When you are just sick of eating out at an Italian or French restaurant, make your way to Olive, and enjoy a big fat Greek meal. Together, Siriluck Lim and Bangkok-based Greek Elena Karoumfi have been promoting Greek cooking and encouraging the locals to try Hellenic recipes for years. “Opening a Greek restaurant is a real challenge because Thais aren’t familiar with the food. Before we had only foreign diners, but now we manage to draw in more locals,” says Siriluck. Now in its fifth year, Olive has recently expanded from being just a take-away counter and is now a proper restaurant. With a minimalist décor of mellow yellow and brown hues, it’s laid-back and welcoming. If Elena is around, she’ll explain the dishes to you herself while offering up anecdotes about her Greek island home of Corfu. The revamped menu covers a good range of Greek fare, with many dishes showing Turkish, Mediterranean, European and Arabic influences. “Greek cooking is a combination of different flavors, but in the end you have a very simple-yet-refined taste,” Karoumfi explains. Start the meal with a Greek salad and your favorite mezes (appetizer), such as dolmas (grape leaves stuffed with rice and meat) and kreatopitas (deep-fried rolls with chicken filling), made with imported, paper thin filo pastry. For mains, go for Olive’s famous kebab wraps, and choose between white, whole wheat, tortilla and pita wraps. If you prefer your meal skewered, try souvlaki sets (chicken and lamb). And what could be easier and tastier than a meal of dips? There are tzatziki (yogurt), hummus (chick pea), melitzanosalata (egg plant), ktipiti (spicy feta cheese) and spicy red pepper. For a sweet finish, order the creamy Greek yogurt topped with honey and almonds or the classic Greek dessert, baklava (layers of filo pastry with nuts and honey). Olive’s yogurt and dips are also available at the Gourmet Market, at The Emporium and Siam Paragon.
