Authentic Greek Cuisine for Your Cornish Wedding: Meet Alex from The Little Greek Grill

Calling all Cornish cuties planning a wedding! Feeling overwhelmed amidst spreadsheets and venue hunting? Fear not, Francesca from Pasties & Prosecco is here to inject some fun and inspiration into your planning journey.

This episode takes you on a delightful culinary adventure to Greece, right here in Cornwall! We chat with Alex, the mastermind behind The Little Greek Grill, a family-run business bringing authentic flavours and warm hospitality to Cornish weddings.

Get ready to:

• Tantalise your taste buds: Discover mouthwatering wedding dishes crafted with fresh, high-quality ingredients sourced directly from Greece.
• Embrace the Greek spirit: Explore Alex's passion for sharing the joy of Greek cuisine with you and your guests.
• Unforgettable flavours: From gyro goodness to souvlaki sensations, The Little Greek Grill's menu promises a feast for the senses.
• Adaptable to your style: Alex can personalise the menu to fit your wedding theme and dietary needs, ensuring every guest has a memorable experience.

Want to add a touch of Greece to your Cornish wedding? 

• Follow @thelittlegreekgrill on social media for their latest culinary adventures.

Don't miss:

• Subscribe to Pasties & Prosecco for more wedding inspiration and supplier spotlights.
• Sign up for the ultimate wedding supplier guidebook launching in January 2025! Head to https://pastiesandprosecco.eo.page/guidebook to elevate your planning journey.

Sit back, press play & grab a glass of Prosecco, and let's plan your dream wedding together!

Transcript

Welcome to a mouth-watering episode of Pasties and Prosecco. Join me as we embark on a delightful journey to Greece without leaving Cornwall. Get ready to tantalize your taste buds as we explore the culinary treasures of the little town. The Little Greek Grill is a charming family-run business dedicated to bringing the authentic flavours of Greek cuisine to weddings. 

So pour yourself a glass of Prosecco or channel your inner Greek goddess with a glass of Raki as we prepare to transport you to a Greek wedding feast like no other.  Oppa! 

Hey, Cornish cuties! Are you getting hitched in this beautiful county? And feeling a tad overwhelmed? Well, don't fret. I'm Francesca, and this is Pasties and Prosecco, Your one-stop shop for all things wedding planning in Cornwall. We'll be bringing you the best local suppliers, stress-busting tips, real bride stories, and enough fun to make you forget about those pesky spreadsheets.

So grab a glass of Prosecco, and get ready to plan the most unique and unforgettable wedding ever. 

Welcome, listeners to another exciting episode of Pasties Prosecco. Today, we're spicing things up as we take a culinary journey to Greece right here in Cornwall. Joining us is the one and only Alex, the mastermind behind the Little Greek Grill, where authentic flavours and warm hospitality come together.

Collide to create a wedding dining experience like no other. Get ready to immerse your taste buds in gyro goodness and souvlaki sensations as we dive into the delicious world of the little Greek grill. Without further ado, let's give a warm welcome to Alex. Alex, welcome to the show. 

Oh, Francesca. Thanks for having us. 

Ah, it's an absolute pleasure.  So first things first, what inspired you to start a family run business focused on sharing the joys of Greek cuisine at weddings in Cornwall? Right, so first I was born in Greece. Um, my dad's Greek, mum's English. Um, so inspiration comes from there really. I remember mum and dad cooking Greek food.

Enjoyed being involved in preparation. Um, and obviously eating it, um, always enjoyed cooking, love cooking family and friends and everything. Um, you haven't said, Oh, you should do this for a living. So here we are, been trading for 18 months. Um, after taking the leap, um, now feel it is time to move into the, after learning a lot to move into the wedding side of things.

Hopefully go from there really. 

Perfect. It's such a massive thing, food and, uh, Greece with family. Definitely,  100%. Generally, all they do is sit, eat, drink, talk, and then eat some more. It's non stop. It's very enjoyable. We love doing what we do.  We love making people happy with our food. So, hopefully we can pass that forward.

Well, I lived in, uh, Crete for a year and, um, yeah, I got invited to some, um, family gatherings and lunch takes about two hours. And then when it's, um, is it Raki?  Like Raki,  when they, when they bring out the Raki, it probably adds on another hour to the dining experience. It's like a huge event eating together.

Yeah. Every time, every meal, every meal is an event.  I think I gained a whole dress size all thanks to the delicious food available. Um, could you tantalize our audience's taste buds by describing some of the delicious wedding dishes that you have on offer? Um, yeah, we, I mean, we, we, we offer generally what we're trying to do is keep everything as authentic as possible. 

My family in Greece have a wedding venue themselves. So I took a lot of inspiration. Wow. Yeah, I took a lot of inspiration from them, um, and the kind of foods that they serve while at the same time being mobile, it's difficult to sometimes spit roast a full lamb,  um, and do certain other dishes.  

So we have our chicken, our pork, our traditional Greek sausage and a lamb cta. We also have a new. Uh vegetarian option as well. You swap the most swap the meats for the mushrooms Um, lots of halloumi in there, definitely lots of flavors in there as well. And we also have new greek fries basically loaded with  Oregano, which is homegrown, and we've got four or five oregano bushes out of the bike, which we, uh, take and use, um, some authentic lemon juice, and we, uh, top with Greek feta, which you think, hmm, but the bitterness and the flavour of the feta, with the oregano and the lemon juice, with the fries, just So, um, yeah, Really goes, really goes well.

Um, we offer a child's option,  which is a, basically, it's a Greek bowl. Sometimes it's a bit messy for a child to be holding a souvlaki.  It comes with a small piece of bread, choice of meat, all the salad,  and obviously our delicious homemade tzatziki. So, yeah, that's basically what we're offering. Um, we can incorporate things such as dolmides, um, Greek salads, Little dips and breads and we're having to try and more, more, more finger food than a sit down meal for us.

Yeah, those tomatoes there, um, isn't it fine leaves and stuffed with rice and all the great flavors in there as well. So yeah, I love those. Oh my goodness. My mouth is watering and my stomach is rumbling. Um, so your family, uh, where are they from? Um, I have, um, Greece, I have family in Athens, Thessalonica,  and I'm really up north, a little village called Comantina, on the border between Greece and Albania. 

Um, so yeah, all over the country we've got, we've got family, or really, I mean, thing is a friend in Greece's family. So everyone's a cousin or an uncle or something like that. So yeah. Bit like Cornwall.  We're not trying to place us to go and stay really.  Yeah. Yeah. Good place. So it's the wedding venue up north.

The wedding venue was in Athens. Oh. Just, just on the out outskirts of Athens at the west side. Um, Royal Garden and Royal Venue. I think it's called the, the two different names, but it's like two areas within the same place. Um, but yeah, cracking place, beautiful place. And like I said, we went in, went in May,  uh, first time I'd seen it and yeah.

Gobsmack.  What was it like? Just gardens? Describe it for me. I love a wedding venue.  Uh, we have gazebos on the, on the grass, um, two swimming pools within there. And then when the stage is on, they've got firework displays, fires. They have all the kids stuff on there as well. Um, yeah, I mean, I've only seen photos of one happening.

What, what they generally tell me they're around three and a half thousand people every time.  Wow,  that sounds epic. It's ridiculous, but they're generally busy for four months of the year, four to five months. And then, as my cousin says, every other day is a holiday. So, yeah.  The Greeks know how to throw a good party.

Definitely.  So, um, you source and select fresh and high quality ingredients for your dishes. Um, So, where do you source those from? Because, obviously, it's Greek, Greek inspired. Of course, yeah. I mean, we wanted to keep everything as authentic and traditional as possible. With that in mind, with my family's help, we found a supplier direct in Greece. 

So, apart from our salads, realistically, our yoghurts and cheeses, every one of our ingredients come directly from Greece. Wow. So, we have the authentic flavors that you would find in Greece, in Athens, in Thessaloniki,  on the islands, anywhere,  come direct to us. Yeah, I mean, we've tried, we've made our own.  We have tried other suppliers Realistically, nothing comes close to to where we get it from our supplier over in greece.

Yeah, it's really nice stuff. Really high quality  Like I said, we tried a lot of different different suppliers different ways around of doing it. And yeah, we can't match it We can't match it. So we've stuck with this supplier And again, touch wood. We've not had anyone say the flavours like that. So yeah, we will continue to use that.

Is it a bit of a logistical headache to organise or? 

A little bit.  We need to plan well in advance to make sure everything's brought over in a timely manner. But yeah, other than that, our supplier brings them. Uh, bring them direct to our door, so there's no middleman, there's no in between, and it comes straight to us, so yeah, we're happy with how it goes, we're happy with how it works.

Um, yoghurts and cheeses, sourced locally, um, natural yoghurts. The fetters, the, uh, the halloumi also locally as well. So yeah, it is, it can be tough getting it all to tie in at the same time. Um, but with some decent planning, it's definitely worth it. Yeah. 100%.  So, um, if couples were going to book you, what would you recommend the timeline as such to, uh, get into contact and book, um, their catering with you? 

Obviously, the longer the better. I can generally get things across within a few weeks.  Two to three weeks, I can get everything required with me. So yeah, it's a decent turnaround. 24  7 I can be in touch with our supplier over there. So it  works for us. A couple of weeks.  Three weeks we can get everything ready and sorted.

Um, so how do you adapt to different wedding themes and preferences with food or dietary requirements, um, while maintaining the authenticity of Greek flavours? Put a lot of  thought into it. Um, we could get Greek desserts as a supplier again, direct from Greece, traditional desserts that could come over.

Um, we have full allergen matrix as well, so if there's any dietary requirements, allergies, anything like that, we're on top of that, and we keep on top of it with all our, uh, all our new ingredients, should we ever get it.  Like I said, authenticity is our main objective, um, so we want to try and keep everything as Greek as possible.

I mean, we've tried other stuff, um, we've tried other ingredients, we've tried other meals, and it just, it didn't fit with us. Um, so we know what we do, we know it's good.  Again, to adapt, um, we've just invested  quite a chunk of money, um, into a new, uh, Airstream style trailer.  If you think traditional Santorini church, white walls, blue-domed roof,  um, wow. 

It sounds  amazing. Yeah, exactly.  You're going to, you're going to know where they're coming from.  It's, uh, it's exciting times, um, we've got a bit of a wait for it to arrive and then we've got to get everything, uh, stick it up, fitted, wrapped, all the menu boards made and everything. But yeah,  I think something like that, I'd add something a  bit more special, uh, to, to, to, to a wedding event, to have something like that there.

I can imagine that trailer. Just looking absolutely perfect with a backdrop of the sea. So if someone was getting married on a clifftop and in Cornwall and you know, that trailer that looks like a Santorini church,  oh my goodness, that is just going to be a wow factor at anyone's wedding.  If we can tie that into one of our three days of sunshine, it'd be absolutely perfect, wouldn't it?

Yeah, it has been a bit shocking. Um, you know,  actually we've been really lucky. We've only had one wedding that was, um, for the whole of the season that was affected by rain. Um, so I don't know how we managed to do that, but, um, all of our couples managed to dodge the rain. Um, and it's got mostly sunshine or fog.

It was sunshine or fog.  But yeah, I, it can be unpredictable, uh, the Cornish weather, but I think it still would look beautiful, even if it was a cloudy day, a bit stormy. Exactly. Um, so what role do you think, um, food plays in creating a memorable and enjoyable wedding experience for couples and their guests? 

Well, I mean, all around the world, food brings joy.  Um, as you know, especially in Greece, um, everything's, everything's an event. If we can offer a small taste of Greece, uh, twenty,  I guess, I guess, wherever, um, on their big day, I believe, I believe we've succeeded in creating something to remember for them.

With everything we're trying to do to,  to make it look more authentic, make it taste more authentic.  Yeah, I think that that's our,  that's our USP, that's what we're going for, authenticity every time, and like I say, if we can bring joy to people, we love making people happy with our food, it makes us happy doing that, so, yeah, that's,  that's where I think that one. 

Yeah, I know that food, food makes me happy. For sure.  Who do you find is your ideal customer? Is it someone that actually just loves Greek food or do you see a lot of people approaching you because they've got Greek heritage in the family?  Um,  I think it's a mix of everyone. Realistically, we've had people come.

We've had people talking to me in Greek. I don't speak a little. I'm not great,  but I do speak a little Greek. I've had people come in chatting away.  We're going to Greece next week. We've just come back from Athens. We've just come back from there. But then on the other hand, I mean, I had a chap at the weekend who'd never had Greek food in his life.

Okay. Um, we managed to have a chat with him, we had a talk, we told him everything, all the ingredients that go into everything. And yeah, he came back for a second one about three hours later. So,  um, yeah, it's just an eclectic mix of everyone. Old, young, yeah, there's no demographic as such. It's, it's, yeah, I think people are just interested to see what, what we do and how we do it.

I think that, that, that cooking. Cooking the food fresh as well, um, it creates a bit of an event. But for people to, I mean, we've had people mentioned to us in queues. Oh my God, it's amazing watching you.  I'm getting cooking tips. I made this that I'm like, well, I didn't even see they were this way. They were that busy in it that you don't even get to see.

But it's nice to hear. Nice to hear. Yeah. I think simple, fresh ingredients are always a winner, aren't they? And that's what Greek food is  all about.  I don't think there's any reason to make it complicated. It is what it is. You know, what's in it. You can see what we put in it every time. Yeah. So, I mean, we, we, we try and cook for each specific person if someone doesn't want onions in and we don't put onions in X, Y, and Z, if they want extras, we can, we can pop them on if we've got them.

So yeah, it's  mix of customer, no specifics, it's, yeah, it is what it is really. So you said that you can speak a little bit of, uh, Greek, uh, you're going to teach our listeners, uh, a word or two? Yeah, I'm not sure I think what I could possibly say now.  Well, I went first of all with Oppa, and then is it what, Kali, Kalispera, I remember.

Kalispera, good day basically, Kalimera, good morning, Kalinichte, good night. What's again? Kalista.  So there's a lot of, there's a lot of rolling of the r's and the f haristo,  f haristo. Ah haristo.  F, so here, f  Hariso. F haristo.  Close.  I'm rubbish at languages. I always have been, but, um, I, I like to like learn if I'm going on holiday, I like to learn the basics cause I just think it's polite.

And, um, us English people are a bit naughty because, uh, we, we can be a bit lazy because everyone, well, not everyone, but you know, most, most people actually. speak English when you go, especially to the tourist places. And, um, I just think it's polite, isn't it? Just to, you know, even say thank you or hello in the native language when you're abroad. 

100%. Yeah, it's just making a better effort. And I think,  I think every culture, every country appreciates it when you, when you do make a bit of it, even if you get it wrong, when you do make an effort.  You know, they go, they try it and yeah, you generally get looked after a little bit more, don't you Hannah?

I've noticed that in older people as well.  Apart from the French, they, they, uh, they don't like it when you get  We'll leave that there. Um, okay, so, finally.  How can couples get in touch with the Little Greek Grill to discuss their wedding and catering needs?  Um, that's the easiest way, there's our social media handle, um, at the Little Greek Grill. 

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, um,  email, um, @thelittlegreekgrill at gmail. com or mobile or WhatsApp.  That's my mobile number. Yeah, it's 

07889745191, and that's direct to myself. I've got my phone with me 24/7. So any calls, yeah, let me know.  Great. Well, thank you so much. Um, this was a really fun chat and, um, yeah, you've made me really hungry and now I'm going to go off and try and find myself some Greek food, unless you deliver. That's Right, take care.

Thank you. Bye.  So, it's time delectable episode of Pasties and Prosecco. I hope you enjoyed this flavourful journey with the Little Greek Grill. Now, before I satisfy my cravings and get stuck into a sizzling hot gyros for lunch, I wanted to remind you to hit that subscribe button to stay up to date with All of our upcoming episodes of pasties and prosecco also mark your calendars for January, 2025 when we launched the ultimate pasties and prosecco wedding supplier guidebook.

This is a must-have for all soon-to-be weds sign up now. And the link is in the show notes to be the first to receive this. Exclusive guide and take your wedding planning to the next level. Until next time, cheers to love, laughter, and plenty of pastis and prosecco.