Review: The Olive Grove in Bury St Edmunds

A few weeks back, while penning a review for Gastrono-me in Bury St Edmunds, I opined that the town can now lay claim to the title of Suffolk's foodie capital.

As with any claim, I backed it up with facts - name-checking a number of high-quality eateries in the town, across a range of cuisines.

I had some 'feedback' from readers telling me I was wrong and putting forth cases for the likes of Aldeburgh, but I'm not having it - Bury, for me, is the top foodie destination in the region, and a bit beyond.

Happily, my argument has been furthered by the opening of The Olive Grove in St John's Street, adding a new Greek restaurant to the jewel in Suffolk's crown.

The fried calamari starter and pitta bread at the Olive Grove (Image: Mark Heath)

Like Gastrono-me, the OG (as I'll be referring to it henceforth) also has a restaurant in Cambridge, and I can see a lot of crossover demographic between the two historic, beautiful locations.

For reference, if you've lived in the Bury area for as long as I, the OG is in the building once occupied by the iconic Andy's Records, a place where I spent many a happy hour as a surly teen leafing through CDs looking for classic albums to add to my collection.

Remember buying CDs? Remember buying albums? Remember actually having to go to shops? Good lord, I'm old.

Anyway, I digress. We rocked up to the OG at around 1.30pm on Saturday and were greeted by a large, bright and airy interior - stone floors, murals on the walls, comfy, plush seating and a little shop selling Greek goodies as you enter.

It's a nice first impression, and we were quickly seated by a smiling front of house.

Although the OG is a large building, the way they've crafted the interior - with a bar at the heart of the restaurant and an open kitchen at the back - makes it feel cosy somehow, with a relatively small number of covers.

You're not here for Grand Designs though, I appreciate. What about the food?

The Garides Saganaki starter at The Olive Grove (Image: Liz Heath)

We kicked off with a couple of glasses of Queen of Hearts sauvignon blanc - very tasty - and ordered up some fried calamari (£8.95) and Garides Saganaki (£9.50) to get us started.

Now, I love calamari - and any added incentive I needed to order it came as I read that the OG staff believe they have perfected the recipe, making theirs among the best in the UK.

If you make bold claims, I will test them. Happily, I can report this was a good effort.

Nicely crunchy and light, with a hint of pepper, while well-cooked and not akin to rubbery chewing gum, as some sadly can be.

It was served with a nice dollop of garlic mayonnaise and a slice of lemon, both of which added to the eating.

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I don't know if I'd go so far as to say this was the best calamari I've had in the UK, but I'd put it in the top tier of the examples I've demolished in my time.

The Garides Saganaki - king prawns in tomato sauce, ouzo and feta cheese - was also good. It didn't look the best - a bit rustic in presentation - but it was really tasty, a deep, rich tomato sauce coating the fat, juicy prawns and working well with the salty, creamy feta. 

In fact, it reminded us of a very similar dish we'd enjoyed years ago atop a mountain in Kefalonia - a happy memory and one which brought smiles to our faces. Food can be good like that.

I should also mention the pitta bread which came with our starters, which was both plentiful and useful in soaking up the remaining sauce.

The Souvlaki Lamb wrap at the Olive Grove (Image: Mark Heath)

Onwards then, to our mains. I went for the Souvlaki Lamb wrap (£12.80), while Liz opted for the Koftas (16.80).

Let's start with the Koftas - elongated beef patties sitting atop a bed of potato wedges and served with pitta bread, a mixed leaf salad and a tomato dip. At least it was meant to be a tomato dip - ours arrived with something decidedly different, but all was soon resolved.

Again, you'd have to say this wasn't the most visually-appealing of dishes. But again, it ate well - nicely seasoned, well-cooked beef, tasty, salty wedges and that quality pitta bread again.

The salad, meanwhile, added a much-needed freshness to the carb-laden plate party.

At almost £17, I'd argue that it was perhaps a little over-priced.

My wrap was great fun. A pitta bread rammed full of lamb neck fillet, with cherry tomatoes, tzatziki, red onions and chips.

The Koftas main course at the Olive Grove (Image: Liz Heath)

It looked cracking, very appetising - and I enjoyed diving in. Good flavours, a range of textures and the guilty pleasure of eating with one's hands. Shovelling it in, in less civilised speak.

As you may expect, after the festival of carbs we'd just devoured, our treat tanks were close to full.

Bravely though, we summoned the strength to order a shared baklava dessert (£6.95).

As an end to the meal, this did the job nicely - that trademark rich, sweet, honeyed pastry, chock full of almonds. Incredibly indulgent, and perfect for two to share - unless you have a very sweet tooth.

And thus, our meal was done. All told it came to just over £80 including drinks (£15.90), which you'd have to say is on the expensive side of things.

The only thing which really stood out for me as over-priced were the Koftas though, and you could certainly trim the bill by sharing a starter and a dessert, plus having a smaller glass of wine. Old habits die hard with us, I'm afraid.

The Baklava dessert at the Olive Grove (Image: Liz Heath)

So then, to conclusions. We enjoyed our trip to the OG - a nice, bright and relaxed environment with smiling staff and decent, if not outstanding, food.

A very welcome addition to the food scene in Bury, and further heft added to my claim that it is indeed Suffolk's foodie capital.