Greek Revival: Lagana vs. Zephyr

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Greek Revival: Lagana vs. Zephyr

London is entering a golden age for modern Greek food. Not the postcard-taverna cliché, but a generation of restaurants led by ambitious chefs who treat Hellenic flavors as a creative medium. At the centre of this movement stands the Pachamama Group, known for venues like Bottarga in Chelsea and Soraya in Abu Dhabi.

Their two Greek concepts: Lagana and Zephyr, are both love letters to the Mediterranean, yet they speak different dialects. One hums with radiant Shoreditch energy, the other glows with West London refinement. The overlap in leadership - Group Executive Chef Tzoulio Loulai and creative director Yaroslava Malkova, ensures each plate is as artful as it is edible. But beneath that shared polish lies a deeper divergence in personality, audience, and culinary rhythm. 

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Lagana

Lagana is the newer of the two, opening in September 2025 after transforming the former Pachamama East site into something altogether fresher. Shoreditch can be fickle with openings, but Lagana struck a chord immediately. By early autumn, it had already become a darling of London food media, with Hot Dinners calling it one of the city’s “hottest new tables.”

The name itself carries quiet confidence, lagana is a traditional Greek flatbread eaten during Lent, and here it’s reimagined as both a signature dish and a symbol. Each piece emerges puffed and bronze-edged from the oven, served warm beside a flight of dips that changes with the season: smoked aubergine, whipped feta, roasted red pepper, or whatever the kitchen fancies that week. At once familiar and inventive, it sets the tone for a menu that’s deeply Greek but filtered through Loulai’s modern, ingredient-driven lens.

The dining room mirrors that ethos. The design borrows from the Greek islands with whitewashed walls, rustic pottery, shades of sea blue and marries it with Shoreditch casualness. Tables are set with simple charm, inviting diners to doodle or sketch on paper coverings as they sip on Greek natural wine. It’s not a marketing gimmick but an invitation to play, to join the creative spirit that animates the space.

The open kitchen crackles with energy, filling the room with a drift of coal smoke and oregano. Service keeps step—attentive without affectation, with staff quick to guide newcomers through the more unfamiliar items on the menu. At Lagana, being taken care of feels easy, natural, and warm. 

The food, however, has real discipline beneath its relaxed mood. Starters show both restraint and flair: Anthotiro cheese comes lightly scented with thyme and truffle oil, drizzled with honeycomb that turns earthy dairy into something near-luxurious. Courgette tempura arrives feather-crisp over a slick of spiced red pepper sauce, familiar yet redefined. The grill section, though compact, delivers the kind of smoky char that anchors Greek cuisine. Lamb kebabs with oregano-tomato sauce, cumin yoghurt, and roasted fennel sing of balance—meaty, fragrant, lively with acid.

There’s drama in a skewer of Dry-aged Picanha, rare at the center but glossed with olive oil that seems to lengthen every note of umami. Seafood gets its due too, from a Sea Bass Ceviche in kakavia sauce, a clever nod to fisherman’s soup, to a Greek riff on bouillabaisse that nods to Marseille through Athens.

Priced gently by London standards: starters at £8–£14, mains £18–£32, desserts under £10, it’s a menu designed to be shared, returned to, maybe even adopted as a neighborhood favorite. According to OpenTable, diners already rate Lagana’s service at 4.7 out of 5, for once, the crowd and the critics agree.

Zephyr

Zephyr, across the city in Notting Hill, might seem at first like Lagana’s elder sister—glamour where Lagana is glow. Opened earlier under the same leadership, Zephyr helped define what London’s modern Greek renaissance could look like: a Mediterranean meeting of precision cooking and social appetite.

The space channels westside polish—brass trims, marble top tables, diffused lighting, and a hum that grows from early cocktail hour to full dinner rush. It’s cosmopolitan, yet still distinctly Malkova: textures meet contemporary art, and the balance feels intentional rather than overdesigned. There’s the dining room itself, yes, but also the secret: a hidden cocktail den called Naked & Famous. It’s where the restaurant’s creative reach flourishes most, merging bar culture and fine dining into one fluid experience.

Chef Loulai uses Zephyr’s broader Mediterranean brief as his sandbox. The plates here travel from Greek shores to Sicilian markets, through the Levant and back again. The mezze are vibrant and wide-ranging: taramasalata as smooth as mousse, grilled halloumi with citrus honey, octopus carpaccio fanned across the plate like edible sculpture.

Seafood claims star billing: whole grilled fish, presented tableside, or day-boat prawns seared with lemon and oregano. The grill extends further than Lagana’s, catering to group dining: shoulder cuts, whole seabass, lamb for sharing.  

Where Lagana is all about subtlety, Zephyr leans toward performance. The kitchen doubles down on color, texture, and aroma. And the desserts follow suit: think classic baklava reimagined as a deconstructed plate with pistachio ice cream, or semolina cake soaked in citrus syrup that recalls the comfort of someone’s Yaya, but refitted for a Notting Hill evening.

That elevated tone reflects in the bill, too—starters £10–£16, mains £22–£38, desserts around £10–£12. With that comes service both polished and present. Zephyr’s floor team carries the same warmth you’d find at Lagana but adds something more rehearsed - a rhythm matched to the steady glide of the bar team shaking behind the curve of the counter.

Together, these two restaurants illustrate the width of London’s Greek revival. They are connected not only by ownership but by philosophy: the belief that authenticity need not freeze tradition in time. Lagana feels like the Shoreditch test kitchen for that idea: smaller, more agile, more interactive. Zephyr operates as the gallery version, built to impress and envelop.

The Verdict

Judge them side by side and the differences sharpen but don’t compete. Lagana is the younger rebel, genuinely fresh in both concept and joy, a restaurant that rewards curiosity and defines East London’s new dining rhythm. Zephyr is the confident icon that proved Greek food could be glamorous and modern without losing soul. For a weeknight dinner where service feels like friendship, Lagana wins. For a polished night out where the mezze glimmer and the cocktails hum, Zephyr still rules.

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Berlin Festival of Lights: The City as a Canvas

For one luminous week every October, Berlin seems to take a breath—then exhale in technicolor. From October 8 to 15, 2025, the Berlin Festival of Lights returns to repaint the city in brilliance. More than forty landmarks will glow in synchrony with sound, motion, and story, transforming familiar stone and steel into 80 living artworks. The theme this year, “Let’s Shine Together,” is both a greeting and a promise: art not as spectacle alone, but as connection.

Each year the festival’s painters are not wielding brushes, but beams. The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Cathedral, and the TV Tower all become story surfaces that reveal new sides of the city’s character. Some projections burst with optimism, others hum with quiet reflection on unity and change. Each one is temporary—here for a few nights, then gone—leaving behind a softened memory of color and community. Millions visit, yet the experience feels intimate when the lights ripple against the night sky.

Walkers who journey through the city during festival week find Berlin turned inside out. Streets that once led to offices now end in glowing mosaics; squares become amphitheaters of light and music. Yet beyond the social whirl, there’s also a sense of collective pause. The light tells stories everyone can share, inviting residents to rediscover their own neighborhoods as art spaces.

There are many ways to navigate this open-air gallery. Some guests wander on foot to savour the surprises tucked between stone arches and bridges. Others join guided night tours or hop-on-hop-off bus routes that weave together the historic and the modern—from the East Side Gallery’s colorful remnants of the Wall to the wide openness of Tempelhofer Feld, new to the programme this year. Every route holds a different rhythm, every corner a change of light.

The result is a cinematic cocoon that pulls you into a shared heartbeat with hundreds of strangers. Another quiet marvel hides behind the spectacle: the careful sustainability design that allows the festival to glow brightly without waste. Organizers rely on energy-efficient LEDs and eco conscious practices that mirror Berlin’s environmental goals. In a city known for innovation, this thoughtfulness feels like part of the show.

The interactive side of the festival deepens the draw. Augmented reality layers let visitors see digital constellations sparkle through their phones. Artist talks and photography workshops open a window into how light itself can carry emotion and political gesture.

When the lights fade, Berlin returns to its twilight normalcy, but those glimmers linger in memory like afterimages. They remind anyone who wandered the illuminated streets that art can belong to everyone and that even a capital defined by history can reinvent itself nightly.

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