Halloumi, Hope Street, Glasgow - New Opening

I walk up and down Hope Street regularly so I had noticed Halloumi slowly coming together. I was always trying to have a snoop in through the windows but I never got much of a feel for the place. 

For some reason when I think of Greek food I think of healthy so I was really looking forward to trying out this place. I was even more excited when I received an invitation for the launch party. I'm not going to do a normal review on Halloumi as it is difficult to review a launch night or a tasting night, so I'm just going to write about my experience on the night. 

The launch was during our second summer (those 3 days of sun we had in August - the first being back in June) so the weather was perfect for some greek food. Halloumi is a Greek-Cypriot Mezze restaurant. Their website states that Mezze is about sharing so it's similar to the tapas concept. 

I really liked the look of the restaurant, I loved the contrast between the stark white walls and the beautiful colourful tiles. The bathrooms are downstairs and the stairs had candles along it - when I was walking up the stairs I did get a little bit of a med feel about the place. 

So to the main event - food and drinks. When we first arrived we were given lovely dips and pitta bread - these were tasty. The dips included: houmous, taramasalata, tzatziki, avocado and black olive houmous and tahini. Next up was the halloumi and watermelon skewers - and for me these were the winner of the night. The halloumi was delicious. I'm a halloumi fan but I have to say I have never tasted halloumi like this. There was also plenty of fizz, cocktails, mocktails to taste and all went down very well. 

We took our seats to have the warm dishes and we were provided with souvlaki chicken skewers, lamb moussaka, vegetarian moussaka and vegetable dolmades to try. (and there was till plenty of fizz, cocktails and mocktails to try) Of these dishes my favourite was the lamb moussaka and my least favourite was the souvlaki chicken. When the table next to us were served the chicken the smell coming from the dish was all kinds of amazing - however the taste, for me, wasn't as amazing as it smelled. Oh and while all these hot dishes were being served we were also kept topped up with the delicious houmous and pitta. 

So if all that food wasn't enough my second favourite dish of the night was served - I don't even know the name for them but they were deep fried dough balls (I'm sure there is a lovely fancy name for them). Not everyone at the table liked them (which was great for me) I just loved the greasiness of them. I think one of my fellow companions for the night described it as an eruption of grease. 

So what did I think? I think the concept is great, the place looks lovely, the menu looks extensive and the food was good. However, I think I would like to go back some day soon and have a proper sit down dinner to experience it properly. 

Restaurant Details
Halloumi Glasgow,
61 Hope Street,
Glasgow,
G2 QU2.

Website: click HERE
Telephone: 0141 772 7292

Thanks a mil for reading.

Emma mai xx