a rustling avalanche of spectacular, paprika-dusted straw potato crisps. Chicken flatbread yields tender, oregano-heavy meat and Greek salad reimagined as a feisty tapenade. “Avobergine”, meanwhile — a looming stack of toast, scorched aubergine, smooshed avocado and stickily roasted, tahini-dribbled tomato — is really just a vehicle for Catalyst’s semi-mythic coffee sriracha, which gathers on the plate in glistening pools and has the addictive depth of great Mexican mole.
The joy of Catalyst’s focused food offering is that everything emerges from the tiny basement kitchen resembling the best possible version of itself. But where the talent of chef Blachouras really shines through (not to mention that of co-founder and creative fulcrum Alex Gkikas) is with the legendary, wholly unpredictable dish of the day specials.
One day it may be the zingy succour of the lemon-laced avgolemono stew, or a densely cheesy macaroni pie encased in ruffled, chestnut-brown filo. Another it may be the take on kokkinisto — a shimmeringly rich and nuanced tomato stew, clogged with tender cubes of chuck steak, confetti squares of pasta and shavings of sharp, barrel-aged feta — that almost made me weep at its majesty. But wherever the team’s whims lead them, it is never anywhere boring. And the feeling that you are waiting for these stray lightning strikes of Greco-Levantine genius is all part of the fun.
Looming stack: Avobergine
Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd
Gastronomic convention makes you hope that Catalyst is just that; a creative springboard that will propel its enormously talented team on to bigger, brighter and more blockbusting things. But this is very much not in the plan for Gkikas who views this endeavour as “a passion project”. We should take our cue from him and try not to impose order on something so wonderfully singular, vivid and mercurial. Because here, in the most unlikely of places, is pure artistry, comfort as deep as the Aegean, and a reminder of this city’s unmatched ability to still spring the most delicious of surprises.
48 Gray’s Inn Road, WC1X 8LT; Meal for two plus drinks around £60. Open Monday to Thursday from 8am to 5pm and Friday from 8am to 11pm; catalyst.cafe