Fishαλίδα @ Pagkrati

[Update 13 April 2014: This venue does not exist anymore. It is now an Italian restaurant called Vespa Rossa].

We visited yesterday Fishαλίδα - that I would call a "seafood mezedopoleio"; not really either psarotaverna or fish restaurant.

It is only a few minutes walk from Evangelismos Metro station, if you don't lose your way.

I did not lost my way thanks to the GPS of my smartphone, but I did miss the entrance. I say an entrance, but it took some time to ascertain this is THE entrance to Fishαλίδα because there is no sign near the door.

When we arrived at 8:30, there was only another couple dining and we could choose wherever we liked. We got the table inside the restaurant, but there are some tables outside along the road.

The menu is exclusively seafood. Many mezedes and various main dishes. There are some choices of big fish, but I don't think it is not the restaurant wants to sell.

It was another hot day and we wanted to eat something light. So we went for some small dishes.

Here are the obligatory order of bread and olives. Both quite good. Be warned however that the bread costs 2 Euro per person (let's not think it is price for bread, but is a cover charge including bread).

Here is fava (yellow split pea paste) served with chopped onions and sliced fennel pickles (5 euro).

Probably it was not bad, but having eaten recently such a good fava at Vatrahos, this one was rather disappointing to me.

Here is Fishαλίδα salad. Mixed Green salad leaves and flakes of boiled cod. 8 Euro.

The green was nice and different, but cod was not adding anything being totally tasteless. Not successful.

Smoked mackerel with lentils and cucumber. 5 Euro.

Combination of lentils and smoked mackerel was a good idea. The problem - I thought - was that the mackerel wasn't good enough. Unfortunately the cucumber was not adding crunchiness that would be nice if there had been.

Hand-cut fried potatoes. 3 Euro.

Oil was stale. Total fail.

Fried baby squids. 6 Euro.

Again, the oil was not good and the squids were tasteless. If I put this stuff into my mouth without seeing it, I would not tell what it was.

Although we were full at this point, we dared to order a dessert: millefeuille.

It is not the millefeuille I know, but I have impression that the meaning of millefeuille was somewhat forgotten. Anyway, it was nice. If there were some slices of fruits, that would have been even better. 4 euro.

We order also half a kilo of white wine (which I liked) and the total bill came to 40 Euro. And we were charged actually 28 Euro because I had a discount card.

In general, I was not really happy with the food. It was not bad, but was really average. Maybe because our choice of dishes was unfortunate. On the other hand, I am glad to say that the price is competitive for a place specializes in seafood and fish.

The service was quick and friendly. The environment is pleasant.

When we were leaving, the restaurant was quite busy and two waiters were struggling to cope. I noticed that there was a quite lot of foreigners among the patrons. I presume that they were coming from Hilton and Divani Caravel Hotel in the vicinity.

If I happen to be in the area, I might try the place again, but for fish, I think I know better places.

Fishalida
Naiadon 2, Antinoros
Hilton Area
Tel 210 7234551

Fishαλίδα
Ναϊάδων 2, Αντήνορος
Περιοχή Χίλτον
http://www.fishalida.gr/

Himona-Kalokeri @ Nea Makri

Last Sunday was an Election Sunday. After the Greek Husband finished his citizen's duty (which I do not have), we went to the beach of Schinias. It is currently GH's favourite in Attiki.

I am not a lover of sea and went there just to keep him a company. It wasn't not as hot as in central Athens/Piraeus and it was pleasant to be under the beach parasol.

After the beach, we went to a restaurant called Himona-Kalokeri (Χειμώνα-Καλοκαίρι, meaning Winter-Summer) on the edge of Nea Makri on our way home.

It has a large and beautiful garden and, of course, everyone was seated al fresco.

It is a relatively expensive restaurant, maybe 20% more expensive than at average tavernes.

The bread, dips, a bottle of mineral water are compulsory order, if you don't refuse explicitly.

Brown bread was nicely fluffy.

To accompany the bread, we were given mixture of high-quality olive oil and very dense balsamic vinegar (very nice) and sour yogurt dip (I wasn't keen).

As starter, we ordered vegetarian dolmadakia, that were OK.

And feta, peppers, and tomato slices in oven. Nice (but difficult to go wrong, as far as they use right ingredients, isn't it?).

And a salad. I think it was called "Himona-Kalokeri" salad. Except for lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, there are also sliced raw mushrooms and avocado.

I am not sure if you can tell you from the photo, but the quantity is huge. Even so, to justify 9.50 Euro price-tag, I believe they should do something with dressing, while it came totally undressed (although there were salt, pepper, and olive oil on the table).

We ordered only one main dish. Pork fillet in thyme, mavrodafni and honey sauce. The waitress warned us that the dish was sweet, but we dared.

And it turned out to be very sweet. There is nothing wrong with the sweetness in the sauce, but I believe that they overdid the honey. Besides, the alcohol in the sauce wasn't quite evaporated yet. We did not regret our attempt, but I don't need to try it again.

We were quite full at this point, but we ordered one dessert, as I had read that it serves superb desserts.

But, before the dessert, we were given two glasses of sweet moscato wine.

The majority of the sweets were with chocolate, but we do not like the chocolate much. That left us with this pavlova.

It was good for a Western-style dessert in Greek restaurant (the standard is not very high, if you do not go to really good restaurant).

The total bill came to 52 Euro, which we thought was fair, because of the nice environment and beautifully presented dishes and table set.

I don't think I would go again, because I did not like at all the service there (it was Greek street taverna standard). But if you happen to be near and want something different from the ordinary, why not? You might like it more than I do.

Xeimona - Kalokairi
Leoforos Poseidonos 93, Nea Makri-Zouberi, 19005, Attiki
Tel. 22940-99704

NB: Be careful with the Navi, because there is Leoforos Posidonos also in Marathon and in Rafina. My Google map application wanted take me to Rafina.

Crepe @ Noca, Piraeus

Crepe with chocolate, biscuit and vanilla ice cream at a cafeteria/ bar near our flat. 6 euro.

I think that the crepe itself is a bit tougher than it should be, but above average.

In Greece it is prohibited to smoke in a closed public space by law. When it was decided a few years ago, some were making comments how the law was ignored.

Now no one pays any attention. It has returned to the food old days, anyone smokes wherever they like.

Also in this cafeteria the ground floor is supposed to be non-smoking area, but on the tables, next to a plate saying "non-smoking" there is also an ash tray.

Sugar Free Cold Chocolate

I am still not totally fine due to the high temperature. However it is sad not to go out at all on Sunday, so we went for a coffee at Plateia Alexandras in Piraeus.

Plateia Alexandras (Alexandra Square) is on Zeas Marina. It has a very nice view of the Marina, but it is relatively quiet and peaceful.

We entered Stretto, one of the three cafeteria of the piazza.

There I found sugar free chocolate drinks, which can come cold or hot, black or white.

I tried cold dark chocolate.

Although it was sugar free, it was sweet due to low calorie sugar substitute. I would not have minded even it had not been sweet at all, because I do not like sweet drinks in general.

Anyway it was very cold and refreshing. If you like chocolate and want to cut sugar intake, it is an excellent choice.

3.90 Euro.

Cheese Cake @ Gazi College

Today we had a lunch at Dioskouroi on Adrianou Street. I knew that the food was mediocre, but it was a friend of GH who chose it. It wasn't my fault.

After that GH and I went to Gazi College for a coffee and to try their well-publicized sweets.

We ordered a cheese cake. The Greek cheese cakes are always raw and often combined with sour cherry. This one wasn't exception.

What impressed us above all was its size. We first thought they brought two pieces by mistake. It was that big.

Now the taste. Unfortunately it was not my type of cheese cake. It did not have much of cheese taste and was rathe boring. Not that I am saying it was bad, but it was not something I want to eat again. 5 Euro.

On the other hand coffees were fine. Cold espresso for 3.50 euro and cold cappuccino for 3.70 euro.

We liked that they brought us water and ice cubes in a separate bucket.

Next time we will try some food.

Gazi College
Persefonis 53,
Gazi, Athens
Tel. 210 3422112
www.gazicollege.gr

By the way, today it is very hot. I am not really feeling well now. I have to get used to the temperature.

Tiryns

On our way back from Nafplio yesterday we stopped at the archaeological site of Tiryns.



The entrance was free due to the festivity of Holy Spirit. But usually it is 3 euro.

As it is summer time, it is open from 8 to 7:30.

It is quite impressive looking from the roadside, but there is not not very comprehensible from inside. I had a impression, however, that the palace part is better preserved than the Mycenaean one.

Gate To Greece
TIRYNS

Sent from my iPhone

Roadside Bakery Giannoulaki

Heading toward Peloponnesus, we stopped at this roadside bakery called Giannoulaki. It is near Elefsina and just after Shell Gas station.

It is a huge shop and there is also a huge variety of sweets, breads, and snacks as well as coffees.

There is no place to sit down. A constant stream of people just bought whatever they wanted and drove away.

We bought a huge ham and cheese pie with tomato sauce for 2.20 euro. It was really big and tasty. Frappe was 1.50 Euro.

Well recommendable for snacking when you drive for Peloponnesus from Athens.

Jam Crepe @ Tolo

We are having breakfast at cafeteria called Caramel on the beach of Tolo, as this time we booked room without breakfast.

First we tried Dodoni near the hotel, but they told us there is nothing to be served as breakfast, so we ended up here.

Frappe is 3 euro and the simple crepe is 4.50. Not cheap. Cappuccino is 3.50. Even worse.

Crepe has a right consistency but jam is cheap sort.

Caramel
Bouboulinas 23, Tolo
27520 58062

Tolo Again

We are in Tolo again. This is our third time here.

We arrived at 4 and went to the beach for 1 hour. It is a good day for a swim.

Loukoumades @ Kypseli in Nea Smyrni

[Update 5 March 2014: this shop does not exist any more]

Had a coffee at a new cafeteria called Kypseli in Nea Smyrni. It is one of many shops in Plateia 25 Martiou.

It sells Loukoumades, yogurt, and frozen yogurt. We ordered one portion of loukoumades with honey. They gave us 5 pieces for 4 euros. I did not like orange peel in the honey (it killed the taste of honey), but the loukoumades were light and not too oily.

We regretted not having ordered a dish called Pyrgos (tower) which is composed of loukoumades, frozen yogurt, and various berries. We will do at next time.