The Gringlish Co.

The Gringlish Co.

Growing up in Australia with Greek parents, meant broken English on one end and broken Greek on the other. In many cases, like mine, we amalgamated words into sentences that made a new language called “Gringlish”. Some example of this: “mum… peinao (I’m hungry), when are we going to eat?” or “I’m getting in the caro”. Now this word is just the English word with an o on the end, car in Greek is autokinito, so caro is a completely made up word. I guess it’s basically a fusion of the two languages in a new linguistic format, but what is most important, is that it was understood by both parties involved.

I recently had the opportunity to host a baby shower for one of my best friends. Word quickly spread, that Philippa’s Greek friend (that’s me), was hosting, so there would be lots of yummy Greek food. Now having an event catered, “back in the old days”, was just unheard of in our culture, not only because most were stingy and thought it would cost a lot less to do it all yourself, but also because “what would the soi (family) say?” That you’re lazy, that’s what they would say! So I saw this as the perfect opportunity to have The Gringlish Co. come in and cater the event for me.

The Gringlish Co. have pretty much got you covered on all bases from venues through to styling but in keeping with the grazing table trend that seems to be taking events by storm, I decided this was the obvious choice. If you take into consideration a small cheese platter you make at home for 2 people can end up costing $50+, then the package I went with, for 30 people was more than reasonable. This included everything from food, setup, crockery and even flowers.

In the lead up to the event I hadn’t even thought about food and I felt so guilty but also completely relieved, how amazing to not have to stress and be able to spend my time planning other important things like decorations and entertainment! To top it off it was all packed down for me by the team too. They put all the leftover food into containers and left me with a fridge full of food and a sink with no dishes to wash. I always find the pack up after a party, to be the most exhausting part of it all.

Who are the team at The Gringlish Co.?

Philip and Heleena are the powerhouse duo that make up this amazing team. Philip, you may know from Masterchef Australia, as well as restauranteur and head chef at Bahari– The Hellenic Palate. Heleena compliments the team with her extensive background in marketing and events and a keen eye for detail. I personally found her to have impeccable taste in styling and the ability to pull things together without much guidance from me at all. She successfully nailed the brief I gave her of ‘rustic bohemian’ with an attention to detail that meant for a cohesive aesthetic on the day. It was by far the most impressive grazing table I’ve ever seen.

Want to know what items were on the menu? Warning* heavy amounts of salivation may occur.

I have to start with my favourite item, the zucchini flower slice, which was as pretty as it was delicious, then, a close second, the Spinach and Fetta muffins, that had a sneaky pop of olive in there, which I didn’t expect but made all the difference to the flavour. Goblets filled with the most authentic tasting dips included tarama, smokey eggplant (this one was the winner for me. Heavy on the garlic but so worth it), ravithosalata and of course tzatziki. A mixture of marinated olives and sundried tomato in some sort of herb infused oil, YUM! Pomegranate & grain salad with sumac yogurt and the sweetest little ‘Galakto-Tarts’ which I could have eaten 10 of easily. Philip, if you’re reading this, bless you.

There was also slabs of cheese bigger than a small child, but I spotted and bee-lined straight for the D’affinois. There was Ash Goat’s Cheese, Blue Vein Cheese, assorted cold cuts, fruit, quince, nuts, olives, quince, Halva, Olive Bread, Greek Yoghurt & Thyme Honey, our plates weren’t big enough. There was definitely too much cheese, I feel silly even saying it but I think we only managed to get through about a quarter of it.

I honestly can’t recommend The Gringlish Co. enough. Heleena was so accommodating and pleasant every step of the way, from our initial 45 minute conversation as I walked around Kmart, right through to the flowers she left me at the end (I secretly want to make her my friend). If you have an event coming up and have always thought that hosting something at home would be too much trouble, or even if you have a venue, give them a call! They will tailor a package to suit you and you will love every minute of it. More importantly, you will able to enjoy your event with your loved ones and eat, rather than running around crazy.

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Thanks for reading, head to their site for more information. www.gringlish.co