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London,
Critic rating
Reader rating
Description: Little Georgia Cafe is a small Georgian restaurant with no drinks licence serving authentic home-cooked cuisine.
Phone: 020 7739 8154
Welcome return: Little Georgia Cafe is back with honest, home-cooked food
After Little Georgia was unceremoniously ousted from its nest in buzzing Broadway Market, to make way for the frankly duff La Vie en Rose (owned by the developer - who'da thunk it?), many local fans thought it had gone forever.
But now it's back, in an edited way: smaller premises round the corner, no drinks licence - which is a shame as the vodka and Georgian wine used to make it a permanent party - but with the same honest, home-cooked food.
Georgia's Black Sea geography shows on the plate: influences are Russian, Turkish, Slavic. So you get mezze that wouldn't look out of place in an ocakbasi - sludgy spinach laced with licoricey herbs; chopped, spiced peppers - jostling with beet and walnut pkhali. Walnuts or pomegranates are a recurring theme: in the mezze, in a stew called kharcho - traditionally a goulashy arrangement of mutton and rice, here more a stroganoff-lite of nut-laced stewing steak. Hachapuri, a borek-like, cheese-stuffed bread, is glorious.
Our lone waitress was puffing away at a fag on the outdoor tables when we arrived, her serving style a Slavic mix of warm and lugubrious. Clientele comes from the young, gorgeous creative types who have colonised this corner of Hackney. An intriguing diversion from the beaten track.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
I would disagree with the previous comment. While I go there for the starters, the huge mixed meze (or whatever the Georgian equivalent is) with cheese filled pastries in particular, the mains are still good fare. The last time we muscled in on a table in the basement and I had the chicken in walnut sauce that I was very pleased with. I think the portions, while not overly large, are not at all on the small side and in terms of cost, £11 is pretty much average. It's also worth noting that, to their detriment but 'our' advantage, they don't have a drinks licence so wine is BYO which saves further pounds for the cost concious. Oh, I do remember the old location at the bottom of Broadway Market and like it much now as I did then (which is a lot, in case you haven't guessed).
- Oli, London, UK
What a huge disappointment. We used to go Little Georgia in its resting place of Broadway Market, where it was superb, now in its new place of Goldsmiths Row, it has gone down hill very quickly. The starters are still fine, but avoid the main courses at all costs. They are watered down stews, served in the smallest bowl you have seen, at a charge of £11. We felt and were completely ripped off. We were so hungry afterwards we had to go and buy some cake. I think they feel that in the area of Columbia Road flower market and the trendy Broadway Market, they can now charge whatever they like for basically rubbish. They need to go back to providing good food for a reasonable price. Until they do that we will be avoiding them.
- Dinah Glover, London, UK
