Mazomos
Cuisine: Rustic fare from Naxos
Athens Area: Maroussi (accessible by taxi, 30 min. from Syntagma)
Decor: Rustic kitsch, wood paneling, farmers' chatchkas and more
Wine List: Greek and decent house wine
Prices: 20-22 euro per person
Address: 19-21 Kyprion Agoniston str., Paradissos Amaroussiou, Tel: 210 803 5800
Quick Bite: Probably not wirth the trip from dowtown, especially since much better fare from Naxos can be found at the Naxos Cafeneion in Psirri
In this newfound sense of mission to find cheap eats that taste good, most of the times I’ve been lucky. Sometimes, though, the formula just doesn’t work!
That’s a little how we felt the other night at Mazoma, a family style taverna in Maroussi whose owners have ties to Naxos and bring meats, cheeses and recipes from the island to your plate. But I hoped for something more, simple yes, but more authentic, in the vain of so many Cretan restaurants that have opened up in town over the last few years. Ever the optimist, I though the idea of regional cuisine is spreading its wings beyond Crete and the few Politika restaurants that currently monopolize the localized food scent.
Naxos has an illustrious culinary history thanks to the island’s own fecundity and to its rich history. Naxos cheeses, meats, potatoes and more are famed throughout the Aegean and the rest of Greece. Unfortunately, none of this richness was evident on the menu or in the quality of the actual food we were served. I was happy to see that Mazomos keeps a fair number of Lenten dishes throughout Sarakosti, and we concentrated on these. They were out of revithokeftedes (chick pea patties), so we ordered the kolokithopastitsa (a zucchini dish) in their stead. I liked the sound of this dish and reminded me of a dish I love to make from Samos: pumpkin and onions cooked to a caramelized perfection in the skillet. The Samos version has feta; in Naxos apparently they add hot peppers. The taste was fine but the dish came out slightly burnt from less than artful frying and soft as baby food. The salad was pretty good, a mix of lettuce and what seemed like home-made sun dried tomatoes. We ordered the dolmades, which the waiter promised were also homemade but that seemed to me in murky, mushy taste and texture, and glistening appearance to have made a pitstop somewhere between Apirantho (a town in the mountain reaches of Naxos) and the Zanae factory in Northern Greece. I can’t say for sure, but they certainly didn’t taste like mom’s. Ditto on the cuttlefish and spinach, one of the masterpieces of Greek Lenten fare when done well. A grey blob of mucousy slop when done poorly. The second, infortunately, characterized ours. A leftover from Kathara Deftera (Clean Monday, the Greek equicalent of Ash Wednesday and the official start of Lent) that had been zapped in the microwave? Maybe…
The pasta with shrimp was also banal, although the shrimp was fresh. What can I say? I feel for people who run restaurants in these trying times; this place obviously has a clientele—it was half full on a Wednesday night. Its rustic look, with wood, koreloudes, pictures of the island and knick knacks from another era appeal to a certain diner. That’s all fine. My advice: Just improve the food. Cheap or not, we left almost everything on the plate.
Showing posts with label Taverna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taverna. Show all posts
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Metohi
Metohi
Cuisine: Delicious homey Greek fare with an emphasis on the foods of Limnos
Athens Area: Halandri, accessible by metro & bus; 15 min. by taxi from syntagma
Decor: wall murals reminiscent with a Byzantine flair, painted by the owner, make this place seem like a total escape
Service: Warm and friendly
Prices: 25-30 euro a person
Address: 13 Byronos str., Kato Halandri / Tel. 210 6752775
Quick Bite: If you're the type to search out authentic food, even if it means a short cab ride into the outer boroughs of Athens, then Metohi, which means monk's enclave, is a place to try.
Metohi. Anyone who has followed this column over a period of time has probably realized that I like simple food. Sometimes, the simpler the better, especially if it’s cooked with care by someone who is obviously excited about what they do.
Such a cook is Aristea Karamali, the co-proprietess of Metohi, a small taverna in Kato Halandri where some very good food, much of it culled from the repertoire of dishes from her native Limnos, can be found. Metohi stands apart from many of the restaurants and tavernas in the same category for two reasons: one, for sure, is the quality of the food, which is very much home-cooked.
The other is the space itself, which is arguably one of the most “personal” of rooms anywhere in the city. The taverna is located on the street level of a small apartment house, butMetihi once you walk through the gate you can almost be certain you’ve never seen anything quite like it. Floor to ceiling are covered with the hand-painted murals of Aristea’s partner, an artist, Nikos Papadakis. There is something almost church-like about the space, with its icon-like paintings, despite the live music a few times a week and despite the convivial atmosphere brought about by the couple’s hospitality. Even the garden, walled in, is filled with furniture that looks almost sculptural.
But it’s the food, even more than the uniqueness of the space, which will bring you back here time and again. The chef’s Limnos roots show through in a slew of raw ingredients, including a supply of the island’s sea-washed cheese, melipasto, which she often has on hand. Then there is the parade of delicious dishes, from some of the best homemade pitas anywhere in this city (especially the coiled Limnos greens and cheese pies), as well as excellent one-pot (mageirefta) pork and vegetable dishes, vegetable and/or bean stews, and some delicious chicken dishes. The eggplant rolled with meat in a lovely, simple tomato sauce is also excellent. But my overall favorite are the hand-rolled dolmades with a hint of tomatoes. I wish there more places like this in Athens, where home cooking shines, where pretense is nonexistent and where the owners are actually in the kitchen and on the floor running the place.
Cuisine: Delicious homey Greek fare with an emphasis on the foods of Limnos
Athens Area: Halandri, accessible by metro & bus; 15 min. by taxi from syntagma
Decor: wall murals reminiscent with a Byzantine flair, painted by the owner, make this place seem like a total escape
Service: Warm and friendly
Prices: 25-30 euro a person
Address: 13 Byronos str., Kato Halandri / Tel. 210 6752775
Quick Bite: If you're the type to search out authentic food, even if it means a short cab ride into the outer boroughs of Athens, then Metohi, which means monk's enclave, is a place to try.
Metohi. Anyone who has followed this column over a period of time has probably realized that I like simple food. Sometimes, the simpler the better, especially if it’s cooked with care by someone who is obviously excited about what they do.
Such a cook is Aristea Karamali, the co-proprietess of Metohi, a small taverna in Kato Halandri where some very good food, much of it culled from the repertoire of dishes from her native Limnos, can be found. Metohi stands apart from many of the restaurants and tavernas in the same category for two reasons: one, for sure, is the quality of the food, which is very much home-cooked.
The other is the space itself, which is arguably one of the most “personal” of rooms anywhere in the city. The taverna is located on the street level of a small apartment house, butMetihi once you walk through the gate you can almost be certain you’ve never seen anything quite like it. Floor to ceiling are covered with the hand-painted murals of Aristea’s partner, an artist, Nikos Papadakis. There is something almost church-like about the space, with its icon-like paintings, despite the live music a few times a week and despite the convivial atmosphere brought about by the couple’s hospitality. Even the garden, walled in, is filled with furniture that looks almost sculptural.
But it’s the food, even more than the uniqueness of the space, which will bring you back here time and again. The chef’s Limnos roots show through in a slew of raw ingredients, including a supply of the island’s sea-washed cheese, melipasto, which she often has on hand. Then there is the parade of delicious dishes, from some of the best homemade pitas anywhere in this city (especially the coiled Limnos greens and cheese pies), as well as excellent one-pot (mageirefta) pork and vegetable dishes, vegetable and/or bean stews, and some delicious chicken dishes. The eggplant rolled with meat in a lovely, simple tomato sauce is also excellent. But my overall favorite are the hand-rolled dolmades with a hint of tomatoes. I wish there more places like this in Athens, where home cooking shines, where pretense is nonexistent and where the owners are actually in the kitchen and on the floor running the place.
Metaxourgeio
Metaxourgeio
Cuisine: Classic Taverna Fare
Area: Downtown Athens
Decor: Rustic Retro
Service: OK
Wine List: Small and decent; house wine is a light rose
Prices: Around 20-30 euro a person
Address: 25 Myllerou & 1 Leonidiou str., Avdi Square, Metaxourgeio, Tel.: 210 7050103, 6944678930
Quick Bite: Decent taverna fare in a happening neighborhood where bar-hopping will follow your Greek salad.
Gazi, Keramikos, Metaxourgeio. These are the areas of so many Athenians’ nights out, mine included. On the last several forays down there, roaming the area looking for parking, I couldn’t help but notice one of the last of the Moheekan: an 80-year old taverna right on the corner of Leonidiou Street that looked great from the outside. Dating the 1933, Metaxourgeio as this simple place is called, reminds anyone of another era, one we all kind of yearn for these days, an era when tavernas were the meeting point of whole groups of the population, where music happened and the food was good but secondary to the talk.
This place circa 2009 has gone through a major renovation, of course. And I am sorry to say that the outside touches a lot more nostalgic notes than the inside. For one, two floors have been added. But beyond that, the patina is all new, despite the exposed stone clichés, the wood, the general air of imposed rusticity. Only the great big, old wooden staircase, a little uneven at each step, harkens to another time.
It was very quiet the Tuesday night we visited Metaxourgeio, as Tuesday nights are apt to be throughout most of the Athens dining scene. The menu here is classic taverna fare, executed competently from what we could see by the spate of plates we ordered, but in need of something extra, some individual brushstroke to give the food a little character. The tigania, for example, pan-fried pork, unctuous tomato sauce and delicious fried potatoes (which had soaked up a fair amount of sauce, making them even better) was over salted and unnuanced. The melitzanosalata, my own bellweather, the dish by which I judge many a restaurants, was the standard mayonnaised up commercial rendition, chunky but almost milky, with none of that smoky aroma that draws so many of us to countless eggplant dishes. We ordered the florina peppers clay baked with feta, a very mediocre rendition of a simple, but, when well prepared, delicious, dish. Here, the peppers came straight out of a jar, so there was no sweetness to counter the saltiness of the cheese, only brininess. Ditto on the eggplant baked with cheese, which was brought out by mistake but which we kept. I ordered the stewed eggplant as a main course; when these two dishes were side by side, the only thing that distinguished them was the addition of feta in the one. The salad, a medley of winter greens and radicchio came with whole, huge pieces of arugula and other greens that made it awkward to eat.
Grilled salmon came laden with vegetables every which way: boiled zucchini, cauliflower, potatoes, and greens. The plate was overloaded and the main part of it bland and dried out. Saving grace here: the portion is large. Portions are generally generous, as evinced in the last dish we sampled, the pork chops, which were simple but well cooked.
Metaxourgeio could be better, lots better, if only the kitchen makes an effort to do something a little interesting. This is a menu that has played out in Greek restaurants all over the world. A lot of us love simple Greek fare, but we also like the sense of effort that goes into designing a menu aimed at showcasing something original, even if it’s simple. That’s what is lacking here.
Cuisine: Classic Taverna Fare
Area: Downtown Athens
Decor: Rustic Retro
Service: OK
Wine List: Small and decent; house wine is a light rose
Prices: Around 20-30 euro a person
Address: 25 Myllerou & 1 Leonidiou str., Avdi Square, Metaxourgeio, Tel.: 210 7050103, 6944678930
Quick Bite: Decent taverna fare in a happening neighborhood where bar-hopping will follow your Greek salad.
Gazi, Keramikos, Metaxourgeio. These are the areas of so many Athenians’ nights out, mine included. On the last several forays down there, roaming the area looking for parking, I couldn’t help but notice one of the last of the Moheekan: an 80-year old taverna right on the corner of Leonidiou Street that looked great from the outside. Dating the 1933, Metaxourgeio as this simple place is called, reminds anyone of another era, one we all kind of yearn for these days, an era when tavernas were the meeting point of whole groups of the population, where music happened and the food was good but secondary to the talk.
This place circa 2009 has gone through a major renovation, of course. And I am sorry to say that the outside touches a lot more nostalgic notes than the inside. For one, two floors have been added. But beyond that, the patina is all new, despite the exposed stone clichés, the wood, the general air of imposed rusticity. Only the great big, old wooden staircase, a little uneven at each step, harkens to another time.
It was very quiet the Tuesday night we visited Metaxourgeio, as Tuesday nights are apt to be throughout most of the Athens dining scene. The menu here is classic taverna fare, executed competently from what we could see by the spate of plates we ordered, but in need of something extra, some individual brushstroke to give the food a little character. The tigania, for example, pan-fried pork, unctuous tomato sauce and delicious fried potatoes (which had soaked up a fair amount of sauce, making them even better) was over salted and unnuanced. The melitzanosalata, my own bellweather, the dish by which I judge many a restaurants, was the standard mayonnaised up commercial rendition, chunky but almost milky, with none of that smoky aroma that draws so many of us to countless eggplant dishes. We ordered the florina peppers clay baked with feta, a very mediocre rendition of a simple, but, when well prepared, delicious, dish. Here, the peppers came straight out of a jar, so there was no sweetness to counter the saltiness of the cheese, only brininess. Ditto on the eggplant baked with cheese, which was brought out by mistake but which we kept. I ordered the stewed eggplant as a main course; when these two dishes were side by side, the only thing that distinguished them was the addition of feta in the one. The salad, a medley of winter greens and radicchio came with whole, huge pieces of arugula and other greens that made it awkward to eat.
Grilled salmon came laden with vegetables every which way: boiled zucchini, cauliflower, potatoes, and greens. The plate was overloaded and the main part of it bland and dried out. Saving grace here: the portion is large. Portions are generally generous, as evinced in the last dish we sampled, the pork chops, which were simple but well cooked.
Metaxourgeio could be better, lots better, if only the kitchen makes an effort to do something a little interesting. This is a menu that has played out in Greek restaurants all over the world. A lot of us love simple Greek fare, but we also like the sense of effort that goes into designing a menu aimed at showcasing something original, even if it’s simple. That’s what is lacking here.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Almyra
13/9/2007
ALMYRA
Cuisine: Fish Taverna
Athens Area: Halandri, 20 minutes from downtown Athens
Decor: Lovely garden, classic interior
Wine List: Greek
Prices: 25 euro per person
Service: Friendly
Address: 39 Filikis Etairias str., Kato Halandri, Tel.: 2106819109
If casual’s your thing and you know the area, this place is pretty good. It may not be worth the trek though if time’s limited.
It’s great to discover easy, relaxed neighborhood places where the food is good, the service decent, and the prices totally human! There is, in fact, a dearth of such places in the environs of this idiosyncratic city. All too often I am drawn to the places that work under the limelight of fame. More often than not, they disappoint me! So, when I stumble on a place that toils away in the shadows of anonymity, humbly, putting out competent, tasty dishes for a loyal, albeit local, clientele, for a place not found in most restaurant listings even though it’s been around for three years or so, I get a particular sense of satisfaction/ .
I was more than pleasantly surprised a few Sundays ago when friends in Argyroupoli took us to Almyra. They knew the menu, they knew what to recommend, they knew the waiters and owners.
Almyra is light, comfortable, and thoroughly local. The garden is pleasant, set in blue and white, as is the inside, with the exception of the open-floor, barrel-storing cava, covered by glass and a great hit with my kids, who happened to be with us that Sunday afternoon. There is even a table down there, for private dining, I assume.
We sampled a bunch of mezedes, from the fava, which was very good, whipped to a smooth, velvety finish. The gavro cooked in grape leaves was not exactly what I had anticipated. The gavro was chopped and stuffed, dolma-like, into the leaves, which in turn were a little undercooked and tough. The execution of this dish needed a little work, but the idea drove home the fact that someone is back there in the kitchen actually thinking though dishes at this easy, neighborhood place. The shrimp with tsipouro and cream is a little more upscale, a rich dish, perhaps with a little too much cream sauce—even though we managed to use up our last crumbs of bread wiping the dish clean. The shrimp is whole and large enough to make for a filling portion. The plates looks pretty. We all liked the kavouropitakia, too, with their creamy seafood-crab filling and their crisp, fried phyllo, folded into triangles and sprinkled with sesame seeds. The grilled sardines were plentiful and very simple, with none of the fanfare that accompanies them, say, in the tavernas of Thessaloniki. No parsley, no onions. Just the fish, grilled and whole, perhaps a little dry, but that’s hard to control when the yard is hopping with people.
I liked my little sojourn to Almyra—I think because it reminded me of better days in this town, when you could get a decent meal in a pleasant place up the road from home, without paying through the roof for a little Sunday afternoon leisure.
ALMYRA
Cuisine: Fish Taverna
Athens Area: Halandri, 20 minutes from downtown Athens
Decor: Lovely garden, classic interior
Wine List: Greek
Prices: 25 euro per person
Service: Friendly
Address: 39 Filikis Etairias str., Kato Halandri, Tel.: 2106819109
If casual’s your thing and you know the area, this place is pretty good. It may not be worth the trek though if time’s limited.
It’s great to discover easy, relaxed neighborhood places where the food is good, the service decent, and the prices totally human! There is, in fact, a dearth of such places in the environs of this idiosyncratic city. All too often I am drawn to the places that work under the limelight of fame. More often than not, they disappoint me! So, when I stumble on a place that toils away in the shadows of anonymity, humbly, putting out competent, tasty dishes for a loyal, albeit local, clientele, for a place not found in most restaurant listings even though it’s been around for three years or so, I get a particular sense of satisfaction/ .
I was more than pleasantly surprised a few Sundays ago when friends in Argyroupoli took us to Almyra. They knew the menu, they knew what to recommend, they knew the waiters and owners.
Almyra is light, comfortable, and thoroughly local. The garden is pleasant, set in blue and white, as is the inside, with the exception of the open-floor, barrel-storing cava, covered by glass and a great hit with my kids, who happened to be with us that Sunday afternoon. There is even a table down there, for private dining, I assume.
We sampled a bunch of mezedes, from the fava, which was very good, whipped to a smooth, velvety finish. The gavro cooked in grape leaves was not exactly what I had anticipated. The gavro was chopped and stuffed, dolma-like, into the leaves, which in turn were a little undercooked and tough. The execution of this dish needed a little work, but the idea drove home the fact that someone is back there in the kitchen actually thinking though dishes at this easy, neighborhood place. The shrimp with tsipouro and cream is a little more upscale, a rich dish, perhaps with a little too much cream sauce—even though we managed to use up our last crumbs of bread wiping the dish clean. The shrimp is whole and large enough to make for a filling portion. The plates looks pretty. We all liked the kavouropitakia, too, with their creamy seafood-crab filling and their crisp, fried phyllo, folded into triangles and sprinkled with sesame seeds. The grilled sardines were plentiful and very simple, with none of the fanfare that accompanies them, say, in the tavernas of Thessaloniki. No parsley, no onions. Just the fish, grilled and whole, perhaps a little dry, but that’s hard to control when the yard is hopping with people.
I liked my little sojourn to Almyra—I think because it reminded me of better days in this town, when you could get a decent meal in a pleasant place up the road from home, without paying through the roof for a little Sunday afternoon leisure.
Zefkin
22/11/2007
Zefkin
Cuisine: Taverna and meze fare
Athens Area: Alimos, southern suburb
Decor: Simple, rustic
Wine list: Greek, house wine, Ikarian wine
Service: Friendly
Prices: 15-20 euro a person
Address: 46 Eleftherias Ave., Alimos, Tel. 210 98 55 795
Quick Bites: This place rocks to a Dionysian rhythm thanks to the young crowd and the owner's roots in Ikaria. The weekends buzz with party atmosphere and live Greek music.
Zefkin
A down and dirty, fun, very local Greek place where tourists can see firsthand how Greeks have fun, on weeknights, but especially on weekends and at Sunday lunch.
Where do a carload full of nostalgic islanders head when one of the clan is leaving to go back to New York for the winter? In the case of a family of Ikarians, only one place in Athens would be appropriate for a family farewell on a wintry Sunday afternoon. Zefkin.
The menu promises: fagopoti, glenti, parea, kaloperasi, and that’s exactly what we got, in addition to a pretty wide range of well-executed mezedes, enough to keep Tsantiris’ wine flowing without worry. The chef-owner, Nikos Politis, just left his secure hotel job to invest more time in his young restaurant and also to work on opening a place in the tourisy town of Armenisti, on the island.
The place itself is extremely simple, with minimum décor, a few paintings depicting characteristic views of Gialiskari, and not much more. But the atmosphere is lively even mid week, when the customer base is not necessarily related to the island. The crowd is a mix of young and old.
Politis’ menu offers a wide range of mezedes, many classics and a fare amount of dishes with his own touch. His chef’s skills at the skillet are especially noticeable—everything we tried that was fried was light, crisp and very well executed.
The basics, like melitzanosalata, fava and tzatziki all have their little twists: a handful of walnuts goes into the eggplant sald; carrots and orange flavor the fava; carrots go into the tzatziki as well. The flogeres zefkin were a delicious combination of pumpkin (tamboura to islanders), spinach, leek, marathon and the island’s kopanisti. Kolokythakia come fried as “maridakia” after the way they’re cut, long and thin. The pan-fried feta is seasoned for tsipouro not wine—with olive paste and tomato. The tigania, an easy dish to make but a hard one to make well, to get the meat at just the right point of tenderness without overcooking it and all the while keeping the whole thing juicy, is here a simple, tasty, succulent dish made for bread dipping.
Not everything is Greek. We liked the chili shrimp tempura, with a spicy Asian sauce. The chicken tortillas got a little lost on me-there was a lot going on inside a small wrap filled, of course, with chicken, but also with feta, tomatoes and eggplants. Some of Zefkin’s dishes, such as mushrooms a la crème, hark back to another era and seem a little out of place, but from a quick look around the room I could see that people had ordered it. It’s a tough call for any chef to take things off the menu that sell! The biftekia with cream sauce, another one of those dishes that recall another era, were good!
Zefkin
Cuisine: Taverna and meze fare
Athens Area: Alimos, southern suburb
Decor: Simple, rustic
Wine list: Greek, house wine, Ikarian wine
Service: Friendly
Prices: 15-20 euro a person
Address: 46 Eleftherias Ave., Alimos, Tel. 210 98 55 795
Quick Bites: This place rocks to a Dionysian rhythm thanks to the young crowd and the owner's roots in Ikaria. The weekends buzz with party atmosphere and live Greek music.
Zefkin
A down and dirty, fun, very local Greek place where tourists can see firsthand how Greeks have fun, on weeknights, but especially on weekends and at Sunday lunch.
Where do a carload full of nostalgic islanders head when one of the clan is leaving to go back to New York for the winter? In the case of a family of Ikarians, only one place in Athens would be appropriate for a family farewell on a wintry Sunday afternoon. Zefkin.
The menu promises: fagopoti, glenti, parea, kaloperasi, and that’s exactly what we got, in addition to a pretty wide range of well-executed mezedes, enough to keep Tsantiris’ wine flowing without worry. The chef-owner, Nikos Politis, just left his secure hotel job to invest more time in his young restaurant and also to work on opening a place in the tourisy town of Armenisti, on the island.
The place itself is extremely simple, with minimum décor, a few paintings depicting characteristic views of Gialiskari, and not much more. But the atmosphere is lively even mid week, when the customer base is not necessarily related to the island. The crowd is a mix of young and old.
Politis’ menu offers a wide range of mezedes, many classics and a fare amount of dishes with his own touch. His chef’s skills at the skillet are especially noticeable—everything we tried that was fried was light, crisp and very well executed.
The basics, like melitzanosalata, fava and tzatziki all have their little twists: a handful of walnuts goes into the eggplant sald; carrots and orange flavor the fava; carrots go into the tzatziki as well. The flogeres zefkin were a delicious combination of pumpkin (tamboura to islanders), spinach, leek, marathon and the island’s kopanisti. Kolokythakia come fried as “maridakia” after the way they’re cut, long and thin. The pan-fried feta is seasoned for tsipouro not wine—with olive paste and tomato. The tigania, an easy dish to make but a hard one to make well, to get the meat at just the right point of tenderness without overcooking it and all the while keeping the whole thing juicy, is here a simple, tasty, succulent dish made for bread dipping.
Not everything is Greek. We liked the chili shrimp tempura, with a spicy Asian sauce. The chicken tortillas got a little lost on me-there was a lot going on inside a small wrap filled, of course, with chicken, but also with feta, tomatoes and eggplants. Some of Zefkin’s dishes, such as mushrooms a la crème, hark back to another era and seem a little out of place, but from a quick look around the room I could see that people had ordered it. It’s a tough call for any chef to take things off the menu that sell! The biftekia with cream sauce, another one of those dishes that recall another era, were good!
Naxiotiko Kafeneio
Naxiotiko Kafeneio
Cuisine: mezedes, traditional Greek taverna fare, Naxos specialties
Athens area: Psirri
Decor: Very simple, with a happening outdoor scene when the weather is good
Service: rough around the edges but part of the overall spirit here
Wine list: house wine, Greek wines, beer, ouzo
Prices: 15-20 euro per person
Address: 1 Christokopidou Str., Psirri, Athens, Tel: 210 321 8222
Quick Bite: A down-and-dirty Athens dining experience for those seeking authentic Greek gruffness and home cooking!
7/2/2008
Naxiotiko Kafeneio
For the first time in a long time we spent a Sunday afternoon wandering around Psirri, attracted by the artwalk and also by the perfect weather. That ability to sit outdoors and eat on a February day pretty much sums up all the reasons why the Mediterranean, and especially Greece, is such a human place to live!
Finding a place to eat, though, on a crowded Sunday without a reservation is quite another story. We got lucky at one of my favorite places, the Naxiotiko Cafeneio, and found a table right away. The place was packed.
After weeks and weeks on end of dining out at this city’s “creative” cooking establishments, I wanted something simple, something that wreaked on “patrida” (pou myrise patrida), something down to home and back to basics and I found it right there on that crowded sunny corner, on the cramped, uncomfortable chairs of this well-known taverna, with the waiters shouting orders back and forth to one another over our heads, with the bread and drinks flying out of the kitchen by a busboy who looked like he was ready to drop, with orders late to be taken and late to arrive, but when they did they were worth waiting for. Here is a Greek classic in all its raw gruffness. Despite the crowds and the wait, I relished the change from all the stuffy, overwrought snobbery that persists in so many “fine” restaurants.
Unlike so many tavernas these days, the Naxiotiko Cafeneion at least still holds its own in terms of preparing home-made specialties. The roasted eggplant salad is a good example: smokey and speckled with small bits of roasted red pepper, it definitely comes from their own kitchen. We wanted to graze that Sunday and so did what you’re supposed to do in a classic taverna: order half the menu and share it among half a dozen people (our parea). The black-eyed pea salad, just a simple, boiled to al dente doneness, black eyed peas with a hint of vinegar, a fair amount of olive oil and a smattering of dill is lovely. The giant beans in the oven, classically done up with tomato sauce, were also baked to a delicious, buttery finale. The fava is dense and almost cuttable, comes cold and topped with just the right amount of raw onions.
While we waited for the table to clear before sitting down, the smell of octopus on the grill beckoned. By the time we sat down we were dying for some and so ordered three plates of this timeless favorite. It was excellent. I also savored every bite of the crisp fried cod and and skordalia, although the latter could have been a lot more garlicky. Finally, the pork with celery Lemonato, another all time classic, was also pretty good.
Granted this is not a place to come for fine service or gourmet strivings. It’s simple and that’s fine. It’s the Mediterranean Diet of great raw ingredients, disorganized social orders, and fun in the sun on a delicious February afternoon.
Cuisine: mezedes, traditional Greek taverna fare, Naxos specialties
Athens area: Psirri
Decor: Very simple, with a happening outdoor scene when the weather is good
Service: rough around the edges but part of the overall spirit here
Wine list: house wine, Greek wines, beer, ouzo
Prices: 15-20 euro per person
Address: 1 Christokopidou Str., Psirri, Athens, Tel: 210 321 8222
Quick Bite: A down-and-dirty Athens dining experience for those seeking authentic Greek gruffness and home cooking!
7/2/2008
Naxiotiko Kafeneio
For the first time in a long time we spent a Sunday afternoon wandering around Psirri, attracted by the artwalk and also by the perfect weather. That ability to sit outdoors and eat on a February day pretty much sums up all the reasons why the Mediterranean, and especially Greece, is such a human place to live!
Finding a place to eat, though, on a crowded Sunday without a reservation is quite another story. We got lucky at one of my favorite places, the Naxiotiko Cafeneio, and found a table right away. The place was packed.
After weeks and weeks on end of dining out at this city’s “creative” cooking establishments, I wanted something simple, something that wreaked on “patrida” (pou myrise patrida), something down to home and back to basics and I found it right there on that crowded sunny corner, on the cramped, uncomfortable chairs of this well-known taverna, with the waiters shouting orders back and forth to one another over our heads, with the bread and drinks flying out of the kitchen by a busboy who looked like he was ready to drop, with orders late to be taken and late to arrive, but when they did they were worth waiting for. Here is a Greek classic in all its raw gruffness. Despite the crowds and the wait, I relished the change from all the stuffy, overwrought snobbery that persists in so many “fine” restaurants.
Unlike so many tavernas these days, the Naxiotiko Cafeneion at least still holds its own in terms of preparing home-made specialties. The roasted eggplant salad is a good example: smokey and speckled with small bits of roasted red pepper, it definitely comes from their own kitchen. We wanted to graze that Sunday and so did what you’re supposed to do in a classic taverna: order half the menu and share it among half a dozen people (our parea). The black-eyed pea salad, just a simple, boiled to al dente doneness, black eyed peas with a hint of vinegar, a fair amount of olive oil and a smattering of dill is lovely. The giant beans in the oven, classically done up with tomato sauce, were also baked to a delicious, buttery finale. The fava is dense and almost cuttable, comes cold and topped with just the right amount of raw onions.
While we waited for the table to clear before sitting down, the smell of octopus on the grill beckoned. By the time we sat down we were dying for some and so ordered three plates of this timeless favorite. It was excellent. I also savored every bite of the crisp fried cod and and skordalia, although the latter could have been a lot more garlicky. Finally, the pork with celery Lemonato, another all time classic, was also pretty good.
Granted this is not a place to come for fine service or gourmet strivings. It’s simple and that’s fine. It’s the Mediterranean Diet of great raw ingredients, disorganized social orders, and fun in the sun on a delicious February afternoon.
Thisavros ton Gefseon
22/2/2008
Thisavros ton Gefseon
Cuisine: Fish taverna
Athens Area: Halandri (suburb, 20 min. from Syntagma)
Decor: As simple as it gets
Service: Friendly
Wine List: Greek and house wines
Prices 15-20 euro a person
Address: 46 Vas. Georgiou str., Halandri, Tel: 210 6845261
Quick Bite: A very local, tiny, family-run fish taverna in one of Athens’ nearby suburbs.
It’s not every week that a charismatic young African-American wins his 10th in a row U.S. primary, that a charismatic 80-year old Fidel Castro steps down as the longest reigning leader in the Western world, and that a small land-locked country in the middle of Europe declares independence. All that and more required some serious conversation around a table filled with food that didn’t pose unnecessary quandaries. A taverna. As simple a one as possible, which is how I ended up with a group of journalist friends at a small, humble place with a big name: O Thisavros ton Gefseon (The “Treasure Chest of Flavors”) in Halandri. It’s a place so humble and nondescript that I had passed it many times without noticing it at all. At the insistence of one friend, a regular customer, we went.
The owner, k. Apostoli, is the arbiter of taste and kitchen here, warning us not to order excessively. He was right, of course, and confident that his fish soup would be perfectly sating, which it was: a lemony-yellow, light, carrot-and-celery filled traditional fish soup as good as my sailor-cook dad used to make, with pearly white pieces of sea bass floating within. On the side, we nibbled on Apostoli’s lovely Taramosalata, creamy and silky, made with white Tarama, which we spread over toasted oregano-and-oil flavored bread slices. His boiled winter salad is a taverna classic. Grilled pleurotus mushrooms brushed with olive oil, oregano and lemon juice added an earthy tone to the meal. The small sardines on the grill, a little dry, are another taverna classic that we savored happily. My friend did the unthinkable and ordered youverlakia (rice and ground meat balls) after her fish soup. They were good, tight and juicy in a nice lemony broth. Greek grandmothers would approve.
The best thing though was the dark, dense not-so-sweet halva served in two large cubes on a plate.
To all of the above, we added a fair dose of spiced up conversation about the current state of the world and to all of the above we clinked glasses with a simple, white house wine. Simplicity is a good thing in these exciting times…
Thisavros ton Gefseon
Cuisine: Fish taverna
Athens Area: Halandri (suburb, 20 min. from Syntagma)
Decor: As simple as it gets
Service: Friendly
Wine List: Greek and house wines
Prices 15-20 euro a person
Address: 46 Vas. Georgiou str., Halandri, Tel: 210 6845261
Quick Bite: A very local, tiny, family-run fish taverna in one of Athens’ nearby suburbs.
It’s not every week that a charismatic young African-American wins his 10th in a row U.S. primary, that a charismatic 80-year old Fidel Castro steps down as the longest reigning leader in the Western world, and that a small land-locked country in the middle of Europe declares independence. All that and more required some serious conversation around a table filled with food that didn’t pose unnecessary quandaries. A taverna. As simple a one as possible, which is how I ended up with a group of journalist friends at a small, humble place with a big name: O Thisavros ton Gefseon (The “Treasure Chest of Flavors”) in Halandri. It’s a place so humble and nondescript that I had passed it many times without noticing it at all. At the insistence of one friend, a regular customer, we went.
The owner, k. Apostoli, is the arbiter of taste and kitchen here, warning us not to order excessively. He was right, of course, and confident that his fish soup would be perfectly sating, which it was: a lemony-yellow, light, carrot-and-celery filled traditional fish soup as good as my sailor-cook dad used to make, with pearly white pieces of sea bass floating within. On the side, we nibbled on Apostoli’s lovely Taramosalata, creamy and silky, made with white Tarama, which we spread over toasted oregano-and-oil flavored bread slices. His boiled winter salad is a taverna classic. Grilled pleurotus mushrooms brushed with olive oil, oregano and lemon juice added an earthy tone to the meal. The small sardines on the grill, a little dry, are another taverna classic that we savored happily. My friend did the unthinkable and ordered youverlakia (rice and ground meat balls) after her fish soup. They were good, tight and juicy in a nice lemony broth. Greek grandmothers would approve.
The best thing though was the dark, dense not-so-sweet halva served in two large cubes on a plate.
To all of the above, we added a fair dose of spiced up conversation about the current state of the world and to all of the above we clinked glasses with a simple, white house wine. Simplicity is a good thing in these exciting times…
Kanella
28/2/2008
Kanella
Cuisine: taverna and traditional Greek fare with flair
Athens Area: Keramikos
Decor: Cool, artsy
Wine list: Greek and house wine
Prices 20-25 Euro per person
Service a little too friendly
Address: 70 Konstantinoupoleos & Evmolpidon str., Gazi, Tel. 210 34 76 320
Quick Bite: A hip, contemporary taverna that appeals to a mixed crowd of 20-somethings, 30-somethings, and 40+ somethings, gays and straights. Kanella is in the heart of Athens’ gay neighborhood, Keramiko.
Gazi, on a Wednesday night: Roaming around Gazi just the other night gave me the feeling I sometimes have when I’ve been away for a week or so, come back, and notice that my children have grown. It had been a while since I had strolled around the old streets of Keramikos and Gazi, and in my absence the area had flowered. From the era of Gazi as a neighborhood with one hip taverna (Mamacas, the groundbreaker just a few years ago) it has blossomed into the hottest, most happening part of the city. Between Skoufias on Meg. Basiliou Street to Kanella on Konstantinopouleos, there must be 50 other bars and restaurants in between. Some of them were bustling, some of them were too well-lighted to attract the young crowd that congregates down here. Some of them clearly catered to the gay scene.
I took my chances and wandered around oscillating between Skoufias, which was quiet, Gazohori which was too packed with 20-somethings, and Kanella, which was busy and looked like it a mix of clientele: gay, straight, young, old. I also liked the idea of going to a place that bills itself as an oinomageirio, proud to have a traditional open kitchen where the day’s food is on display and yet modern and hip in design.
The room is simple. Colored bottles in the windows lend the closest thing to a design element in the otherwise pared down space. Tables are covered with butcher’s paper not cloth, the seats are squeezed in pretty tight. The waitstaff is friendly, maybe a little too much so, interrupting the taking of an order for example, to joke between themselves, or, even more audacious, to make out behind the meatballs on display, which we happened to be sitting right next to.
The food is simple and friendly, with small touches that set some things apart. Classics like Cretan dako (barley rusk), fava (yellow split pea puree) and fried potatoes are all here. Some classics come with a twist. The roasted eggplant salad, for example is a toss of chunky roasted eggplant, raw red and green bell peppers, and so much garlic you can’t really taste anything else. It looks pretty but it’s very strong. The lentil salad with carrots and feta is simple enough: al dente lentils, cubes of feta, and slices of carrot tossed together in a light dressing. In both the eggplant salad and the lentil salad the oil was less than virgin. We ordered a Saganaki, too, which is made with a semihard cheese dipped in batter. It’s good taverna fair, crunchy on the outside and stretchy within.
Under the Daily Dishes that Mom makes, we tried the soutzoukakia smyrneika and the politico spanaki. Both were ok. The soutzoukakia had a little too much bread in them to achieve that depth of cumin-filled flavor the best renditions of this dish boast. My chef friend and I angsted over the mashed potatoes: are they or aren’t they homemade? The Politiko spanaki is a mixture of chopped spinach and ground beef cooked together and served over an oversupply of strained yogurt. It didn’t have much flavor and there was way too much dairy on the plate, but the idea was interesting.
The best thing Kanella served us that night was a lemon cake, which was moist, dense layers of some kind of phyllo pastry and semolina, with a texture that was somewhere between ravani and bread pudding. It was good, homey, original, cute.
Kanella serves up a cuisine totally in sync with its prices: simple, straightforward, easy food that has one foot in tradition and one foot in downtown hip. The wine is bulk Nemea, the plate ware is laiki agora mix and match. The service is casual and the crowd hip.
Kanella
Cuisine: taverna and traditional Greek fare with flair
Athens Area: Keramikos
Decor: Cool, artsy
Wine list: Greek and house wine
Prices 20-25 Euro per person
Service a little too friendly
Address: 70 Konstantinoupoleos & Evmolpidon str., Gazi, Tel. 210 34 76 320
Quick Bite: A hip, contemporary taverna that appeals to a mixed crowd of 20-somethings, 30-somethings, and 40+ somethings, gays and straights. Kanella is in the heart of Athens’ gay neighborhood, Keramiko.
Gazi, on a Wednesday night: Roaming around Gazi just the other night gave me the feeling I sometimes have when I’ve been away for a week or so, come back, and notice that my children have grown. It had been a while since I had strolled around the old streets of Keramikos and Gazi, and in my absence the area had flowered. From the era of Gazi as a neighborhood with one hip taverna (Mamacas, the groundbreaker just a few years ago) it has blossomed into the hottest, most happening part of the city. Between Skoufias on Meg. Basiliou Street to Kanella on Konstantinopouleos, there must be 50 other bars and restaurants in between. Some of them were bustling, some of them were too well-lighted to attract the young crowd that congregates down here. Some of them clearly catered to the gay scene.
I took my chances and wandered around oscillating between Skoufias, which was quiet, Gazohori which was too packed with 20-somethings, and Kanella, which was busy and looked like it a mix of clientele: gay, straight, young, old. I also liked the idea of going to a place that bills itself as an oinomageirio, proud to have a traditional open kitchen where the day’s food is on display and yet modern and hip in design.
The room is simple. Colored bottles in the windows lend the closest thing to a design element in the otherwise pared down space. Tables are covered with butcher’s paper not cloth, the seats are squeezed in pretty tight. The waitstaff is friendly, maybe a little too much so, interrupting the taking of an order for example, to joke between themselves, or, even more audacious, to make out behind the meatballs on display, which we happened to be sitting right next to.
The food is simple and friendly, with small touches that set some things apart. Classics like Cretan dako (barley rusk), fava (yellow split pea puree) and fried potatoes are all here. Some classics come with a twist. The roasted eggplant salad, for example is a toss of chunky roasted eggplant, raw red and green bell peppers, and so much garlic you can’t really taste anything else. It looks pretty but it’s very strong. The lentil salad with carrots and feta is simple enough: al dente lentils, cubes of feta, and slices of carrot tossed together in a light dressing. In both the eggplant salad and the lentil salad the oil was less than virgin. We ordered a Saganaki, too, which is made with a semihard cheese dipped in batter. It’s good taverna fair, crunchy on the outside and stretchy within.
Under the Daily Dishes that Mom makes, we tried the soutzoukakia smyrneika and the politico spanaki. Both were ok. The soutzoukakia had a little too much bread in them to achieve that depth of cumin-filled flavor the best renditions of this dish boast. My chef friend and I angsted over the mashed potatoes: are they or aren’t they homemade? The Politiko spanaki is a mixture of chopped spinach and ground beef cooked together and served over an oversupply of strained yogurt. It didn’t have much flavor and there was way too much dairy on the plate, but the idea was interesting.
The best thing Kanella served us that night was a lemon cake, which was moist, dense layers of some kind of phyllo pastry and semolina, with a texture that was somewhere between ravani and bread pudding. It was good, homey, original, cute.
Kanella serves up a cuisine totally in sync with its prices: simple, straightforward, easy food that has one foot in tradition and one foot in downtown hip. The wine is bulk Nemea, the plate ware is laiki agora mix and match. The service is casual and the crowd hip.
Tirbuson
22/5/2008
Tirbouson
Cuisine: Greek taverna fare
Athens Area: Downtown Athens, Keramikos
Decor: Hip, happening, funky
Service: Friendly, knowledgeable
Wine List: Greek, Competent
Prices: 25-40 euro per person
Address: 104 Konstantinoupoleos str., Keramikos, Athens, Tel: 2103410107
Quick Bite: OK food from this family-run restaurant that borders the railroad tracks in Athens gay mecca, Keramikos. Every now and then the seats rumble as the trains charge by.
Konstantinoupoleos is the ever-growing hot spot for Athens’ restaurant and bar scene. Most of the places down here are characterized by their casual, easy approach to food, their simple menus, their equal emphasis on drinking and eating, their younger (than me) crowd. Tirbouson shares all these descriptions and it’s a place I would easily return to just because it’s relaxing and inexpensive, with a competent menu and professional service. I also happen to like trains, and the night we went the tracks back and forth toward Stathmos Larissi were busy with cargo and passenger trains chugging along noisily. It was fun to watch.
The dining room is small and contemporary, with a large chandelier made up of upside down wine bottles. Lights play a part in the red and white décor. The deck outside is pretty spacious for such an urban locale. “Tablecloths” are a large piece of parchment printed with the wine list. On this, the first hot night of the season, we opted for a couple of those great organic Piraiki beers, which are fruity and delicious.
The menu is easy and not terribly original. Actually, the restaurant hound in me saw more than a few borrowed ideas from at least one chefs, Nina Ismirnoglou, for whom the owner worked for a while. Marinated raw zucchini is one such borrowed dish. It was perfectly ok but lacking in that touch that marks the difference between fine and good. The slices were a tad too thick and jumbled together in a deep bowl, which isn’t the best choice for presenting a carpaccio style dish. Parmesan and pine nuts add body to the zucchini. The eggplant rollups stuffed with haloumi didn’t really work, first because the cheese got hard but more importantly because the eggplant itself was tough. But the owner came over to our table, apologized, and didn’t charge us for the dish. That’s good service. The waiters also knew the food, something too often sorely lacking in other Athenian restaurants.
The black eyed bean salad with spinach and finocchio was also ok. Black eyed peas are so satisfying on their own, but the salad needed some spark, maybe a little chile-driven heat. The mussels steamed with leeks, scallions, finocchio and white wine were really fresh and very tasty.
What I liked most about Tirbouson, besides the name and the trains, is the friendly, informed service. The waiter steered us away from too much food, suggested things that worked, and generally knew what he was selling. With a little more originality on the menu, Tirbouson would fly.
Tirbouson
Cuisine: Greek taverna fare
Athens Area: Downtown Athens, Keramikos
Decor: Hip, happening, funky
Service: Friendly, knowledgeable
Wine List: Greek, Competent
Prices: 25-40 euro per person
Address: 104 Konstantinoupoleos str., Keramikos, Athens, Tel: 2103410107
Quick Bite: OK food from this family-run restaurant that borders the railroad tracks in Athens gay mecca, Keramikos. Every now and then the seats rumble as the trains charge by.
Konstantinoupoleos is the ever-growing hot spot for Athens’ restaurant and bar scene. Most of the places down here are characterized by their casual, easy approach to food, their simple menus, their equal emphasis on drinking and eating, their younger (than me) crowd. Tirbouson shares all these descriptions and it’s a place I would easily return to just because it’s relaxing and inexpensive, with a competent menu and professional service. I also happen to like trains, and the night we went the tracks back and forth toward Stathmos Larissi were busy with cargo and passenger trains chugging along noisily. It was fun to watch.
The dining room is small and contemporary, with a large chandelier made up of upside down wine bottles. Lights play a part in the red and white décor. The deck outside is pretty spacious for such an urban locale. “Tablecloths” are a large piece of parchment printed with the wine list. On this, the first hot night of the season, we opted for a couple of those great organic Piraiki beers, which are fruity and delicious.
The menu is easy and not terribly original. Actually, the restaurant hound in me saw more than a few borrowed ideas from at least one chefs, Nina Ismirnoglou, for whom the owner worked for a while. Marinated raw zucchini is one such borrowed dish. It was perfectly ok but lacking in that touch that marks the difference between fine and good. The slices were a tad too thick and jumbled together in a deep bowl, which isn’t the best choice for presenting a carpaccio style dish. Parmesan and pine nuts add body to the zucchini. The eggplant rollups stuffed with haloumi didn’t really work, first because the cheese got hard but more importantly because the eggplant itself was tough. But the owner came over to our table, apologized, and didn’t charge us for the dish. That’s good service. The waiters also knew the food, something too often sorely lacking in other Athenian restaurants.
The black eyed bean salad with spinach and finocchio was also ok. Black eyed peas are so satisfying on their own, but the salad needed some spark, maybe a little chile-driven heat. The mussels steamed with leeks, scallions, finocchio and white wine were really fresh and very tasty.
What I liked most about Tirbouson, besides the name and the trains, is the friendly, informed service. The waiter steered us away from too much food, suggested things that worked, and generally knew what he was selling. With a little more originality on the menu, Tirbouson would fly.
Ta Kioupia
28/8/2008
Ta Kioupia
Cuisine: Traditional Greek in copious amounts
Athens Area: Kolonaki
Decor: Light, clean renovation of a neoclassical mansion with all its glories intact and updated for the 21st century
Service: Accommodating
Wine List: Very good
Prices: 54 euro per person for prix fix “non stop” dinner; 32 euro for prix fix lunch; a la carte 35-60 euro per person.
Address: Dinokratous & 22 Anapiron Polemou str., Kolonaki, Tel. 210 740 01 50.
Quick Bite: This is the high end of the all-you-can-eat crowd. The food is quite good but there is just way too much of it.
With a handful of foreign visitors in tow, my choice of where to dine had to be narrowed down to Greek and only Greek. But the question then became: traditional or contemporary? One friend wanted to try the latest in Greek food and one wanted to try the oldest. It was time to go to Kioupia. I hadn’t been to this well-known restaurant since it closed its doors in Politeia a few years ago and opened anew, in what is arguably the best house in Athens, a perfectly preserved neoclassical mansion built in 1927 on the corner of Deinokratous Street.
I had remembered the restaurant for its over-the-top approach to classic Greek food and recalled that forced-feeding feeling I had waddling out of the place after more food in one meal than I typically consume in a week. But that was years ago; these are leaner times. The menu now represents a twofold take on Greek cuisine: for the most part dishes are much lighter, with contemporary brushstrokes to move even molecular chefs to excess. But that unique Greek sense of unyielding hospitality as expressed in a plethora of food is still the modus operandi of Kioupia. Dinner, at a fixed price, includes a whopping 16 starters and sixmain courses!
The classics that gave Kioupia its good name to begin with are still very good, especially that chunky, smoky eggplant salad.
Much of the food here is rooted in the traditional cuisine of Rhodes, where the owners come from and got their start in the business some 30 years ago. Dodecanese inspired dishes include a delicious pork chop (fileto) where souma meets the southern Dodecanese pasta, makarounes. It’s not quite a dish for 40 degree summer nights in the city, but the weather will change soon enough to make it a must-have. Rhodian trademarks like cookes seskoula and barbounofasoula with plenty of olive oil and rich undertones from the copious amount of onions were delicious.
The fava with caramelized orange wasn’t the best attempt to modernize this taverna luminary that I’ve ever tasted. The soutzoukakia were a little too gentrified for my peasant roots, but good. The melekouni, with its gentle hint of cumin, which is how this Rhodian pasteli is seasoned, is a lovely end to the meal. Unless, after 16 starters and a choice of six main courses, you opt for a few sweet killers, like ice cream with grape spoon sweet and almonds, or samali (delicious).
Would I come back here? Yes, yes, yes. But only after a starvation diet.
Ta Kioupia
Cuisine: Traditional Greek in copious amounts
Athens Area: Kolonaki
Decor: Light, clean renovation of a neoclassical mansion with all its glories intact and updated for the 21st century
Service: Accommodating
Wine List: Very good
Prices: 54 euro per person for prix fix “non stop” dinner; 32 euro for prix fix lunch; a la carte 35-60 euro per person.
Address: Dinokratous & 22 Anapiron Polemou str., Kolonaki, Tel. 210 740 01 50.
Quick Bite: This is the high end of the all-you-can-eat crowd. The food is quite good but there is just way too much of it.
With a handful of foreign visitors in tow, my choice of where to dine had to be narrowed down to Greek and only Greek. But the question then became: traditional or contemporary? One friend wanted to try the latest in Greek food and one wanted to try the oldest. It was time to go to Kioupia. I hadn’t been to this well-known restaurant since it closed its doors in Politeia a few years ago and opened anew, in what is arguably the best house in Athens, a perfectly preserved neoclassical mansion built in 1927 on the corner of Deinokratous Street.
I had remembered the restaurant for its over-the-top approach to classic Greek food and recalled that forced-feeding feeling I had waddling out of the place after more food in one meal than I typically consume in a week. But that was years ago; these are leaner times. The menu now represents a twofold take on Greek cuisine: for the most part dishes are much lighter, with contemporary brushstrokes to move even molecular chefs to excess. But that unique Greek sense of unyielding hospitality as expressed in a plethora of food is still the modus operandi of Kioupia. Dinner, at a fixed price, includes a whopping 16 starters and sixmain courses!
The classics that gave Kioupia its good name to begin with are still very good, especially that chunky, smoky eggplant salad.
Much of the food here is rooted in the traditional cuisine of Rhodes, where the owners come from and got their start in the business some 30 years ago. Dodecanese inspired dishes include a delicious pork chop (fileto) where souma meets the southern Dodecanese pasta, makarounes. It’s not quite a dish for 40 degree summer nights in the city, but the weather will change soon enough to make it a must-have. Rhodian trademarks like cookes seskoula and barbounofasoula with plenty of olive oil and rich undertones from the copious amount of onions were delicious.
The fava with caramelized orange wasn’t the best attempt to modernize this taverna luminary that I’ve ever tasted. The soutzoukakia were a little too gentrified for my peasant roots, but good. The melekouni, with its gentle hint of cumin, which is how this Rhodian pasteli is seasoned, is a lovely end to the meal. Unless, after 16 starters and a choice of six main courses, you opt for a few sweet killers, like ice cream with grape spoon sweet and almonds, or samali (delicious).
Would I come back here? Yes, yes, yes. But only after a starvation diet.
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