Certain quirks and things that make an eatery a bit more unique can take a restaurant from being good, to being great. This is definitely the case for a Greek restaurant in Brentwood, which has a fun interactive aspect in addition to fresh, authentic Greek food.
Yiamas is a modern Greek fish and grill restaurant with fresh dishes inspired by the Mediterranean, located in Pilgrims Hatch, Brentwood. I went on a Friday evening, as it is local to where I live and I had seen many Tiktoks and social media content raving about the area, and had to try it out for myself!
It is famous for not just its brilliant food, but for its plate-smashing, which takes place on Friday and Saturday evenings. On these nights, customers should be prepared to raise a glass and call out “Yiamas” and cheers with friends and family – while being given plates to smash by the restaurant!
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When I visited, it was very quiet, and unlike what I was expecting! The plate smashing doesn’t begin until much later in the evening, but I think it is fantastic that the venue has quiet, more relaxing dinner slots in addition to the party-esque vibes that occur later on.
One of the best things about Yiamas was its cocktail list. Complete with pretty much any drink you can think of, in addition to non-alcoholic versions of your favourites, the drinks menu is nothing to be sniffed at.
(Image: Essex Live)
Yiamas has a brilliant food menu, too, complete with meat and veggie dishes. The starters were the best of the mediterranean, with lots of feta, houmous, tsatziki, olives and halloumi.
I ordered the feta phyllo, which is feta wrapped in pastry drizzled in honey and topped with sesame seeds. The outside was perfectly crisp and the inside was soft and salty, perfectly offsetting the honey, and I could easily have eaten a dozen of them!
I also tried the calamari and the houmous, which came with fresh warm flatbread. Both were excellent, perfectly fresh and cooked and seasoned well.
As a main, I had the Fresko Rigatone, which is rigatone pasta with courgette pesto, chilli and garlic – with a little extra feta crumbled on top. Once again, the portion size was great, and the food tasted fresh and flavourful.
In summary, the restaurant offers something a little different to your mainstream chain eateries, and has some brilliantly authentic Greek food. Eating at Yiamas is not cheap, of course, but it is definitely worth the extra money.
For a date night, a birthday celebration or any sort of get together, I would definitely head back to Yiamas not just for its great food – but for its lovely, attentive staff, brilliant drinks and the opportunity to have a party, too!
This article is part of EssexLive’s series Essex Eats where a member of our team reviews an independent food business in the county. We don’t tell the business we’re coming and we don’t tell them who we are while we’re there. Every meal for EssexEats is paid for by us and not gifted. Check back every Thursday and Saturday for our top pick that week of a great food spot in Essex.
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