Where We Ate in and around Leonidio 2

Continuation from the previous post.

After a short stop at Leonidio, we continued for Elonas Monastery and for Kosmas Village.

I did not know what we could expect from the village. It is somehow similar to one of picturesque villages in Pelion and there are several restaurants and cafeterias; definitely more touristic than Leonidon.

We stopped at a grill restaurant called Basaram, because it had their menu outside. I always prefer to study the menu actually going into restaurant.

Inside, there is nothing particular. Many of the patrons seemed to know the place, but they ate and left quickly, as if they had other destinations.

Although the interior decoration does not say much, it has a good view of the village.

They had a couple of curious stuff like wild boar, but, we ordered conservatively. Here are homemade biftekia. The portion was rather small, but for 6 Euro, I guess it was fine.

They were good, but I prefer the mince to be more coarse, while GH was very happy with them.

I was excited with this boiled goat, instead.

The meat was tender and the fat was sweet.

We had also a tzatziki, cabbage salad, a 500 ml of rose wine (they did not have red), and some pieces of apple on the house. The total bill was 20.50, again with receipt without any prompt. Excellent. Again we were very happy.


Basaram - Μπασαράμ
Kosmas, Arkadia
Tel. 27570 31413


After we wanted to have a galaktoboureko, as many people were eating it cafeteias, but when we arrived, it was sold out. A shame.

We did not feel hungry in the evening, so we just ate some spinach pie we brought from Piraeus at our room.

Next day (25 March 2013).

After having participated in the service at the local church of Sambatiki, we went to the village above called Pragmatefti.

We had a Greek coffee at the kafenio/mini-supermarket in the village. It is "THE" shop, because there is any other.

I wonder why the Greek coffees taste better in the countryside. A mystery.

We had a hiking in the mountain (they told us that there is a hiking road from Pragmatefti to Leonidio, but we did not spend so much time) and left Leonidio. For lunch, we needed to eat fried cod, because it was 25 March. We headed for Tyros, which extends along the sea.

We found only a few restaurants open and stopped at a one called Flisvos, because it had a bit more people than the others.

It is just in front of the sea and here is the view from our table (unfortunately the weather wasn't particularly good).

They had meat as well as fish/ seafood, but no magirefta (stewed stuff). We ordered fried calamari and fried cod.

Fried calamari was probably fresh and cost 8.50 Euro. Expensive but very sweet and satisfactory.

Fried cod with garlic mash was rather small for 6.50 Euro. Maybe because of the strong popular demand. Tasted all right, though.

Together with peppery cheese paste (tyrokafteri), salad and 0.5l of white wine, the bill was about 25 Euro. Our most expensive meal during this trip! Ha ha ha.

Flisvos - Φλοίσβος
Paralia Tyrou, Tyros, Arcadia
Παραλία, Τυρός, Αρκαδία
Τελ. +30 2757041316

After the meal I wanted to eat something sweet. So we made an extra stop at Agios Andreas. It is a modern village with an attractive central square.

We found a cafeteria/ mezedopoleio called Stou Kapela (Στου Καπέλα). They did not have Greek sweets like Galaktoboureko or Portokalopita that I wanted, so I settled with Profiterole, which turned out to be pretty good.

It cost 3.50 Euro and together with 2 coffees, the bill came to around 7.50. Quite a difference from the price in Athens.

That was the last thing we ate during the travel. We returned with a positive impression.

Where We Ate in and around Leonidio 1

I see that I have not been blogging for 2 weeks. Maybe I was too absorbed by Cyprus banking crisis, or maybe I did not find enough time. I have been doing fine.

The last 3 day weekend (including 25 March celebration on Monday), we went to Leonidio in Arcadia. I am planning to upload about the sites in Gate to Greece, but, as usual, I write about the food we ate in the blog.

We started for Leonidio in the Saturday morning (23 March). After a brief stop at the archaeological site of Argos, we stopped at Paralio Astros. Actually we first went to Astros itself, but as it did not have anything attractive, we went down to the coastal Astros.

We did not want to sit down to a real meal, so we had a club sandwich in a resto-cafeteria called Galaxias or something like that. That was a bad idea, probably.

The club sandwich was pretty average, though cheap (5 Euro).




Yoghurt that GH ordered was served with a packaged honey from Metamorphosis (suburb of Athens), mixture of Greek and Bulgarian honey.

Don't bother.

We stayed at a village called Sabatiki, but for dinner we went to Leonidio which is about 7 KM away.

It turned out that there were only 2 tavernas open in the town centre (there was also a few just outside the down - still in walking distance - toward Plaka). One was called Eugeston and the other was this Mitropolis, on Mitropoleos Street. I guess there are more choices after the Easter.

When we enter the taverna at 8 o'clock there was absolutely nobody (as in this photo), but at 9 o'clock it was so full that there was difficulty finding a table.



As it was Lenten period, they had also octopus and squids, but the normal main courses are meat, stewed and grilled.

Excellent was this pitalouda, which is a grilled pie with green leaves (horta) and cheese filling. I ate a similar pie in Lakonia, but this one was much better. Amazing.



Slightly sick GH did not have much appetite throughout the trip, so we ordered only 1 main dish. This was Rooster cooked in Tomato (kokoras kokkinistos) served with spaghetti (we could have chosen also rice or potatoes, instead of spaghetti).



I chose this dish because the waiter told us that the rooster was their own. It was indeed full of flavor.

We had also boiled green (horta), fried potatoes and a bottle of beer. The total bill was just above 20 Euro and they gave us a receipt without being requested. We left very happy.

Do not miss it out.

Mitropolis - Μητρόπολης
Leonidio, Arcadia
Λεωνίδιο, Αρκαδία
Tel 27570 29115

Next morning.

Our "Rooms" did not have breakfast, but had a kitchenette. So we bought a box of biscuits for breakfast a day before from a local supermarket just outside Leonidio. These were from Laconia and I saw them sold also in Athens. The same producer makes also pasta.



GH does not eat much breakfast, but as a good Greek, he eats 2nd breakfast at around 11 o'clock. We stoped at Eugeuston in Leonidio. Eugeston (Eugefston?) is the other taverna open then in Leonidio and, different from Mitropolis, it is open from the morning as a kafenio. GH bought a tyropita with mizithra cheese.



The owner was very friendly and told us some things about Leonidio.

Then we took a road for the mountains.

To be continued...

Club Sandwich @ Salty-NAS, Mikrolimano

After several months since the last time, we went to Mikrolimano. As you can imagine, some of the restaurants had been closed down.



I wrote this post as an update as well as a reminder for myself.

Walking one of the back streets, we stumbled on a Mikrolimano branch of Tirbouson [sic] called Tirbouson Mini. Evidently it is open only Friday and Saturday evenings.



And I found Papaioannou in the usual location. I heard some time ago that it was about to move to the premises on Akti Koumondourou (i.e. along the seaside walk) used to be occupied by Plous Podilatou. In fact, Plous Podilatou was completely gone (not even its sign board), but it was still empty. Anyway, Papaioannou was the only fish restaurant in Mikrolimano which looked full on the day in Mirolimano; all the others were half empty, even though the meat restaurants were doing pretty well.

Haagen Dazs had been gone for a while and not the premises are occupied by a cafeteria/bar, whose name I did not bother to remember.

Also Lalloudes restaurant was gone. Cocoon was closed (I am not totally sure if it was gone or open only in the evening). And another new restaurant was closed (I think it was a successor of Il Mercatino or something). Artisti Macaroni premises are still empty.

We then stopped at N.A.S. for a sandwich and coffees. Now the N.A.S. restaurant has another name "Salty". I do not know if there was any substantial change that came with the new name, as I have never been to the old N.A.S.

The best thing about this place is the view. If you get a good table, you can see all the coastline of Mikrolimano.

From the other side, you get the view of Apollo Coast which is equally nice.



So, if you reserve a table here for food, you should request to keep one near the window.

This place operates as restaurant-bar-cafeteria. You can order fish, meat, pasta, coffee, cocktails, anything.

We were there for a snack and ordered a club sandwich and coffees.

Club sandwich (7 Euro) was of pretty average cafeteria-quality.



I think one of the preserved meat (ham, bacon, I don't know) they used was stale and had unpleasant sour smell and the oil used to fry the potatoes was stale.

That would have been OK if it was eaten at a cafeteria, but from kitchen of a restaurant, it should be better.

Coffees were not expensive. Freddo cappuccino for 4 and Frappe for 3.50. However, 4 Euro for a coca cola is not easy to forgive.

Our waitress was very polite and smiley. She got 2 Euro for that.

Before leaving, I took a look at the restaurant menu. Everything looked quite expensive. I do not remember any main dish under 10 Euro. I would expect to pay at least 20-25 Euro p.p. for a starter and a main with cover charge.

N.A.S. - Salty
Akti Koumoundourou 1,
Piraeus 185 33, Greece

Another Barbadimos in Piraeus

Today, passing Plateia Pigada in a bus, I saw that the kebab shop Barbadimos-Μπαρμπαδήμος is opening another outlet there.

Its first outlet was in Peiraiki (Akti Themistokleous). It is just a souvlazidiko (it is a kebabzidiko, as its speciality is kebab) with some stools.

Then after a success, it opened a larger shop in Nea Smyrni, which I heard it to be more like a small taverna and is again successful.

Now, this third outlet is taking over a place which used to be a fish taverna, which closed down a few years ago. It is not clear if the first outlet continues, or it is more like a transfer.

It is indeed a welcome addition to the residential area of Piraeus, where the choice of restaurants is rather limited.

Fish Tavern Thalassa @ Elefsina

One warm Sunday in February, we made a short trip to Elefsina (Eleusis).

Of course it is the ancient cult centre of Eleusinian mystery and there is a splendid archaeological site with museum (photos in Gate to Greece), while the modern Elefsina town is an industrial & small port town.

After a walk along the port, we stopped at a fish restaurant called Thalassa.

It is close to the sea, but there is not view to it. The outdoor tables are pleasant enough, though.

As all the fish restaurant in Greece, there was a selection of large fish sold by weight, but we did not take it and chose from the menu.

Grilled bread & tzatziki.

Nothing particular. Just fine.

Lettuce and cabbage salad was a bit odd. A half the bowl was chopped lettuce and dill, and the other bowl was sliced and marinated cabbage.

And here are main courses. Fried calamari.

I was disappointed when I saw them, because the squids are small and thin, but on tasting them, my disappointment turned out to be unfounded. They were very sweet and soft.

The second main course was grilled sardines.

Again pretty good. Edible to the bones.

The only problem was fried potatoes.

Regardless of their anaemic colour, they tasted good albeit quite oily. The problem was that they turned up only when we finished half of the main course. They were close to become our dessert! Although there were several waiters and the restaurant WASN'T full, either they or maybe the kitchen, or both were not coping well.

The total of above all was 25 Euro only. Very good value for money for the quality of food. We would love to come back, especially when there isn't much people.

Thalassa- Θάλασσα
Kanelopoulou 9, Elefsina
Κανελοπούλου 9, Ελευσίνα
Tel. 210 554 6585