Plaka II- South Surrey

Sundays are a notoriously difficult day for food. Usually there are late risings, limited offerings and little motivation to cook for ones self. Combined with the fact that there was nothing in the house to create into a culinary masterpiece without at least three years at the CIA, and it was a perfect recipe for Meg and I to venture out to find new chow in the area. We had heard good things about Plaka II located at 106-15775 Croydon Drive, Surrey and decided we would give it a try to get some variation from the usual Sunday sushi lunch. Arriving right around noon on a Sunday we found two of the 12 tables in the restaurant occupied and found our own seat in the small storefront space. Nicely decorated in a Mediterranean theme but not garish by any stretch, there is even local artists work on the wall. The staff seemed very nice and were very helpful. Homous and Pita- Meg and I are big fans of Homous so we decided to get the appy version of this dish. At $4.99 you get a small bowl (maybe 6 oz) of homous and two whole pitas. The pitas are served piping hot and with a very light brush of butter. The homous was delicious, with a consistency slightly more viscous than your average homous. You could taste that it was homemade with all the requisite ingredients but my guess would be that they add vegetable stock to the normally pasty homous to get a texture that is smoother and slightly like a thick soup. As a result it coats the pita better. We would definitely order this again. Spanakopita- Meg ordered the appy spanakopita as her lunch. The $6.99 serving is decent and you get one large-ish pastry. The filling of spinach and feta was delicious and plentiful. Great flavour and very cheesy. The philo pastry was flavourful, very crispy and flaky, just how it should be. Meg commented that they could have used less butter in the brushing, but let's face it, when is LESS butter ever a good thing? Loaded Baked Potato Soup- I got the soup of the day which today was a Loaded Baked Potato. A cream based soup served in a good sized bowl. Small chunks of potato, cheese, bacon, chives, great flavour. Very creamy but not so rich that it was difficult to eat. At the end I was wishing for more, not because I was still hungry but because it was so good. At $5.50 it is definitely a repeat. Gyro- I also got the Gyro. Your traditional Gyro but done very well. The pita was the same as the appy, warm and with a slight garlic and salt dusting, lots of thinly sliced gyro meat that had great flavour. Good amount of Tomatoes, and if you are into them, onions hidden below all of that. The best part had to be the tzatziki sauce that is abundant in the gyro. True tzatziki aficionados will appreciate how the sauce pulls the entire wrap together with a creamy zing. In case you are wondering, I am drooling just thinking about it again. At $6.50 I was more than happy with the wrap, and my only regret was that there wasn't more of it. Menu- Overall, Plaka II doesn't have a huge menu. They have a good size appy section, the usual basic Greek specials, a number of Italian pasta specials, and a good number of individual pizzas that range from the mild to the wild in their toppings. It looks like all the dishes can be ordered take out, which I may have to remember for those nights when I work late and can just swing by on the way home after a phone call on the way. The balance between carnivore and herbivore offerings on the menu is decidedly favoured toward those of us who eat beast, but the vegetarians in your group won't go hungry. The wine list deserves special note. The breadth, depth and affordability of the wine list is outstanding. Usually, to order a bottle at a restaurant is tantamount to highway robbery, but at Plaka II you are looking at very little above wine store price. Allegedly, there is a deal of some sort between Plaka and the "Everything Wine" across the street in the plaza. That's thinking outside the box... Verdict- I would have included pictures expect two things happened. Meg and I were both so hungry that we didn't remember to take them until half way through the meal. This means all I have pictures of are half eaten plates. The second thing is that my phone won't email the pics. I will keep trying and edit if it/when it works. Plaka II was a pleasant surprise. Located in a slightly pretentious plaza, the food is delicious, affordable, and simple. No crazy presentations or ostentatious decor, just good food and nice people. I am sure that Plaka II will become a usual haunt of the Fat Kids.