Review: Elma Restaurant

Throughout lockdown, obviously we haven’t been going out at all, so we decided to go out for the first time since February (for a belated birthday dinner), to Elma restaurant in Leamington Spa.

Located on Augusta Place, you can find more pictures of their yummy food on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/elma_leamington/ and the menu here: https://www.elmaleamington.com/

We had booked a table outside on the covered terrace area, which was really nice and had lots of plants and nice lighting for when it gets dark.

We’ve been here a few times before and the food and service is always great. The staff were as friendly as always, but did keep their distance except when serving the food, and also wore gloves when serving us.

They have an à la carte menu as well as two set menus, which are good value (£26 or £36 for three courses), plus a great drink and cocktail menu.

We ordered pomegranate mojitos (a favourite) and browsed the menu, even though I knew exactly what I was having. Really should have branched out as I was writing for the blog but I know all the food is really tasty.

We ordered the Mixed Meze Platter and the Mixed Grill for two. The meze platter is; halloumi and feta cheese, Borek, a filo pastry, Sucuk, a spicy sausage, and Falafel, served with Tabbouleh, a salad/dip made with cous cous, mint and parsley, Hummus, Baba Ganoush, an aubergine dip with tahini, Tzatziki, yoghurt with cucumber and herbs, and Beetroot Borani dip.

It’s all served with the most delicious bread, a bit like a focaccia with garlic and herbs, great for soaking up all the dips. The Sucuk sausage is also amazing, so tasty and slightly spiced.

We have both had the Mixed Grill before, it is on the set menu, but because we both wanted the same thing, we decided to get it to share because it worked out cheaper.

It’s served with either chips or rice, but you can have half and half if you prefer. It’s a great sized portion, even though it’s for two it’s still big.

With the mixed grill, you get; Grilled chicken, chicken wings, grilled lamb, lamb chop and lamb kofta. It also comes with some Tzatziki and chilli sauce, and we ordered a side salad.

I also ordered a glass of the house Turkish wine. I have had Turkish wine before and it’s really underrated in my opinion. Even the small glass looked large, and it’s nice and fruity, goes well with the meat.

The meat was all beautifully cooked, the chicken wing was really tasty with a sticky BBQ glaze, the grilled meats were juicy and the kofta was flavoured with chillies and herbs and seared. The chips are also amazing, hand made, flavoured with paprika and fluffy on the inside.

They do have a dessert menu, and we have had them before and they are delicious, but we were too full tonight. They also offered us a Limoncello on the house as a digestif, which was a nice touch.

Elma is a great hidden gem in Leamington, an independently run business, with great service and delicious food. We will definitely be going again for another date night.

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