Zylia, a brand new Greek-Cypriot taverna in Covent Garden, London, opened just weeks ago but already feels like a family taverna that has been there for 62 years. The restaurant, located at 6 Bedford Street, is pale, humbly furnished, and deliberately homespun in its styling, evoking the charm of a cobbled back-street eatery with a yiayia doing dishes and a one-eared dog waiting for titbits—though it has none of those things. Instead, its feel comes from clever interior design combined with a thoughtful, authentic menu.
Chef and Hospitality Veterans Behind Zylia
Zylia is the work of chef Nick Molyviatis, formerly head chef at Kiln and the second rendition of Singburi in Shoreditch, and hospitality veteran Barry Karacostas, recently involved with Arcade, a growing chain of London-based food halls. Interestingly, Zylia is part of the new Covent Garden Arcade but has its own front door, brick walls, website, and identity. Stepping from Zylia into Arcade feels like walking from a sun-battered Kefalonian alleyway into a Hitchcockian hotel lobby with rich woods and oxblood leather banquettes.
A New Direction for Food Halls
This venture reflects changes in modern hospitality. Ten years ago, street-food concepts like Dalston’s Street Feast promoted open-plan, ad-hoc dining. Now, in 2026, chic food halls like Arcade are more formal and glossy, even hatching separate spaces with brick partitions and individual personalities—effectively, restaurants. Zylia is a lovely place to dine, with an unshowy Greek-Cypriot menu drawing equally from mezedakia, salads, grill, specials, and desserts.
Authentic Greek-Cypriot Dishes
The mezedakia were a strong point. Karacostas’ mother’s recipe for taramosalata (whipped cod’s roe with cracked carob rusk) is light as air with vivid citrus notes. Other starters include melitzanosalata (coal-roasted aubergine dip with sweet peppers) and a yoghurt and feta spread spiked with roast chilli. A spanakopita stack of hand-stretched filo with leek, spinach, and soft feta could use more sharpness, but the wild prawn saganaki in spiced tomato, yoghurt, and tahini sauce is outstanding, requiring extra bread to mop up every morsel.
Grill and Main Courses
Zylia is not trying to reimagine Greek-Cypriot cuisine with smears and foams. Instead, it offers plump sheftalia (caul fat-wrapped Cypriot pork sausages) with raw onion, parsley, and sumac, and sharing dishes of good-quality lamb chops finished with oregano, salt, and lemon. The chicken souvlakia could have used more time on the grill. The only dessert is a softly chewy, faintly bitter kaimaki ice-cream made with mastic from Chios and wild orchid root salep, served with a thick, dark, intensely tart sour cherry preserve.
Atmosphere and Verdict
Zylia is new, fun, noisy, and good for the soul. It’s not perfect yet—it opened only a few weeks ago—but its bones are solid, with an accessible menu that will attract tourists (tzatziki, grilled halloumi, proper Greek salad). The hospitality is warm and the ambition clear. As sit-down restaurants face challenges, Molyviatis and Karacostas offer cheerful dining with occasional frills. If this is the future of food halls, it’s an interesting one. Prices are about £45 a head, plus drinks and service. Open all week: Mon-Fri lunch noon-3pm, dinner 6-11pm, Sat noon-11pm, Sun noon-9pm. Contact: 020-3949 4000.
