It’s always nice to meet friends for a weekday lunch, especially when it’s a Friday. So it feels like the weekend has started early. Constolia has a red and blue themed interior. The walls are decorated with various artwork pieces. The dining area is quite spacious.
The staff were friendly and made us feel comfortable. We were given plenty of time to decide on our order and also we were not rushed through the meal. The waiter even put on the heater for us as he thought that the restaurant was slightly cooler than normal.
The meal started off with a cup of mint tea. This was served in a clear glass with the fresh mint leaves and a slice of lemon. As for food, the starters that we chose were the Falafel and the Sigara Boregi. The Falafel were golf ball sized spheres and were made of chickpeas and broad beans. They were very crispy on the outer but had a softer interior. The Falafel were served with houmous.
The Sigara Boregi were filo pastry triangles filled with feta cheese and parsley. These pastries were generously filled with the feta cheese. The downside was that they tasted quite salty and may have been better if they had an additional filling such as spinach.
The starter dishes were very filling. In addition to them, we were served with a big mixed salad, a separate onion salad and warm flatbread.
It was a choice between the two aubergine dishes, Musakka and Imam Bayaldi, for the main meal. The Musakka was a vegetarian bake with cheese. I didn’t fancy something so heavy so chose the Imam Bayaldi.
The Imam Bayaldi was half of a baked aubergine stuffed with vegetables, raisins and pine nuts. It took centre place on the plate of tomato sauce and also came with rice. The whole dish worked well together. The aubergine was cooked well, the vegetables were tender and the tomato sauce had a good flavour to it. It was quite a rich dish and extremely filling.
All the food at Constolia were big portions. It all seemed to be cooked fresh. Constolia is a nice place to come to for a relaxed lunch. They also do takeaway orders.
Constolia, 207 Holloway Road, London, N7 8DL
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