Last week, I visited Yamas: A Mediterranean tapas and meze restaurant on Thurland Street in Nottingham’s city centre.

Established in 2008, Yamas aims to create an enjoyable experience of sharing both food and special moments together, replicating traditions of Greek Cypriot households.

Well, this was apparent from the happy, warm atmosphere when I dined there last week. Despite it being a Wednesday lunchtime, the restaurant was full to the brim with groups of friends and families gathered to enjoy the fantastic Mediterranean cuisine Yamas has to offer.

Lots of lunchtime choice

Popular with many lunchtime diners are the 3 tapas/meze dishes for £10.95. This deal is very student-friendly and allows you to choose from a varied selection of new and exciting Mediterranean dishes.

This is, in fact, what I opted for. I ordered pinchos de pollo (chicken and chorizo skewers with honey and sesame seeds), tirokroketes (Greek style cheese balls served on a bed of zingy chutney) and patatas bravas (a much-loved favourite by any tapas fan, these need no explanation).

These meze dishes from Yamas did not disappoint. The cheese in the tirokroketes was the softest, lightest cheese I think I have ever tasted, encased in a crispy, breaded coating. I would absolutely recommend these.

My friends opted for a few different dishes, some of which included the village salad (fresh and colourful), the chicharrones de pollo (fried chicken fillets filled with soft aioli), pinchos de gambas (marinated prawns served on skewers) and the spanakopitta (feta cheese and spinach wrapped in filo pastry). We thoroughly enjoyed our choices and despite the portions being so generous, there was very little left over at the end of the meal.

As you can tell, there’s a wide variety of choice on the Yamas menu – with many vegetarian and vegan friendly options available too.

That’s not to say that you have to order the meze dishes at lunchtime though. One of my friends opted for chicken gyros from the regular menu and they looked wonderful. Served with chips, the gyros wrap came with chicken and a generous helping of salad and tzatziki – all for less than £10!

If you are on a budget but wish to go somewhere a little bit more special, I cannot recommend Yamas highly enough.

Unfortunately, we were so full from our lunch that we couldn’t bring ourselves to sample any of Yamas’ selection of yummy desserts, but they looked so hearty and decadent. I can only imagine that they were of the same high quality as the Meze.

The service was equally of a high standard. We were waiting a little while to receive our food, but we were one of the larger tables and it was very busy – for good reason! The waiters were very friendly and attentive.

Takeaway points …

If you don’t fancy dining in, Yamas also have a separate takeaway menu! I must admit, upon seeing this I was very excited as I had enjoyed the food very much and would love to order it to eat at home in the future ­– although I am yet to do this!

Overall, I was very impressed with Yamas and will absolutely be returning.

★★★★☆