Oroscopo restaurant: Simple quality that pleases

Oroscopo

Address – Area: Antinoros 42-44, Kessariani, Athens, 210-72.38.567
Latest Visit: 2014-01-27
Cuisine: Italian / Greek, Pizza
Overall Opinion: Positive
Methods of payment: cash, Visa, MasterCard, Diners, AmericanExpress
Working hours: 12:00 – 01:30
Website: www.oroscopo.gr

Presentation / Ambience: Initially a classic Greek-style pizzeria that has expanded its menu in recent years and offers extremely good value for money. During spring / summer you may get an outdoor table facing the small square next to Divani Caravel Hotel. Indoors, a simple, square hall with about 20 tables (non-smoking) and another 7  tables at the patio upstairs. Thanks to the big glass façade they all have view to the square outside. Very popular with people staying in nearby hotels (often for business) and with locals (I've been here on business lunches quite a few times). Simple, very well-cooked food. Somewhat austere, neutral, but also very clean, surroundings. It has something of the atmosphere of a Greek diner in the US. If I had to sum it all up in one phrase I'd say that it's a place which impresses with its simplicity and honesty. It's for places like this one that I continue writing this blog even when my mind is some place else...

Food / Drinks: I have dined here several times in the past 5 years and always left with good impressions. You may find pizzas, home-made pasta with a recently (2014) expanded menu of offerings, Greek / Italian appetizers (hot and cold), a Greek-type burger that is tasty, fresh and very filling, salads, risotto and, when available, fresh fish. The ravioli with porcini mushrooms and truffle paste we recently tried (a new dish) had a really exquisite taste while the cornetti filled with beef ragu and parmesan sauce were tasty and filling too. Among the appetizers we recently tasted we liked both the grilled pleurotus mushrooms and the grilled talagani cheese w/ tomato and pine nuts. If we had to change anything we would have liked some dishes to be a tad warmer but that didn't detract from our overall pleasure. We also liked both deserts (a chocolate tart and a tiramisu) but differed on which one was best!

They have a small selection of reasonably priced Greek wines and 4 "house wines" which are not some anonymous liquid, like in so many other places, but come from a known winery (Lafazanis) and are of specific varietals. The white house wines are Malagouzia and Moschofilero, two of the most popular and versatile Greek wine grapes.

Prices:

-Bread & dips for two, 2 hot appetizers, 2 pasta dishes and 1/2 litre of Malagouzia white wine, cost around 40€ in 2014 (sorry, I don't remember the exact prices). And we were offered leek soup, farewell drink (limoncello or mastich) and deserts, on the house!

Service: Fast, attentive and discreet at the same time. On our last visit we tried a special (a free offer) that they had in order to introduce their new pasta offerings. Not only were we treated with utmost respect but on top we were offered a leek-soup as a starter and a farewell drink and desert, all on the house! That alone says it all. They try to win their customers through their service and not just make a quick buck off of you. It's no accident they've been around since 1981!

Location / Getting there: Practically next-door to Caravel Hotel (at the square right before it) and less than 100 yards from the Athens Hilton.

If you take the Metro, get off at Evangelismos Station. Walk along Vas. Sofias Avenue towards the Hilton and turn right on Vas. Alexandrou St., right before the Hilton. 

Walk along Vas. Alexandrou St. towards Caravel Hotel and turn right on Antinoros St. You will see Oroscopo facing the small square. 

See map of Athens restaurants at the bottom of this page. 

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Vlassis: a 30-year old restaurant tradition that still delivers

Vlassis
Address – Area: 15 Maiandrou St., [Ilissia neighborhood] Athens,
Tel: 210-72.56.335
Last Visits: Sep. 2010, Apr. 2013, Sep. 2013
Cuisine: Greek; some hints of orient and various fish options, when available
Overall Opinion: Positive / room for improvement in service and prices.
Methods of payment: cash only
Working hours: Mon-Sat, 1:00pm - 00:30am. Sun: 1:00pm – 5:00pm
Website: http://www.vlassisrestaurant.gr/
Accessibility: 1-2 small stairs to the tables' level; WC is downstairs, non-accessible.

Vlassis is tucked in a pedestrian road parallel to Michalakopoulou St., and right across the Crowne Plaza Hotel, hidden behind a mini, narrow park. You can be seated in three separate areas: At the sidewalk in front of the park, at the patio right outside the restaurant’s window and indoors. The indoor hall has large window panels for an unobstructed view outside and two of the three walls have posters from older theater and film productions. There are about 30 tables overall. This is the 3rd different location of Vlassis in its more than 30 years (and two generations) of operation.

This obviously says something about the quality of food served here. You can't stay in business that long without doing something good. I've never had something I didn't like here and quite often I've been thrilled with the food.
Appetizers cost around 5-10 Euros while main courses start from 10-11Euros.  We've had a phenomenal stuffed squid (yemisto kalamari) here, full of fresh sea-smell, tenderness and juices. I've also made a note of the eggplant (and potato?) purée accompanying the tas-kebab, which had an exotic cinnamon-tomato flavor and was very tender. The beef in the pastitsada could have been a bit more tender. Every time I've had fish here it's been absolutely fresh, tasty and well-grilled. I've also very much liked the Athinaiki salad, which is of the "Macedonian/Russian" or "potato-salad" variety: White Grouper fish in a thick, mayonnaise based sauce and greens.
From past evenings, I remember a waiter coming out with a large platter full of mezedes (appetizers) so you can pick whatever suits your fancy and then order the main dishes, without feeling hungry during the waiting. I'm not sure if they still do that but I liked the concept.

Indicative orders (for 2 persons)

1 stuffed squid	1 fava beans purée
1 dolmades w/ vine leaves	1 Athinaiki salad w/ white grouper fish
1 tas-kebab [beef accompanied with eggplant (and potato?) purée]	1 White Grouper fish (sfyrida)
1 pastitsada (beef cooked in tomato sauce accompanied by penne pasta)	1 Seabream fish (sargos)
1 1 lt-bottle of water	1 bottled water
½ lt of red house wine	2 cans of Coke
2 bread	2 bread
Price: 52.95€ (9/2010)	Price: 61.20€ (9/2013)

Drink-wise, there's an interesting wine list of about 40 Greek wines and a house wine that is unusually decent. There's a limited selection of the usual mass lagers and a couple of ouzo / tsipouro offerings.

The service is fast but let’s just say that not everybody from the personnel seems to be aware of the concept of smiling… Also, make sure you ask for the menu and prices, especially of fish, because it's not always readily available and fish prices are per kilogram so you may be in for a surprise if you don't do that.

Location / Getting there: Right across the street from Crowne Plaza – Athens City Centre Hotel, which itself is located at 50 Michalakopoulou St. This is much easier to spot than the narrow Maiandrou St. where Vlassis is located.
The closest Metro Station is Megaro Mousikis on Line 3. Getting out of the station, from the side of Aiginitio / Alexandras Hospital take Dionysiou Aiginitou St. and turn right, after 3 blocks, on Meandrou St.
Buses 3, 7, 8, 13, 220, 608, 225 also reach nearby bus stops at either Vasilissis Sofias Ave. (Ilissia bus stop) or Michalakopoulou street (Ag. Haralambos bus stop).

See map of Athens restaurants at the bottom of this page. 

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Oinopoleio: A small gem of a restaurant in Psirri neighbourhood

Oinopoleio cookhouse

Oinopoleion: A cook-house / tavern in Psyrri neighborhood, Athens, Greece

Located right near Plateia Iroon, the central square of the Psirri neighborhood (an Athens entertainment hub), Oinopoleio is a small restaurant / cook-house that offers great value for money. We've dined here twice in the past year and loved the food and the service both times. So, I sat down with owner Maria Markou the other day, and she explained to me the long history of this small establishment and how it manages to stay fresh and satisfy people for 85 years in a row! 

It all started in the end of the 19th century, with great-granfather Spyridon Markou cultivating vineyards (and producing wine) in the Mesogaia area, east of Athens, near the current airport. Wanting to bring his wine directly to his customers, he made use of a building in the Athens area of Psirri, in 1928, to establish a cook-house / wine-selling place (which is what Oinopoleio stands for). 

The rustic origins of the place are reflected in its traditional Greek cuisine, the semi-open kitchen, the wooden tables and plaid tablecloths and the overall decoration, even though, as Maria confided to me, "I just brought in some artist friends who did their best to suppress their modernist tendencies and we painted over the whole place, by ourselves". The photographs on the wall are of some old winery equipment, while the walls in the cellar downstairs are partly lined with bottles. Talking about the cellar, there are 4 distinct areas to sit: the small pavement outdoors (ideal for the summer and for soaking in the neighborhood's pleasant atmosphere), the main hall (also open to the street), a more peaceful back-yard and the non-smoking cellar downstairs (used in the winter) with a total of about 25-30 tables.

Oinopoleio restaurant, Psirri, Athens: "Secret Garden" in the backyard.

There's live music every Friday and Saturday, after 9:00pm during the summer, while Thursday and Friday are added in the music schedule in the winter. Thursday features traditional Greek songs ("dimotika"), Friday is the day for "rembetika" (of the more "hard-core", up to 1940, variety), Saturday features a more mainstream programme of popular-folk Greek music while Sunday is open for surprises. "I'm very proud of our music schedule and the musicians we bring in", Maria told me, and I recall the real party atmosphere on the Saturday evening we had sat here. If you are thinking of going to one of the music tavern's in Plaka for the music, I seriously suggest changing course and coming here instead.

Oinopoleio cookhouse: Interior of a really old Athens tavern, in operation since 1928 but recently renovated.

Food / Drinks: You will find various traditional Greek dishes served here, but not in the "lazy" , "touristy" way served in some other places. The menu changes often, depending on Maria's ideas and what she discovers in the local market. "I'm quite intrusive in the kitchen and my cooks can barely stand me", she jokes. Of the dishes we've had, I particularly recall "eggs purgatorio" (scrambled eggs with tomato sauce), "horta epohis" (season greens), "bouyourdi" (oven baked feta cheese w/ vegetables), feta baked w/ sesame, and grilled pleurotous mushrooms, among the appetizers. From the main dishes I mostly liked the "kleftiko" (oven-cooked lamb w/ vegetables, wrapped and served in baking paper) and I'm still drooling over the "arnaki tsigariasto" (lamb bites, slowly cooked in the pot with olive oil and some sauce).

Oinopoleio cookhouse: Interior or a really old Athens tavern. The semi-open kitchen provides transparency into the whole operation and lets you take a look at the food offered behind the glass, before you order

Wine comes from the family's own vineyards and winery (run by another sibling) and will nicely complement your dinner at an affordable price. Markou Wines offers a white made of the local Savatiano varietal w/ Chardonnay, a Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot blend and a Cabernet Sauvignon blanc de noir among others. 

Beer is allowed in the premises and comes in the form of Fix lager, draft Kaiser pils, Paulaner weiss and Murphy's stout.

As far as service is concerned, we were impressed both times, in every respect. I only need to mention how they stuck to their non-smoking policy for the cellar, even when some smoking customers appeared and asked to be seated, essentially losing 6 clients for that evening which is a most unusual behavior for Greece. If you come in the winter and want to dine in the non-smoking cellar make sure to call in advance.

A baby chair, we noticed, was also available which is also a rarity.

Oinopoleio cookhouse: An Athens tavern, operating since 1928, in the hands of the 4^th generation of the Markou family. 

Getting there shouldn't be hard: Get off the Metro at either Monastiraki or Thission Metro Stations (Line 1). From Monastiraki Station head into the narrow alleys of Psirri following Miaouli St. which leads to a small square (Plateia Iroon). Walk on past the square for another 30 meters and you'll see Oinopoleio to your right, tucked in a small restaurant row, at 12 Aischyllou St., among other food establishments. 

Address – Area: 12 Aischylou (a.k.a. Eschilou) St., [Psirri neighborhood], Athens
Tel: 213-008.1461
Last Visit(s): 2013-05-11, 2012-02-03
Cuisine: Traditional Greek, with intelligence
Working Hours: Tue-Fri: 6:00pm till late night, Sat-Sun: noon till late night, Mon:closed
Accessibility: No
E-mail: oinopoleion.cookhouse@gmail.com 
Prices: A full-course dinner for two w/ wine cost us 60€, while, on a separate occasion, a filling dinner with various courses for 6 persons (3 men-3 women), w/ wine, cost us 113€.
Payment: Mastercard, Visa, Diners, Maestro

See map of Athens restaurants at the bottom of this page. 

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To Kafeneio: Another Plaka restaurant presentation

To Kafeneio

Address-Area: 1 Epiharmou St. [Plaka neighbourhood], Athens
Tel: 210-32.46.916
Last Visit: 2012-03-24
Cuisine: Greek, traditional with a twist
Overall opinion: Positive / neutral
Methods of payment: cash / credit; Visa, AmEx, Mastercard, Diners
Working hours: Open from 09:30 for coffee. Restaurant hours: 11:30am - 01:00am (call for reservation, esp. for Friday night or Saturday)
Website: www.tokafeneio.gr
Accessibility: Only the outdoor tables on the pedestrian street (it has a slight downward slope); WC only accessible by walking downstairs

Indicative order:
Eggplant rolls (bourekia melitzanas)
Grilled feta cheese (saganaki) sprinkled with honey
Mushrooms (manitaria tou oneirou)
Kavourmas (meat dish w/ tomato sauce)
Meatballs with red curry sauce (Keftedakia tou Nikou)
Chocolate Fruit Passion w/ strawberry 
Kormos sokolatas (chocolate with biscuit "mosaic")
1/2 litre of aged Agiorgitiko wine
Bread for 2
Price: 40.10Euros (around 20€/person, incl. dessert)

Presentation / Ambience: Housed in an old coffee-shop (hence the name “kafeneio”) built of stone and wood, with tables laid out at levels, in one small hall, indoors. Old wooden furniture and decorations create a folkloric atmosphere. Some extra lighting inside would have been welcome. There are about 6 tables outdoors, in the calm, sloping, pedestrian street. They don’t have much of a view, except for a peek-through at the Scholarhio tavern across the corner on the busy, pedestrian, Tripodon St.  

Overall it is an interesting case of a restaurant, not only for the architecture of the building and for serving as a coffee place in the mornings but also for its efforts in the food and wine department.

Beautiful table-top tile decoration, Kafeneio restaurant - Athens

Food / Drinks: Overall food quality is very good here and the chef does not seem to be afraid to stray a little from the standard Greek fare, although the restaurant is located in the heart of the country’s tourist zone. We love the Indian-influenced, red curry-sauce meatballs and the armyrikia greens which are really hard to find. We also liked the kavourmas dish which is a traditional combination of “cheap” cuts from (mainly) beef and lamb, made extra tasty by cooking in a red tomato sauce, sprinkled with grated feta cheese, parsley and spices. The chocolate fruit passion dessert was excellent (and I don’t even like strawberry!) but the “kormos sokolatas” and a cappuccino coffee (we’ve had it on a separate occasion) are the only unremarkable items we’ve come across here, in the otherwise excellent diners we’ve had.

The owners make an effort to incorporate organic ingredients in their kitchen.

Wine-wise, this is one of the few tavern-restaurants that seem to actually care about wine, offering several options of wine in the carafe, with the name of each chateau / variety displayed in the menu, instead of the generic “house wine” label found elsewhere. They also age some barrels of wine in their own cellar and there’s a small number of interesting, Greek wine bottles.

Unfortunately, they don’t seem to hold the same high regard for beer.

Service: We haven't encountered any problems here nor have we noticed anything we didn't like.

Location / Getting there: In the middle of the Plaka neighborhood, across the street from the perennial “Scholarchio” which I have also presented in the past. Syntagma, Monastiraki and Acropolis Metro stations are at about equal distance. You pick a map and you walk, trying to find the corner of Tripodon St. and Epicharmou St.. To Kafeneio is the only establishment at the small, pedestrian Epiharmou St.

To Kafeneio business card

The comparison with the nearby Scholarchio tavern is inevitable, so there you have it in brief: To Kafeneio is a bit more expensive (but not too much), and its food is generally more imaginative while it has a good wine selection. Ambience-wise, it is more quiet and the service seems to be more up to today’s standards. On the other hand, Scholarchio has a slightly better view, and looks busier (it has more tables). The food is more “traditional”, typical Greek; it's OK but not to get wild about. Its small menus give you the chance to sample various Greek dishes for a low price.

See map of Athens restaurants at the bottom of this page.

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Greek Salad Alert!

We interrupt this staycation / vacation to bring you a special food bulletin! As I've told you before, I never write a restaurant presentation if I haven't visited a place at least twice. However, some small exceptions may be in line, and this is one of them. I know that the so-called "Greek salad" -we call it horiatiki (village salad)- is at the top of many people's gastronomic checklist when visiting Greece. However, as it's something of a summer staple many restaurant owners don't pay much attention to it and finding a Greek salad that goes above average is a real challenge. 

Well, to make a long story short, last night we just had the best Greek salad we've ever had in Athens and one of the top three ever. The people responsible for this can be found at Melilotos restaurant, in the heart of Athens, not far from the Monastiraki area. The salad we had is a rather bold variation of the typical Greek salad but it stays clearly within the range of what one might expect of it. Its ingredients were tomatos, cucumbers, small black olives (but not Kalamata olives), a very discreet amount of spring onions, a sweetened balsamic vinegar from the area of Zitsa / Ioannina (mostly known for its white sparkling wine), some crunchy lasagna leaves(!) from the island of Chios, xinomyzithra cheese (instead of the typical feta) and (another surprise) fresh spearmint leaves that blend surprisingly well and add an extra flavor to the mix!

Melilotos is located at 19 Kalamiotou St., Athens. It's very close to Kapnikarea church at Ermou St. and not far from Monastiraki (and Syntagma) Metro Stations. I'll make a fuller presentation in the future (after a second visit) but for the moment I think I've given you enough of a motive to visit it.

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Vassilenas: Thoughts and impressions from a great restaurant (*2017 update)

Vassilenas

Address – Area: 13 Vrassida St (Hilton Hotel area), Athens
Tel: 210-72.10.501
Last Visits: 2017-07-29, 2012-07-05
Cuisine: Modern Greek, Seafood
Overall Opinion: Very positive.
Methods of payment: MasterCard, Visa, American Express, cash
Working Hours: Mon-Sat: 1:00pm-1:00am
Website:  http://www.vassilenas.gr/
Accessibility: ?

(*)Update 2017: The address above is the new address of Vassilenas, after they have relocated from their traditional Piraeus address where they operated for almost a hundred years! The impressions below are from their old location (72 Etolikou St., Piraeus, tel: 210-46.12.457) which is still in operation but is now called "1920" (or "Vassilenas 1920") and has a more traditional twist, while the new Athens location continues in the modernist path of recent years. We went to the old (Piraeus) Vassilenas restaurant on 29 July 2017 and were once again very satisfied with the 25€ menu, yet not impressed. Maybe it was the relative absence of clients in this late July evening or the knowledge that the "real" restaurant has moved and this is now a side-project (for how long?) or whatever. To make a long story short, I no longer see a reason for foreign visitors to get out of their way and go to Piraeus (unless they somehow stay nearby) but I would still definitely recommend going to the Athens location, even if I haven't checked it myself yet.

Indicative prices:

Their 2012 tasting menu features 10 different items (served in 8 dishes) with a very affordable price of 30 Euros. Main dishes ordered a la carte cost around 15Euros while appetizers range from 5.5 to 13Euros. You can see their full menu, including the degustation menu in the restaurant's website.

Presentation / Ambience: An old-time Piraeus (and Athens) tradition, which has hosted from Holywood stars to foreign dignitaries on visit to Greece. The current owners belong to the 3^rd generation of the Vassilenas family and have managed to not only live up to their family tradition but also take their restaurant to a new level. It is a favorite among foodies and it’s constantly ranked in the Top 10 Athens restaurants by the local Athinorama magazine. I will say it straight and right from the start: Vassilenas probably offers the best value for money among all restaurants in the greater Athens area. It’s not located in a touristy or even popular area (same location since it first opened 90 years ago) but a trip here won’t be something you’ll regret (and it’s not actually hard to find – read below).

During the summer it's operating in an open terrace, with pergolas and plants providing optical cover from the surrounding apartment buildings. Various fans send their much welcome breeze down to you and tables are quite well placed and spaced so you don't feel pressed together with other patrons like in most Greek restaurants. Lighting is a bit dim in some tables, brighter in others. In the winter, the indoor hall is much brighter, with windows facing the narrow, uninspiring Piraeus streets outside, so little curtains are again used as partial optical covers. Perhaps a bit less spacious than the summer terrace.

Dress-code is surprisingly simple, perhaps thanks to the restaurant's humble beginnings as a tavern. I've seen everything from people with professional clothing to summer-chic attire to 20-somethings dressed in jeans or other casual clothing. Just wear something decent that you feel comfortable in.

Food / Drinks: They have pioneered (in Greece) the concept of offering a dégustation menu (a.k.a. tasting menu) since the first days of operation, which probably helps a lot in keeping the bill at very reasonable levels without any compromise of quality. Their dishes are all modern variations of Greek cuisine, with an emphasis on seafood, often employing modern / French culinary techniques. Relax though, as the chef is not here to "experiment" with you or to show off  for the shake of showing off. Dishes often "explode" with smells and tastes and the true nature of their prime ingredients comes through with each bite. On occasion, they have wine pairing menus, in association with Greek wineries. These dates are also posted on their website, but unless you're a big fan of wines I would suggest you try their regular tasting menu which is more  tilted to seafood. Of course, they also have a regular menu a la carte. Some courses that have particularly impressed me this year were the tomato gazpacho with herbs and yogurt, the pumpkin soup, their tender, fresh and tasty grilled calamari, their marinated small fish, and the cod fish filet tempura with beetroots and aioli (don't miss it if it's offered), the pancetta and its accompanying crispy polenta (I can still "taste" this 2 weeks after my last visit!), as well as the deliciously fresh beef burger with beetroot ketchup and celeriac chips. Oh, and I almost forgot their "kritharoto": an original variation of risotto made not with rice but with orzo (kritharaki in Greek) which is rice-shaped pasta, with mushrooms and truffle oil.
Their wine list is medium sized but very good, with emphasis on Greek wines, and the prices again reasonable. Various options for wine by the glass is a big plus. Unfortunately, no beer list worth mentioning.

Service / Ambience: Very good impressions every time we've come here. Waiters are very effective and discrete. A touch of formality occasionally but no sign of snootiness or associated attitudes.

 

Location / Getting there: If you find yourselves at Piraeus Metro Station (terminal station of Metro Line 1, by the port) it’s very easy to either take a taxi or walk (about 20 min. walk) towards Vassilenas. As you get out of the Metro Station, facing the sea, turn right and walk up to the far corner (100m.), then turn left and (having the port on your left hand side) walk another 200m where Aitolikou Street starts. Turn right in Aitolikou St. and walk along for 10minutes, till no. 72. The entrance for the summer terrace is on your right hand side at Vitolion St. and you walk up the stairs.

See map of Athens restaurants at the bottom of this page.

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Raeti - Authentic Cretan cuisine in Athens (updated 2014-11)

Raeti

Address – Area: 18 Amaliados St., [Ambelokipi district] Athens

Tel: 210-64.28.206, 210-64.28.200

Last visit: 2012-06-08

Cuisine: Cretan Greek / traditional

Overall Opinion: Positive and reasonably priced.
Working hours: Tue-Sun noon to late evening (closed on Mondays)

Methods of payment: cash

Website: N/A

Our order (2 persons):

1 rabbit stew w/ rice (lagos stifado),

1 zygouri vrasto me makaronia (boiled lamb or sheep w/ pasta)

1 marathopita (fennel pie)

1 pita tou voskou (shepherd’s pie, with cheese)

2 cans of Coke

1 500ml bottle of Kaiser beer

2 bread

The bill: 33.50€

Appetizer prices range from 2.50€ to 8.00€ and almost all main courses cost 7-8€.

Presentation / Ambience: A small neighborhood restaurant (about a dozen tables) serving traditional cuisine from the island of Crete. You may have a hard time spotting it from the outside: a large map of Crete features on the board above the entrance. Inside it’s brick walls, mostly wooden furniture and Cretan decorations, including framed mantinades and words of great Cretan author Nikos Kazantzakis [check out his books at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk].

The menu is only in Greek but during the day (lunch hours) the owners’ son can help you out with your order. As is often the case, the food is kept in pans behind a glass window (to your right as you enter) so you also have the option of pointing things out. It caters mostly to locals and those few Athenians that are in the know; from college students to area employees and everyone in between. It’s much busier during the winter, or when the whether is cold or rainy, as there’s no outside seating available. In these cases, it might be prudent to make a reservation. By the way, “Raeti” stands for hospitality, in the Cretan dialect.

Food / Drinks: The food here is always well-cooked, with good quality meats and as close to authentic Cretan cuisine as you can find in Athens. Portions, especially salads and main courses are quite large. The zygouri is lamb or sheep in its second-year of life, which, when properly treated and cooked like it is here, doesn’t smell like sheep. On top, all meats we’ve ever tried here were very tender. The zygouri was accompanied by pasta, sprinkled with grated myzithra cheese; it is also available in cooked tomato sauce. The stifado was very soft and mellow and served with rice; you may ask for potatoes or fries instead. If you’re the adventurous type you may want to try the well-known Cretan delicacy of “hohlee boubouristi” (boiled snails) but I haven’t mustered the courage to eat snails yet! For something more mainstream but super tasty try the apaki, which is smoked pork cut in small bites. Both pies were full of flavor, crispy-fried and not oily at all.

Drink-wise, expect only the typical lager beers found in most restaurants and a minimal list of wines. I’d go for the acceptable house wine.

Service: Very fast and helpful, with Cretan no-nonsense attitude :)

Location / Getting there: 3 minutes from the Ampelokipoi Metro Station. You walk towards Panormou St. and turn left (walking uphill on Panormou). You then turn right at Amaliados and walk 100m to discover Raeti on your right hand side. 

See map of Athens restaurants at the bottom of this page.

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Food in Athens (an ever-expanding food and restaurant guide)

In case you haven't noticed, this past Sunday I uploaded a new section titled "Food in Athens" (see tab above). That's where you will be able to find a brief description of the food scene in Greece, and Athens in particular, a list (continuously expanding and updated) of restaurants in various Athens neighborhoods and a map of the restaurants presented in AthensWalker. 

Kali orexi! (Bon Appetit!)

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My restaurant presentation policy

I'm in the middle of a restaurant presentation spree (many more to come during the summer months) and I thought it was about time I let you know how I approach this... delicate issue. In other words, here's my policy for writing restaurant reviews / presentations in the AthensWalker blog:

How do I decide to write about a restaurant?

• First of all, I have to like it and to believe that it offers some value to foreign visitors. Writing negative presentations would certainly be much more fun... (I'm keeping notes on those too) but this would only end up being grey advertising  and add useless clutter to the blog.
• All the restaurants mentioned here have been visited at least twice by me (with wife and friends, etc.) unless otherwise mentioned. The only exceptions being a handful of very expensive places I can't afford to visit often.
• I also ask the opinions of people I trust and whose tastes are similar to mine. I scour the web, Greek newspapers and travel guides for clues and ideas, but I never ever copy or plagiarize their material. That would just be sleazy and unethical!
• I prefer to focus on restaurants that have been around for quite some time. Not only are they tried and tested but they are also more likely to still be in business a few years down the road. On top of that, I time my different visits to the same restaurant so that there's a sufficient time span between them.
• I understand the need to focus on restaurants in or near city center but I also want to make you travel further out (in Athens or its suburbs) and try some places that are worth your time.

What about my relations with restaurants and food joints?

• First of all, they have to abide to the criteria above.
• All my reviews are first-hand and unbiased. 
• So far, I've never asked for compensation for reviewing a restaurant. If I change my mind and policy I will make sure to clearly state it.
• I've never told anyone, even afterwards, that I will be writing about them, with a couple of exceptions that clearly state it. The main reason being I don't like being bugged when I'm eating! That is the reason you will rarely find pictures from inside a restaurant, or only basic ones (hastily taken with a cell-phone). I'm toying with the idea of changing policy, since some nice photos certainly add a lot to a blog post, but I don't want to compromise the blog's integrity. I might just try to be sneakier with the camera :)

If you have a blog / site doing restaurant reviews how do you approach the issue? If you're simply here looking for a nice restaurant in Athens, would you mind if I changed something in the policy above? Either way, I'd appreciate it if you let me know of your views and opinions.

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Peynirli Ionias - A Greek style fast-food / pizza place

Following my walk along Alexandras Avenue in April (part 1, part 2), I'll be presenting some interesting food spots, all near Alexandras and the Ambelokipi area. The first one is an inconspicuous, little place that offers a unique variety of Greek snack food and should be as much of interest to foreign visitors as it is to Greeks. It is called Peynirli  (pronounced pain-eer-lee) Ionias (of Ionia). Peynirli is a Turkish word for "with cheese" and it refers to a turkish-style pizza that Greeks from Asia Minor (a.k.a. Ionia) have brought to current Greece when they came here in 1922 (remember the post on Alexandras' refugee houses...?). So, I paid them a visit, my hands tied with a camera, and they were kind enough to let me take some pictures while going about their daily business.

Totaly inconspicuous from the outside: Peynirli Ionias at 3 Panormou St.

Peynirli Ionias
Address – Area: 3 Panormou St., [Ambelokipi neighborhood], Athens
Tel: 210-64.62.854
Cuisine: Greek / oriental snack food / bakery
Methods of payment: cash
Working hours: Mon-Sat 9:00-16:00
Accessibility: 2 stairs to enter.

Presentation / Ambience: You enter and join the small queue. As you wait you can take a peak at the pizzas, peynirlis, etc. which are placed in large baking pans in front of you, continuously being refilled with more stuff coming out of the non-stop working oven. 

Waiting in line

Wall painting of a bakery - in the folk Greek art tradition

You pick what you'd like to have and sometimes it's reheated in the oven for you, for a couple of minutes. There are no tables here as this is basically a take-out joint but there’s a small wooden bench to the right, where you can have your food standing, especially the messier types that risk staining your hands and clothes. At the top of the wall, above the oven, you can see a wall painting reminiscent of Peynirli's origins.

Preparation phase...

Toppings and more...

Small pizzas to the right, peynirlis to the left...

...and some more...

Right into the oven!

There you are!

...and some plain pieces of dough

Food / snacks: The peynirli – a boat-shaped dough, made on the premises starting each morning – is filled with various toppings (kasseri cheese, bacon, green peppers, ham, onions, mushrooms, etc) and is the main product sold here. Sometimes Greeks buy just the dough and take it home to make their own pizzas, or as bread. There are also many other shapes of dough that come with different fillings or toppings: a doughy bun filled with sausage, mustard and tomato sauce; small sandwich–type buns filled with grilled vegetables and feta cheese, in various combinations; small pizzas of the typical, round-shaped type which contain less bread than the peynirli (ask to have it cut in 4 slices). Finally, there’s ladopita: a simple baked bread, topped with oil, oregano and salt. Very tasty, easy to eat while walking and costing just 1Euro. Overall, prices range from 1 to 3Euros.

The boat-shaped peynirlis are placed in baking pans in front of you

Sandwich shaped buns, filled with feta cheese and grilled vegetables

Ladopita: The simplest "pie" possible: Baked dough with  oil, salt and oregano.

Service: What you’d expect from a fast-food place. Fast and simple.

Location / Getting there: Panormou St. is vertical to Alexandras Ave. and Peynirli is located just 20metres off the corner with Alexandras; on your left hand side as you walk up. Also, just 50metres from Ambelokipi Metro Station.

See map of Athens restaurants and eateriss at the bottom of this page.

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