27 August, 2010

Crepe with Cheese and Pesto

When I went to Patras last month, I ate this crepe.



It was a savoury crepe with cheese, tomato and pesto sauce inside. The combination of crepe and pesto sauce was pretty good.

Just it was too generous in cheese and when I finished it, there was a small ball of cheese left on the plate.

22 August, 2010

Haagen Dazs @ Mikrolimano


[Update 13 April 2014: Haagen Dazs in Mikrolimano does not exist any more]

When we went to Mikrolimano, we found Pesto Italian Restaurant closed. It had opened just last year.

Bahaliko

I think they opened seeing the success of Artisti Maccaroni, but evidently it did not
go well.

Doing business in Mikrolimano is difficult. Restaurants/ Cafes come and go all the time.

We found also new comers. A restaurant called Bahaliko and a Haagen Dazs cafeteria.

Haagen Dazs in Mikrolimano

In Piraeus, there is another Haagen Dazs cafeteria in Marina Zea but this one has better indoor seating area.

Haagen Dazs in Mikrolimano

I ordered this pink stuff. It was a shake of strawberry ice cream and soda water.

Pesto in mikrolimano

It wasn't bad, but it is not what I would like to drink again. At the beginning it was chilly and nice, but then it quickly turned into a gloppy sweet liquid, exactly like a mixture of melted ice cream and soda water.

The frappe was served with small apple pie, which Hubby did not manage to eat, because his (and my) stomach was still full after lunch at Vosporos. A shame.

21 August, 2010

Vosporos @ Mikrolimano

This took place in July.

Hubby and I went to Vosporos, meat grill restaurant in Mikrolimano. Hubby has already been there, but did not like it on that occasion (he said that the rice smelt wrong), but seeing it collecting so much people, I wanted to try it by myself and Hubby agreed to accompany me.



Mikrolimano is famous for fish restaurants, but now that young generation do not like fish so much, the choice was widened and there are also grill restaurants and Italian restaurants.

View from our table.



Well. The sea of the port isn't that great; there always some oil or unwanted objects floating, but as a view, it is beautiful.

The bread was pita. The black stuff is olive paste.



It was just ok. We left most of it, as we had other carbo to deal with.

The starter. Meat rolled in rice crepe.



The sauce was like Chinese sweet chili sauce. If there were not spice in the filling, they would have been like Chinese food. Anyway, they were delicious and made a good companion to chilled beer.

Hubby insisted that he should have fried potato.



As probably you can tell from the photo, these were pretty oily and soggy. They were also expensive for chips.

We shared the main course.



Three kebabs rolled in pizza dough and baked in oven. The kebabs were juicy and nicely smoky. We liked it.

This is a section photo.



In general, the main dishes at Vosporos are very generous in portion. The most popular menu there is Mixed Grill for 2 and serve easily 4 (they let you take out what you could not finish).

I don't remember how much we paid, but definitely less than 40euros (I think it was around 35 with tip, but not sure). The food was reasonably good and, being 'Politiki/Turkish' restaurant, there are interesting items on offer. I would be happy to go back.

Vosporos Grill Restaurant
Akti Koumoundourou 20
Tel. 210-412.7324

15 August, 2010

Hot Dog

It is very hot in Athens these days. The thermometer hits 35C everyday.

In front of the department store Fokas on Ermou Street, near Syntagma Square, I found this dog lying at the entrance.



Do you see what he is doing? He is not simply sleeping, but is cooling down with air-condition. The Greeks rarely interfere with the street dogs, so he can enjoy his nap peacefully.

In many so-called developped countries, using air-conditionning with all the windows and doors open has become a rarity, but not yet so in Greece. I feel guilty when I see it, but evidently the Greeks do not care.

And you say this is a country in economic crisis.

12 August, 2010

Dia Tafta @ Monastiraki

Yesterday, after the work, I felt too lazy to cook, so went with Hubby to eat out in Monastiraki.

In this situation, we usually go to Psirri, but I guessed that many shops in Psyrri are closed in August.

We stopped at Dia Tafta, one of the eateries lining the Adrianou Street between Monastiraki and Thissio.


Dia Tafta

The tap water was provided without request. The bread was round and soft. Not particularly tasty, but it is nice to have change sometimes.



Olives were free bee.



Hubby had a big FIX beer.



It was 4 euros. The smaller jug was 3 euros.

Dia Tafta serves anything Greek, from souvlaki and keftedes to moussaka. Not being so hungry (because I had eaten an entire snicker's ice cream) we chose some mezedes. Prasino salata me ksino mizithra.


Green leaves, strips of dried tomato, dried mizithra cheese, mustardy dressing and pine nuts. 5 euros. Bouyourdi.




We see sometimes dish of this name, but it is different from a shop to another. It is basically feta cheese and veggies cooked in oven. The difference is the vegetables used and the ratio between veggie and feta. This one had nice kick of fresh chili.

5.80 euros.


And deep-fried thrapsala.

There was a choice between karamalakia and thrapsala and we chose the latter. 6.80 euro.



It had a nice bite and we were happy.

The total bill was 23.60euros. Not particularly cheap (don't forget we ate only three small dishes), but for Adrianou in Monastiraki, it wasn't expensive either.

It would be nice place to go with friends.

http://www.diatauta.com/

08 August, 2010

Taverna Diethnes @ Sparta

Another post about Sparta.

Sparta is full of psistaria (grill take away & restaurants) and fast food shops, but there are not as many tavernes and mezedopoleia. On our last visit in January, we miserably failed to find good place to eat and ended up in a fast food shop in the central square called, I think, Mr. Donuts.

This time, I was determined to find nice place to eat and went around all central Sparta, but the choices were strangely narrow. In the end, I entered a rather touristy looking taverna called Diethnes on the central Konstantinos Palaeologos Street.

Diethnes

The name means "International (restaurant)", but in food wise there is nothing international about it; it serves classical Greek food.

Just next to it, there is another taverna called Elysse [sic], but I opted "Diethnes" because it had a garden inside.

Voila!

Garden

Just ordering for one person, my choice was limited. I asked boiled beets (I wanted boiled green, but was exhausted) and a speciality called Roast Pork with Aubergine.

Beets.



It was tangy with vinegar and quite nice, regardless of plastic like look.

This is roast pork with aubergine, which came in a huge serving (so I shared with cats roaming around in the garden).



This dish was excellent. Evidently the pork and aubergine were cooked separately and combined later. I don't think it is difficult to suppose how it tastes once you take a look at the photo. Aubergine was meltingly soft and sweet. I would order it again, when I will be back.

With a bottle of water and bread, the bill was about 13 euros. This pork cost 8 euros, but there are less expensive main dishes.

Checking later Tripadvisor, this taverna is voted the best restaurant in Sparta. I also added a comment there. I am not sure if it is the BEST, but I did liked this place.

Another place I wanted to go, but couldn't was this one.



Mezedopoleio called Ellinion. The food seemed to be good and the price affordable, but, for this time, I really needed to eat in a place where there is English menu. At Ellinion, there is menu, but it is not updated and the owner dictates the menu to you. I spoke with the owner who said to feel uneasy with customers who don't speak Greek. I promised to him I will be back when I visit Sparta for leisure. A pity.

Check also Where to Eat in Sparta on Gate to Greece Website.

07 August, 2010

Spartan Ice Cream

Went to Sparta in later July.

Statue of Leonidas

The above is statue of the legendary Spartan king Leonidas. Obviously it is a modern work. There is almost nothing survived from the golden age of Sparta. The Spartans of Leonidas were only interested in building up strong army, not in constructing beautiful temples or in creating fine arts.

This was my second visit to Sparta, the first one being the one in January this year. Even back then, I was attracted by this sweet shop, but we were not hungry then and it wasn't particularly ice cream friendly weather. So this time I decided not to lose the opportunity.



There isn't huge variety, but there are some interesting choices. The ones I chose were "lemon sorbet and basil" and "diples and honey".



They were slightly too sweet for me (as most of the Greek sweets), but were tasty. One scoop costs only 1.50 euro, which is reasonable for this sort of ice cream in Greece.

When you are in Sparta, I recommend you to try their ice cream. The shop is called Harami (ΧΑΡΑΜΗ) and it is on Lykourgou Street.

04 August, 2010

A Lunch in Piraeus

It has been some time since last time I wrote. I have been busy and anxious so that I could not get around to blog. Rather depressingly, moreover, it turned out that I won't be able to get vacation this year. Although it is not because of something welcoming, it is still depressing.

But, to be honest, I travelled so much in these two months that I am rather tired of going away from home. Maybe it is a good thing. Not going for vacation.

Anyway, I have more time now and will be able to write from time to time.

These are photos I took some weeks ago in the mezedopoleio Geia Mas in Piraeus.

Cold beer for Hubby.



Tzatziki and Gavros Ksidatos.



Horta and Fried Potatoes.



Grilled Squid.



Except for gavros ksidatos (marinated small sardines) which was too salty, everything was fine. The bill was close to 34 euros, which was I think is about right.