Jo Lives To Eat

So last night was the final edition of my 30th.  I always do like to extend my birthdays and my friend Nicole and I always like to have a party together.  This year we decided to keep it fairly chilled.  To that end we decided to hire out the inside of Tsiakkos and Charcoal, a hidden away little jewel on a side street in Maida Vale.  Now I love good food and I love going to fancy schmancy restaurants but sometimes all the pretentiousness and haute cuisine gets rather exhausting and all you want is somewhere utterly low-key, modest and simple.  Tsiakkos is the epitome of this.  A small and narrow restaurant, its rather haphazard walking in through the entrance filled with bikes, coats and the owner Xen's stuff everywhere - but its warm, inviting and fun and best of all the food is great.  There are menus (even though I've never seen one) but generally you just get a bit of everything depending on what you prefer.  A typical meal there would consist of a few vegetarian plates: some hummus, pita, tzatziki, incredible garlic potato salad and beetroot.  Then a simple Greek salad with plenty of feta is served, followed by perfectly grilled halloumi.  The meat dishes are cooked impeccably - spicy lamb kleftiko that just falls off the bone, or chicken shish that I always just seem to keep picking and picking at.  There's more if you want it and it never seems to cost more than about £20.  Tsiakkos and Charcoal is shabby chic at its best.