Chef’s Table: An Exclusive Chat with Nikos Roussos from INO

DC: What sets INO apart from your other restaurants?

NR: INO is an innovative restaurant serving chargrilled small plates to share. It’s a restaurant that you can visit every day, whether that’s lunch, dinner or just a glass of wine or two you can enjoy with smaller dishes. The seating in the restaurant varies; you can choose to sit at the counter amidst the action in the kitchen or in the dining room for a more relaxed meal. The dining space towards the back of the restaurant is perfect for business lunches, a quick bite on your work break or a more laidback meal for a break between shopping in Carnaby! The outdoor dining area captures the vibe of Carnaby and is the perfect location for lunch in the spring and summer, if the weather permits! INO’s menu is comforting and light, focusing on clean, chargrilled flavours without the addition of thick and heavy sauces so you can focus on the dish itself. Each dish is cooked with care and finished with simplicity using high quality extra virgin olive oil with touches of lemon, vinegar and Greek hand-picked sea salt.

DC: How have the past 24 months been since INO opened?

NR: INO is a pandemic child, we opened in between Coronavirus waves and have been very happy with its progression since. We’ve built up a strong clientele of regulars who keep coming back as well as new diners who always leave happy that they’ve found their new favourite food joint.

DC: How did you come up with the menu?

NR: The menu is a combination of two strong elements coming from our Greek heritage, serving small dishes to share that we cook over charcoal. At INO, we try to elevate the dining experience, which is based on these two elements through our vision of what modern Greek food is. We focus on the product no matter if it’s a vegetable, fish or meat, and let the fire and smoke do the rest.

DC: Is there one particular dish you’re most proud of?

NR: I am proud of INO’s senior team and especially our head chef, Eleftheria. We research and develop dishes together and we try to evolve the menu to create a unique dining experience. I must say I do have some favourites on the menu like Taramas, bottarga and yolk and every time it’s in season I always fancy the charred okra with smoked tomato and basil.

DC: What inspired you to get into food in the first place?

NR: After 20 years in the industry cooking from Michelin level to casual comfort, I would say that it is not about inspiration, it is meant to be a relationship, one that’s constantly evolving and there are always new things that inspire me. 

DC: What is it about Greek food that makes it such an attractive cuisine for foodies?

NR: I think it’s the comforting flavours, high quality ingredients, Mediterranean food vibes, the wellness element and most importantly the ‘filoxenia’, which means the warmth of the Greek hospitality that surrounds everything else.

DC: Which other restaurants in London really impress you?

NR: There are so many brilliant restaurants in London, it’s so difficult to choose. To name a few, Ikoyi always amazes me, with Chef’s creativity using different ingredients and flavours. I also really love Sabor for its comforting flavours and the Chef’s approach to cooking. If I am up for counter dining, I go to Barbary or Kiln and Brat is always a great choice.

DC: Which ingredients do you enjoy cooking with most?

NR: I love cooking with vegetables, fresh seafood and red meats. I also love high quality dairy. One of my favourite ingredients is the high quality unripe extra virgin olive oil. I also love the acidity that comes from good quality vinegar or citrus and the bitterness of their zests. I am always after either fresh or long umami flavours and I love round sticky flavours that come from high collagen produce.

DC: Have you got any food that’s your guilty pleasure?

NR: Actually, I do. I love to bake a wild fish in the oven, and then reduce its juices that have captured all the flavours to a sauce consistency and top it up with a handful of handmade pasta. I like to finish this with a bit of lemon juice, lemon zest and a touch of extra virgin olive oil. This mouthwatering sticky pasta is my guilty pleasure that always transforms a light fish meal into calorie heaven.

DC: What’s the most exotic thing you’ve ever eaten?

NR: I have tried Balut, which is a boiled egg that holds the embryo inside.

DC: If you could invite any three people – dead or alive – to come and eat your menu, who would they be and why?

NR: The first person that automatically comes to my mind is the person I trust the most, my business partner and friend Andreas Labridis. He is part of the R&D team and always has valuable ideas and comments on our restaurant menus. Now if I could invite three people for a tasting at INO, I would invite my first chef from my cooking school, Chef Ted. I would also invite my mentor Petros Vettas, who is no longer with us, a true bon viveur and food lover that taught me the motto I deeply follow: ‘quality prevails’. Sometimes it takes time, he said, but it always prevails. Last but not least is the restaurateur Patroklos Verouhis, a person with an amazing character, high values and strong ethics, raised in the restaurant world of NYC and who helped me start my culinary journey in New York. That would be an interesting table of three.