Serkos kai ta Tessera Asteria (Serkos and the Four Stars).
What first caused my desire was that it calls itself an Armenian restaurant. I am very curious about the cuisine of unknown countries. But then I learnt that the Armenian cuisine - at least the one that served in Greece - is very close to Turkish cuisine and my curiosity weakened. On the second phase, this place was recommended by someone I know as one of the best kebab restaurants in Athens, so my desire continued.
It did not look particularly great from outside, and also inside is an average taverna standard with some Armenian decorations.
Although we did not have reservation, could find a table without problem, BECAUSE it was almost 4 o'clock. My experience told me that even at the busiest restaurants, we can find a table if it is 4 o'clock and indeed that was why I did not worry about reserving a table. But if you want to eat at normal meal hours, reservation is very much recommended, as it is not a big restaurant, especially in winter when it is too cold to eat al fresco.
There were a couple of large groups and most of the people looked frequent visitors.
The appetizers were brought to us on a large serving plate and we could choose whatever we liked. You have to be careful when you pick them up, as price is rather high (I will tell you later).
Then, the waiter asked up what main dish we wanted without telling us what they have. Having asked by GH, he orally listed the choices. But I requested the menu and I did well, as the menu describes each dishes.
The huge brown ball is their bread. This is an obligatory order and was pretty good.
GH picked up dormades yalantzi. The vine leaves were fragrant and the rice was nicely minty. Curiously the rice was sweet, as if it was sugared (maybe it was actually). We liked them. 5.50 Euro. OK. Not cheap, but many tavernas charge as much.
I picked up aubergine with tomato sauce. Aubergine had caramelized sweetness. OK, they were tasty, but 5 Euro for 4 slices of aubergine? 1.25 Euro for a slice?
Then GH complained (to me, not to the restaurant) that he had to have tzatziki to be able to eat that bread. I though the bread was nice enough on its own, but he did it in his own way.
Good tzatziki, 4 Euro. Tasted fresh.
This is GH's cheese kebab.
Very good kebab, although I would prefered without cheese (but who cares, as it was not my choice). 12 Euro (tzatziki on the plate was not included).
I ordered chicken sis kebab (10 Euro).
This was superb. The chicken breast can easily overcooked and dry, but these morsels were still moist and so soft. I was very happy.
Although we were full, we could not resist from ordering a kunefe when we saw it on other tables.
Kunefe is freshly baked kataifi with yellow cheese filling. This one was not too sweet and we could almost finish it to our surprise. Unfortunately GH did not like the ice cream as it was mastiha flavoured (he refused to eat even the part of kunefe 'contaminated' by mastiha!). Degenerated Greek he is.
I think the kunefe costs 5.50 Euro, but they did not charge us.
With a half liter of red wine and a big bottle of water, the bill came to 43.50 Euro. They did not give us the receipt, but we could not demand as they offered the dessert. It was an embarrassing situation.
If we paid for the dessert and paid the normal bill, the meal would have cost us 50 Euro together with tip. Expensive? Yes, a bit, but if you know that you won't get disappointed, probably you won't care. My belief is that 30 Euro disappointing meal is more expensive than 50 Euro satisfying meal, as far as you can afford it.
Serkos kai ta Tessera Asteria
Zepou & Xenofontos 28, Glyfada
Tel: 210 9649 553
Fax: 210 963 4920
Σέρκος και τα Τέσσερα Αστέρια
Zέπου και Ξενοφώντος , Γλυφάδα
Τηλ: 210 9649 553
Fax: 210 963 4920
http://www.serkos-glyfada.com/
