With each new restaurant opening, Borough Market just keeps getting better and better
In the space of the last year, there’s been Rambutan, Kolae and Camille, and now we have two new restaurants from David Carter, he of Smokestak and Manteca. In terms of the billing, David’s pedigree caps off a remarkable run of openings with an all-out double headliner.
The space on Bedale Street is home to AGORA on the ground floor and OMA on the upper floor. Both are Greek restaurants but offer entirely different menus and experiences. AGORA downstairs is loud and boisterous, with tables and stools packed in around an alluring open wood-fired rotisserie grill. There’s no reservations here so walk in and fight for a space – the place is already completely packed out every time we pass.
Upstairs, is the slightly more genteel OMA, which offers a leisurely sit-down experience complete with reservations. If AGORA is inspired by the tavernas of Athens, then OMA is designed to give you that slower-paced feel of a holiday on a Greek island. Come June, an outdoor terrace that extends from the dining room and overlooks the market will open too.
The menu is split into bread & spreads / crudo / small / skewers / not small. Two hungry people can tackle a lot of this but it really is one of those menus where you want to order everything, so we sadly passed up the crudo and skewers in favour of the other sections.
Must orders for us are the breads – there’s a grilled flat ‘laffa’ bread and an açma stuffed with wild garlic – alongside the incredible salt cod XO labneh, and the red pepper ajvar with mizithra (a soft Greek cheese) and hazelnuts. From the small plates, order the lobster bisque borek – yes that is every bit as good as it sounds – featuring silky smooth lobster in crisp filo pastry with grated parmesan. Then get the spanakopita gratin, a baked spinach and cheese hot dip served with a very thin malawach bread, similar to a flaky roti. Don’t miss the charred lamb belly, hummus, shallot and mint salata either.
The best dish of the night though was the wild red prawn giouvetsi, a baked orzo dish infused with an incredible prawn and seafood stock. Placed on top are five perfectly cooked red prawns, and the whole thing is finished with deep-fried prawn butter. It’s a knockout 10/10 dish.
There’s a very impressive wine list too, broad in its size and scope, made up of around 450 bottles from coastal areas all around the world. There’s a good chunk of Greek wines from both the mainland and island and we were big fans of the orange Dialogues 2019, which is made in the Peloponnese.
We were big fans of OMA and loved the look and vibe of AGORA too, so it looks like both Borough Market and David have another couple of hits on their hands. It’s refreshing to see an often underrated European cuisine given the spotlight in London too, especially amongst the glut of new French and Italian joints (not that we don’t love ‘em, but there’s been a fair few lately). Get this one to the top of your hit list pronto.
2-4 Bedale Street, London SE1 9AL
oma.london