I love Greek and all their lamb dishes, their shoulders and loins are always so tender flavourful with their spice rubs. Going to Burnaby, I’ve gone by Minoas many times be it driving or transit. It’s not hard to miss an out-of-placed old Greek mansion right underneath the Skytrain. So when I finally got the chance to try it I was majorly disappointed.
Caesar
I just HAD to order it, I know it might be a bit weird in a Greek restaurant, but after seeing it in the menu I couldn’t resist. It lacked substance, with minimal tabasco and vodka, it just tasted like clamato juice.
Spanakopita; baked filo wrapped spinach & feta cheese
House Greek Salad
We started off with the Spanakopita, which is a traditional Greek dish, with feta and spinach wrapped inside filo pastry, and baked till golden brown. The filo was baked perfectly, flaky and buttery, however the filling was overly salty and too strong for my taste.
The salad came with the mains that we ordered, but unlike other Greek restaurants, it came on the side. If the picture was any indication, it wasn’t anything special or worth noting. the iceberg greens kind of threw me off as well.
Souvlaki Platter; beef souvlaki & calamari with roasted potatoes & tzatziki
This was the special combo for the day, soggy and under seasoned calamari paired with one skewer of beef. The potatoes were bland, it looked and tasted like it was boiled than put into the oven for a quick roast. The meals came with rice pilaf as well, but as my friend and I don’t really eat rice, we opt out and they substituted it with some carrot and tomato side dish that tasted oddly like ratatouille.
Kleftico; roasted lamb shoulder
Please focus on my friend’s open zipper, as there is nothing special about this dish at all. For my love of lamb, they have failed me. The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender, don’t get me wrong. It was moist and juicy, but aside from the gamy flavours of lamb, there was no indication that it was treated with any other seasoning. Give the chopped parsley that was sprinkled on top.
Baklava
We tried to end it on a good note, since my friend was craving dessert, we ordered the Baklava. It is a traditional Greek dessert that comprises of chopped nuts and some kind of sweet syrup, usually honey, baked between layers of filo. Minoas’ Baklava was just a sweet mess, cloyingly sweet with no contradicting textures from the nuts, most likely from overcooking, and the addition of cinnamon made this a very confusing dish.
My friend admitted he might have been high when he first tried this place, hence giving it such high rating and raving to come here with me again. Nothing from this experience gives me any excuse to give them a second try.
minoas greek taverna
3823 kingsway
burnaby
ms.chubbs 