A Greek Cypriot named Panikos Panagiotou runs The Greek Tavern Lakis Greek Kitchen in England. He opened the restaurant in memory of his father whose dream went unfulfilled as he passed away.
The 44-year-old lives in Walsall, and the tavern set him back about $22,000 (£17,000) when he started off. It serves up to 200 people each night. With his wife working there, too, along with several volunteers, Panikos serves up traditional Greek grub from his restaurant and donates all the proceeds to charity, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Lakis Greek Kitchen is a charitable organisation that uses food as a vehicle to assist those in need. Every year we run a series of projects and fundraisers to assist people suffering from chronic and life threatening conditions. #SBS #CharityTuesday pic.twitter.com/saYzPU8OdK
— Lakis Greek Kitchen (@LGKCommunity) June 9, 2020
The restaurant’s signature dish is the marinated lamb with potatoes, which are cooked in a clay oven for 8 to 12 hours. The dessert list is just as appetizing and includes a host of homemade traditional sweets, such as baklava, coconut cake, and a chocolate cake called “Duchess.”
The restaurant’s website describes the place as a “charity that uses food as a vehicle to help those in need. Founded in 2014, we have since grown into an established organization running a range of projects and fundraisers to help people suffering from serious chronic and life-threatening conditions.”
As Panikos, the father of three children, highlights, Lakis Greek Kitchen has garnered the attention of visitors from far and wide even from as far off as the US. The restaurant has reservations booked weeks in advance.
“We have a waiting list. I have told people from Scotland and America to come and visit old Walsall, [and] it really is incredible. Luckily the neighbors aren’t bothered, [and] they’re fantastic,” Panikos told the Daily Mail.
The story behind Lakis Greek Kitchen
The idea for the tavern came to fruition when Panikos decided to build the venue in honor of his father, Lakis, who passed away from lung cancer in 2012. Lakis, who was the owner of the shop, had begun to construct his own tavern at his village home in Cyprus, but he passed away before it could be completed.
Panikos told the Daily Mail he wanted to pay tribute to his father’s memory by finishing the job his father had initially begun. However, he also wanted it all to go toward a good cause.
The restaurant took two months to finish, and, since 2014, it has managed to raise approximately $83,000 (£64,000) for local charities. “I built it in memory of my father who died of cancer. He tried to start it, built a restaurant in his garden, but died before finishing. What we say, our tradition, is to keep the relationships with our loved ones, and after they die…do good deeds in their memory. And that’s what we do here every year…for him.”
“My father always wanted to run a traditional Greek tavern from his home, so this is a way to keep his memory alive and raise much needed money for charity,” Panikos told the Daily Mail.
