David Carter, the co-founder of the popular Manteca, will open a new Greek restaurant in Borough Market this spring, with flavours and influences from the Levant.
Oma, which loosely translates as the Greek word for “raw,” will be a homage to the “sun-soaked shores and landscapes of the Greek isles,” together with the “bold, distinctive flavours of the Levant.”
Carter, who also founded barbecue restaurant Smokestak, has put together something of a dream team for the kitchen. Nick Molyviatis, former head chef at Kiln, and Jorge Paredes, ex-executive chef at Sabor, will oversee an open plan, live fire kitchen, as well as a seafood bar serving crudo, ceviche and tartare.
The launch menu includes starters such as hung sheep’s yoghurt with salt cod XO sauce, wood-fried flatbreads specific to Greece, and yellowfin tuna with clementines and aged soy. There will also be classics, like Santorini fava with capers and a soft boiled egg, and a salata using carob rusks, tomatoes, and mizithra cheese.
Carter said dishes cooked on the fire will include slow-grilled red mullet, skewered Cornish squid brushed with garlic, za’atar and sumac, and lamb belly with date molasses. Clay hot pots will be filled with rich fish and meat stews.
There will be more than 400 wines. The list is said to echo the menu’s coastal influences, while focusing on lesser-known varieties from Greece, Tenerife, and around the Mediterranean.
“OMA represents everything I love about restaurants: it offers a dining experience in its most intentional conception,” said Carter.
“From the design to the food, to the style of service and aesthetic finishes, every part of OMA has been considered.
“It encapsulates and celebrates the raw beauty, natural landscapes and warmth of the places that have inspired it. The bold flavours of Greece and the Levant, created with amazing British produce treated simply and with respect.”
The restaurant will be on the first floor of a “light-filled room” on Bedale Street, with windows stretching the height of the building looking out onto a terrace.
