It might just be me, but I don’t know of many suburban shopping parades that have much of a nightlife offering. A chippy, maybe, a Chinese or Indian takeaway if we’re pushing it?
But the Standfield Centre in Boothstown, Worsley, appears to be bucking that trend, boasting three thriving bars and restaurants alongside its supermarket and gift shop, all of which were busy when I visited.
It’s the latest addition to this roster that I’ve come to review: the Basil Greek Souvlaki restaurant. It’s less than a month old, opening its doors on August 31, but has already racked up 14 five star reviews on Google.
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The menu is fairly straightforward, with all the usual suspects you’d expect to see on a Greek restaurant menu: chicken gyros, a choice of souvlaki with chicken, lamb or both, a halloumi pitta, pan fried sea bass, and lamb chops. There were a couple of soft drinks on offer, but the place doesn’t have an alcohol licence so it was BYOB, though with a Sainsburys about 20 ft away, this was a minor inconvenience at most.
You can choose from a range of sides to accompany your main – olives, Greek salad, rice, roast potatoes, fries, pitta – and a selection of sauces alongside hummus and tzatziki. There is also a kids meal option, consisting of a chicken skewer and a choice of rice or fries, and a choice of pistachio baklava and a Ferrero Rocher cake for dessert – both of which my nut-phobic dining partner regarded forlornly.
From the start, the staff were faultlessly friendly and polite, more than happy to help and accommodate. I expected a halloumi pitta to be the only vegetarian option – it is a souvlaki place after all – but asked if I could have gyros but with halloumi instead of chicken, and it wasn’t a problem. My partner ordered the lamb souvlaki.
No more than five minutes later, our food was ready. I was a little disappointed – and bemused – to find that the as-described “sweet and tangy sauce of ripe tomatoes” turned out to just be ketchup, but that quibble flew out of my mind as I got stuck into what was really delicious food, simple in execution but masterfully done.
My gyros was, in a word, heavenly. Fresh pitta bread, warm and pillowy soft inside, topped with slabs of fried halloumi and a mountain of deep fried, golden, perfectly crunchy and piping hot chips. The tzatziki – creamy and tangy, full of fresh herbs – came in a separate dish rather than in the wrap itself, but that wasn’t a problem as I slathered it on with gusto.
All that was accompanied by a really fresh and crunchy salad. Lightly dressed in olive oil, it was the perfect palate cleanser to cut through the richness of my wrap. I could have done with a small crane to lift the thing up, but every mouthful of all its different elements was mouth-wateringly good.
My partner also really enjoyed his meal. The lamb of his souvlaki was cooked to perfection, he said, very juicy and the best he had ever had. The kebab was also filled with peppers, which he said were tasty too: but with only two kebabs, he just wished there had been more of it.
His meal also didn’t come with chips, so I gave him half of mine. He described these as “10/10”, and the same for the bread and tzatziki, but wished chips had been included with his meal too. He also was a little disappointed that both the dessert options contained nuts.
I sympathised with his plight, but wasn’t going to let the fact that he couldn’t share a dessert with me get in my way. Conscious of my duty to review the full experience, I ordered the Ferrero cake.
What came out a couple of minutes later wasn’t really a cake, but you didn’t hear me complaining. It was a rich, chocolatey and decadent mousse over a nutty, biscuit-y bed of dark chocolate crumbs, all topped with a sprinkling of hazelnuts, and every bite made me immediately want another. I really didn’t need it – but was glad I’d tried it.
Plates thoroughly cleared, we paid our bill and left, extremely full and satisfied – and not too much lighter in the purse either. My total bill, with the halloumi wrap (£7.45), side of ketchup (an admittedly eye-watering £2.00) and my dessert (£3.70), came to just £13.15: a good price, I think, for a generously portioned main and dessert.
My partner’s lamb souvlaki was dearer though, at £12. A side of fries, had we ordered one, would have been £3.40 – though no doubt it would have been an enormous portion, if mine was anything to go by.
The only possible problem I could identify with the restaurant was the atmosphere. Inside, it didn’t really feel quite like a restaurant: more like a takeaway with a seating area. All the furniture looked new and was spotlessly clean, but was fairly utilitarian. The walls were bare and the spotlight lighting overhead quite harsh.
The huge metal counter where staff prepared the food was about two metres away from us as we dined, and I felt a little awkward sitting there attempting to make conversation with people coming in and out behind my head to order. The tables were nicely set, though, each decorated with its own baby basil plant – a nice touch.
It just didn’t quite feel like the kind of place you would sit and linger: more like go, eat (the nevertheless delicious food) and leave. A good lunch spot definitely, but perhaps not (yet) an evening dining destination.
I’m sure there’s people that would disagree with me, and more still who might say I’m nit picking. It doesn’t really matter, of course: the service was great, with friendly staff, a comprehensive menu, and delicious food. If you’re in the area and like Greek cuisine, then I’d definitely recommend it – the sparse setting is worth it for the fantastic food.
The Basil Greek Souvlaki restaurant is located at Unit no 10, Standfield Centre, Boothstown, Worsley, Salford, M28 1FB.
