Aphrodite Taverna

Statuettes, posters, plates, decorative gourds and colourful fabrics fill very corner of this happy-go-lucky Greek-Cypriot taverna, while clunking bouzouki music adds to the singalong holiday vibe. Set up by a Cypriot chef and his wife in 1988, Aphrodite also pleases the Notting Hill crowd with its generous helpings of Hellenic food. The oven-baked lamb kleftiko and spit-roast chicken are star turns, but the menu is loaded with feel-good classics, from houmous and dolmades to pork sheftalia on rice, moussaka, grilled sea bass and all sorts of kebabs (try the version with beef fillet). There’s Greek pasta (pastitsio) too, along with a decent choice for vegetarians. On warm evenings, you can sit outside on the pavement terrace, quaff some retsina and soak up the local hospitality. If you don’t have the energy for the excessive formality and neatness of the majority of Notting Hill’s restaurants, Aphrodite is a snug, unfussy alternative.