11 months ago
Just like that school friend you lost contact with 20 years ago, Olives + Meze have had a glow up. Let us reintroduce you to your new healthy eatery.
We visited the newly reopened, rebranded Olives + Meze and let us tell you- she is glowing. Not that it wasn’t a fantastic place before: Olives & Meze started life on Clapham High Street in 2014 and has been feeding the people of Clapham meze boxes, wraps, donar kebabs and salads ever since. But, after 9 years of cooking and serving, they decided it was time for a change.
We were eager to see what they’d done with the place since they closed for the refurb in February this year. It’s a wildly changed Olives + Meze, and we love it. It never was, but just to reiterate: this is no bog standard kebaby. No blinding strip lighting, no greasy smells wafting from the kitchen. We were welcomed to an extremely sleek eatery- it’s modern, light and you can see straight into the kitchen to spy on the chefs who are preparing the food right in front of you. They’ve reduced the number of covers they can serve inside (though there are a couple of tables if you want to eat in) and used that space to increase the size of the kitchen. A bigger kitchen allows them to make all of their food right there- those salads are as fresh as can be and the even cooler thing is that they also make their very own donars on site too.
The menu is simple but effective. It manages to celebrates fresh, Mediterranean cuisine in just a few options that are customisable. There’s the house special, where you can choose from one protein, one side and three salads from a list of proteins like chicken shawarma, falafel, halloumi or pulled beef, then you choose a side of either regular or sweet potato fries and then an array of deliciously tempting salads too. There’s a wrap section too if you’d rather something a little more portable and a whole list of classic sides like hummus and cacik for some extra flavours.
Because it was such a lovely day out we decided to take lunch out to eat on the Common. We went for the house special option and our box was made up of freshly grilled salmon (we literally saw our fillet being flamed as our order went in), triple cooked sweet potato chips and then a trio of Greek, rainbow and chickpea salads. What a lunchtime treat this was. The sweet potatoes were perfectly crispy and we eally recommend the Greek salad, the tomatoes were vibrantly red and well seasoned. It was a juicy, colourful meal and we felt as nourished as we did satisfied. We seriously levelled up our lunch break.
Other than the incredibly good food, there’s a lot of other things to tempt you to the rebranded Olives + Meze. They are one of the only healthy to-go places in Clapham and, being just a stones throw from many of the popular gyms, it’s the perfect spot to swing by for a protein filled lunch or dinner post-workout. Or, if you’re more of a night owl than gym bunny, they stay open till late and your future self will thank you for breezing past McDonalds and KFC to satisfy your drunk belly with something nutritious that will make sure you wake up feeling better, not worse.
Ok, Olives + Meze. We see you. You’re here to change up the kebab game and we like your style. It’s fresh, fast, healthy and- most importantly- really, really tasty.
