02 June, 2009

Being Disappointed in Psyrri

Hubby and I go often to Psyrri for lunch, because it is conveniently located for us who live in Piraeus and it is not so full of tourists as Plaka or Thissio. Well, we have nothing against the tourists. We welcome them. Just, for some reason, we don't feel very comfy eating amongst tourists. We don't know why. Maybe because we feel being ripped off? ha ha ha Just kidding.

It was a very hot Saturday lunch time and we stopped at Taverna tou Psyrri. It is one of the traditional tavernas in Psyrri, and not a trendy new comer. It looked very busy and full of local Athenians.

This restaurant does not have menu, or maybe there is, but no one was using it. You go to the kitchen, see what's on offer listening to waiter's explanation, order what you want to eat and to drink, and wait at table.

Taverna tou Psyrri does not have tables along the street, but has a nice back garden.



We ordered following dishes.

Gida Ragou.



Gida is female goat. We asked our waiter, why it was called 'ragou', because for us ragu is Italian meat sauce. He just said that this way of cooking - stewed with chunky veggies, probably - is called 'ragou'.


Briam.


Briam is oven baked veggies, specialty of Crete.

Horiatiki horis feta.


We don't eat much feta and usually order this salad.

Fried potato.


Why Greek boys want fried potato at each meal except breakfast?


They looked very promising and the portion size was generous (we did not manage to touch the bread), but on tasting them, they were strangely tasteless. If tasteless is too strong a word, they all lacked in flavour. Even veggie in the salad did not have much taste (and I am not speaking about salt, which was provided on the table). The best of the batch was the goat dish, but still it did not have the strong flavour that we expect from goat on bones.

With a bottle of beer and a bottle of water, the bill came to 26.10euros. It wasn't expensive, but for the same price we could have eaten better either at Nikitas or at Naxos. We were very disappointed, probably more so because everything looked promising.

Taverna tou Psyrri / Ταβέρνα του Ψυρρή
12 Eschylou, Psyrri



To make up for my disappointment, I had a gelato at Mattonella in Monastiraki Square.



Cassata ice cream.


This is my third gelato at Mattonella; I would love to try their cakes next time.

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