Mastic

We often pass Hellenic Republic and peer through their large windows to see how they are doing. We have noticed a new café next to it, opened by the same people. We decided to give it a try.
Thoroughly let down by wait staff who seemed like they had better places to be a on beautiful Saturday, offered horrible wait service. I gave the soup of the day a go, smokey bacon and potoatoe soup with sourdough. The in wait time of over 30 minutes, with a not so busy floor, I was hoping the soup to be a extremely good.
Out came the soup, it was watery, with a packet of diced bacon and no potatoes to be seen. My other diners ordered banana bread which was flavourless and crumpets which seemed like cardboard.
For the upmarket price that you pay, and the lovely location of the area, you would think this little gem would have more to offer. Thoroughly disappointed.

Mastic is a new café owned and operated by the lovelies of Hellenic Republic, and it shares a space with the Kew location of the well-​known Greek Restaurant. It’s open every day for brunch foods, smoothies and coffees. The food menu is very interesting as it is Hellenic inspired whole foods.
After much deliberation I ordered roasted salmon with beetroot, horseradish yoghurt and egg. Very interesting combination, and it worked perfectly. I had most certainly never heard of horseradish yoghurt, but it was fantastic and perfectly complimented the salmon. A friend ordered the black risogalo (we had to google it to find out that it’s a Greek rick pudding) with pomegranate and coconut, which was a lovely texture and had the perfect combination of sweet and sour. Another friend ordered sauteed greens with eggs, which was a touch on the boring/​sour side, but great if you want a really really really healthy option.
Also on offer were «bowls» with various fillings including chia seed pudding and lots of acai berries. Hellenic salads included tunafish (both raw and cooked) and variations on Greek salads and slaws.
The open, airy coffee counter also features lots of fresh breads (the gluten free pumpkin is lovely) and raw cakes (we tried the salted peanut butter and the raspberry chocolate ganache), all of which are beautifully displayed alongside the Will & Co coffees. For coffee, you can have the usual milk varieties as well as coconut milk. I tried a friend’s coconut milk cappuccino, and I can’t say that I was a huge fan, but apparently it’s hella healthy for you and if you like sweet coffee you might swoon. There are lots of green smoothies and an ever-​changing rotation of muffins as well.