Oma is one of those places seemingly made for Secret Trips – under the radar and not that easy to find. The entrance to restaurateur David Carter’s eatery is located in the main passageway into London’s iconic Borough Market, above his sister restaurant Agora, but so abstractly obscure is the restaurant logo chiselled into the exterior wall, most people have to resort to Google Maps. Once you’ve finally managed to locate it – easy when you know how – you’re in for a Hellenic-infused treat.
With its name taken from the Greek word for “raw”, Oma is a low-lit haven of beige minimalism beneath the Victorian domes of the market hall. Its procession of hipster waiters, kitted out in oversized tees and flared pants as if they should really be client facing in a cool beach club in the Med, preside over a menu that draws inspiration from the serenity and simplicity of the Greek Islands, with the bold flavours of the Levant and beyond. A meal here brings to mind holidays spent under piercing blue, cloudless skies where on balmy summer evenings you dine under the stars.
Recently voted the world’s healthiest cuisine by an American study, Greek food is the epitome of flavour, born out of fresh, seasonally grown fruits and vegetables, lentils, beans and a rich plethora of fish and seafood.
Oma is a sharer’s delight – one of those places where you order a little of everything, a cavalcade of small-bowled proportions, where you’re positively encouraged to dip bubbly warm flatbreads into olive-oil-swirled baba ghanoush, tahini and tarama. And that’s just for starters. My guest and I worked our way through ensuing courses of sea bass crudo with jalapeño, lime and ginger, Greek salads, gilt head bream ceviche, grilled lamb and one of Oma’s in-vogue clay pots – a squid ink play on the traditional meat and orzo stew giouvetsi. All were absolutely delectable and top drawer.
Greek wine has made major strides in the past 20 years or so, ranked higher now by oenophiles than it ever has. Oma’s 450+ bin wine list is bursting at the seams with offerings sourced from the country’s sun-kissed shores and islands, together with wines from as far afield as the steep, green terroir of coastal Atlantic regions and South Africa – many boasting the minerality and salinity so characteristically evocative of such places. Of the wines by the glass, I was drawn to the coastal mainland: Meth`Imon Acacia Assyrtiko 2022 from the Dougos Winery in Thessaly, which brimmed with the aromas of candied lemon, mandarin zest and quince.
Dishes are so small and perfectly formed here that you don’t realise you’re actually quite full by the time the dessert menu is brought around and, while we declined, a rather divine-looking rice pudding with stewed plums delivered to our neighbours’ table kind of made us wish we had gone for it.
2-4 Bedale Street, London SE1 9AL (above Agora); the restaurant is open every day for lunch and dinner; Oma.London
Lee Osborne is the creative director of Secret Trips
