It has been a long time coming but I have finally made it to The Royal Standard! 🎉

The Royal Standard is not just known for having a wide selection of imported European beer and local craft beer but also for hosting one of the hottest Greek restaurants in Cambridge, Tzatziki.

The Royal Standard has had a lot of changes over the years. I remember it being a pub in ‘the good ol’ days’. Back then, it was a rather good Indian restaurant, then it became some sort of second hand clothing shop. Now it’s back to what it was put on this earth to be and is back with vengeance. The Royal Standard is looking to set itself apart from the hyper competitive Mill Road by offering Belgian beers on draft such as Duval, Vedett and La Chouffe, as well as IPA from local breweries such as Three Blind Mice.

The selection is almost as impressive as the bar which is decorated with a lot of love and character. Naturally, you can expect imported Belgian beer to rack up the price, residuals l especially in one of the trendiest parts of the city but I also noticed that it offers the cheapest Juice Rocket IPA in the county, making it accessible to everyone.

On our Facebook community ‘Craft Beer In Cambridgeshire’ we have concocted a league table of Juice Rocket prices, to give as a rough ‘ball park figure’ on comparable prices throughout the county. Naturally, you see places in Cambridge generally gravitate towards the top of our list due to having higher operating mark ups. Surprisingly, The Royal Standard seems to defy this trend and not only makes itself a place for high end beer drinkers but it’s also accessible for the average Joe looking for a cheap beer after work.

The team at the Royal Standard are a friendly bunch and the sort of guys you feel you could hang out with. They are approachable, helpful, knowledgeable, and honest. One particular beer called Duvel 666 was hovering around the £9 mark for a pint. It is not every pub that would warn you of the price before purchase. Credit to them.

There is a nice little courtyard garden around the side which is fenced off from the main street. It’s a good place to people-watch and relax in this lovely sun. There is plenty of shade and also suitable for families.

Once we had found a table and sat down it was time to eat. I have been looking forward to visiting Tzatziki for nearly a year thanks to all the positive reviews on the Cambridge Foodies and they have just celebrated their third birthday, so I thought now was a good time to visit.

It was a special occasion (and I have no self control when it comes to Greek food) so we ordered quite a lot. It took me a while to finally get here for a review, so I wanted to explore the menu as much as I could. For starters, we ordered tzatziki, olives, halloumi fries, a green salad, meat balls, and beef cheek stifado pie. These all hovered around the £5-6 mark each.

First, the meat balls; these were fantastic. They were served with a sweet chilli and yogurt dip. Unfortunately, these are great for sharing so I couldn’t hog them to myself 🤣

The halloumi fries were EPIC! These bad boys were one of the highlights of the meal for me. They were absolutely huge and so thick and juicy. With the tzatziki as dip these simple yet brilliant sticks really made my evening. 👍

The beef cheek stifado pie was really good too. It is a tough job to make beef cheek tender but they managed it. They were generously filled and the filo pastry was nice and crispy.

The green salad was impressive too, epecially for the price. This was ordered for my mother who said it exceeded her expectations. She particularly enjoyed the olive oil vinaigrette dressing. I noticed that it was generously covered in olives and tomatoes and certainly looked fresh just by looking at it.

We also shared the mixed olives between us, which I thought was a very generous portion for £4.80. So many places use this to squeeze an extra fiver out of you and give you a measly portion but not here. The olives were pipped but they were meaty enough to bite around.

The chicken skewer was incredible. It was big, juicy, and accompanied with pita bread in a bowl. Usually, a chicken skewer is a side portion of meat or an unbalanced meal of pure protein but for £4.5 I felt like we were getting something more substantial for our money. This is a great cheap and cheerful meal to soak up some of that Belgian beer.

And to finish off the meal, we ordered three souvlaki’s. These monsters come to around £10 each and you have the option to have single meat or mix it between chicken + lamb or chicken + pork. Whatever meat you choose, it comes with tomato, lettuce, red onion, and chips wrapped in pita bread.

I was impressed with the size of my souvlaki and as a result they are incredibly filling. Being 6’4, I am fairly confident that one of these should be enough to satisfy anyone. They looked absolutely fantastic and had lots of great colour with the salad and tomatoes.

Thanks to the fresh lettuce and onion, it also had a really satisfying crunch to the bite. The chips were seasoned in a light spice and were incredibly crispy. The lamb was very succulent and juicy too, therefore making it a big, juicy, crispy, and crunchy bite all in one. Everything about this was done just the way I like it. I really can’t recommend these enough!

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to The Royal Standard today. It was everything I expected and more. It is no wonder that the Cambridge Foodies community loves it so much!

The beer was exceptional and all served by friendly people in pleasant surroundings with a lot of character. The food from Tzatziki is absolutely delicious and great value. It is great to see them adding a much needed Greek restaurant to a pretty bleak Greek food scene in Cambridge. There is no doubt that I will be back again…and soon!

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to check out our Instagram video of my visit below!