Eat My Words: We review Thea Coffee House, Long Sutton

jenny.beake@iliffepublishing.co.uk

Published: 05:00, 19 December 2024

My mum and I had planned a mother and daughter day - a bite to eat before a spot of shopping - so I suggested we try a new Greek café whose name means ‘goddess’.

Thea Coffee House is a bright and fresh addition to the High Street in Long Sutton run by sisters Vasiliki and Aimiliana Nastou.

It’s good to try something a little different and the menu provided some good choices of food I haven’t tasted before - such as gyros made with chicken, pork or vegetable, halloumi souvlaki or a Greek sandwich called a skepasti.

Thea Coffee House in Long Sutton's Hight Street

Our friendly waitress asked for our drinks order and mum ordered an elderflower lemonade while I had a cup of decaf tea which is my go-to on a Sunday morning — or any other day in fact.

The café is bright and relaxed, with background music, nicely decorated with some sprigs of holly on the tables which added a festive touch of detail.

Mum and I chatted about the different dishes on the menu which included some healthy options such as chicken and avocado salad as well as a cheeky fry-up if you fancied.

The cafe's interior is bright and relaxed

I decided to try a Cretan Greek salad. I love a traditional Greek salad but this was a little different with a base of barley rusks soaked in tomato juice and salad on top.

It has a crunchy base with feta, Kalamata olives, tomato, onion and lettuce and drizzled with olive oil.

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It was tasty - a bit hard to cut with the knife at first - but a little more substance to fill me up than just a salad by itself.

Cretan Greek salad is soaked barley rusks topped with salad

I ordered a home-made lemonade which was tangy and refreshing to wash it down with.

Mum chose to have the pork gyros which are wrapped up in a pitta with seasoned fries, onions, salad and a tzatziki sauce made from yoghurt and cucumber.

The pork was deliciously crispy - more like bacon she felt - and I tried a mouthful that with the tzatziki dip was a lovely combination.

We were happy with our lunch and still had room for pudding so sidled up to the cake cabinet to choose something sweet.

Due to the steady flower of customers throughout our visit the deli cabinets were soon depleting - no doubt a good sign that people are enjoying the hot savouries on offer.

There were some delicious looking treats such as kataifi, a Greek dessert made from a special shredded pastry plus pots of homemade banoffee pies.

The gyros are wrapped up with all the ingredient inside

Mum decided on a wedge of homemade walnut cake and I tried a kokaki - a Greek cream puff which looks a bit like a macaroon.

We had another tea and coffee to wash these down - mum was offered some dollops of whipped cream with her cake.

I had a try of her pudding, of course, which was really moist and full of festive flavours - cinnamon, apple and crystallised walnuts.

Pork gyros served in a pitta wrap with fries and salad

My kokaki was the perfect sweet treat and with some tempting Greek products to buy at the till I treated myself to two jars of olives.

So as not to leave out my partner — whose Sunday cycle club rides 70 miles weekly — I also bought him a cute little box of tahini biscuits.

Mum and I both agreed we would be going back to try some more dishes - I’d really like to taste their traditional moussaka or kebab skewers with Mediterranean spices.

I will definitely bring my partner who loves Greek food to sample the menu in this delightful venue, whose owner very kindly gave us our meal on the house.