Silence of the lamb shoulder at Milo Greek Kitchen

  10 May 2025

 

OMILO GREEK KITCHEN  #2

Riverlands Mall, Observatory

 

Sometimes a dish is such perfection you should never order it again. Chances are lightning won’t strike the same point twice. A case in point: the second time Von-Mari ordered the lamb shoulder at Omilo, which had been so exquisitely good the first time around that she became joyfully emotional about it.  Today, not so much. 

 

Our first experience at Omilo was so positive, a few minor issues aside, that we invited Tayfun Aras and his wife Louise to join us there for lunch. 

 

We arrived at 12h30 and the restaurant was almost empty but by 13h00 it was raving, so much so that the ambient noise of happy customers combined with poor acoustics made conversation across the table a challenge. The doors were closed because it was a cold, wet day and that probably didn’t help either.

 

Von-Mari and I had completely forgotten that Omilo lacks a liquor licence and didn’t warn our friends. The server suggested that we run down to the Checkers Liquor store for wine, if we were keen. We weren’t. However, we could have beer. Tayfun and I drank Devil’s Peak lager and his wife drank Heineken. We’d been to a braai with other friends the previous evening and Von-Mari had imbibed so generously then that she stuck to water, litres of water, today.

Tayfun and his wife ordered a variety of mezze (octopus on colas, dolmades, tirosalata and saganaki), Von-Mari had taramasalata as a starter (with her eyes on the lamb shoulder as her main), my starter was octopus on coals and my main course was the pork gyro.

 

There was plenty of the beautifully grilled pita wedges on the table. 

 

Our friends thoroughly enjoyed their small plate dishes, as did Von-Mari. 

 

The octopus was absolutely superb: tender, succulent and flavourful and the accompaniments bed of fava puree, with olive oil, lemon, oregano and onion chutney were sublime. I wiped my plate clean with pita.

 

Omilo’s octopus ranks among the best three such dishes I’ve ever eaten. The other two were at a waterfront restaurant in the Arnavutköy neighbourhood of Istanbul and at David Higgs’ Saint restaurant in Sandton. Doing octopus properly is the mark of supremely good seafood cookery.

 

The pork gyro was sumptuous, with succulent meat and fresh and plenty creamy sauce. The chips with it were crispy and delectable.

 

Von-Mari, who’d been singing the praises of the lamb shoulder, was almost quivering with anticipation for her main course.

 

Her soul was crushed.

 

 The  portion of lamb shoulder was markedly less generous than the first version and the meat was horribly overcooked and dry, almost like biltong at the edges. She took one small, reluctant bite before pushing her plate away and informing the server that she wouldn’t be eating it.

 

The manager arrived shortly after and offered an odd, non secatur explanation for the epic fail: Omilo had changed meat suppliers and this lamb was from the batch that had been delivered that very morning.  This made no sense. The issue wasn’t the quality of the meat, the issue was that the meat had been excruciatingly overcooked.

 

The manager offered Von-Mari a lamb shank (slow cooked for 4 hours) as replacement. I wondered whether this was from the same new, apparently dodgy, supplier. Von-Mari didn’t want the shank and, to his credit, the manager then instructed the server to remove the cost of the lamb shoulder from our bill.

 

Tayfun had a portion of Greek baklava (though he might’ve preferred Turkish baklava) that he tucked into with relish.  Us other three chose slices of a Greek citrus cake, which was sublime in its sticky loveliness though the portions were so sizable that the cumulative effect was an excess of cloying sweetness. One slice shared between two would be ideal.   

Finally, Tayfun and I drank Greek coffee

and our respective spouses chose cappuccinos.

 

The total bill, inclusive of tip, came to R2000,00, which we split.

 

Although Von-Mari was deeply disappointed with the lamb shoulder and Tayfun (restauranteur emeritus) thought the main course prices are steep, I think it was still a good experience food-wise, as everything (but the one main course) was well priced, made  with quality ingredients and  delicious. The octopus was fabulous but now I’m not sure whether I’d ever want to order it at Omilo again.