To 25araki (Eikosipentaraki) @ Glyfada again

On 29th December. Sunday afternoon with very fine weather. Needless to say, everyone is out to enjoy the sun, including us. We ended up in Glyfada and looking for a place to eat.

We past in front of several places and some had even queue. Not wanting to wait to eat, we entered To 25 araki (Eikosipentaraki) which was busy but not awfully.

Reading back this blog, we visited here in October 2012 (here), so it is about a year ago. The decor has not changed, but the menu has. I have a impression to have seen more interesting fish-mezedes back then and now there are more simple ones.

The bread was the same as before, except that now there are no brown version. We had 4 pieces this time, instead of 5 of 1 year ago, but 4 were quite enough for us. The dip was a cream-cheesy yogurt with citrus flavour.

The bread was very nice, but I found it too rich to go with other food.

The first to come was mussels with chili from fish-mezedes menu.

It was beautifully cooked. The cleaned mussels were steam-sauteed with mustard, red chili flakes and Greek fresh green chili. For us its hotness was a the right level, but some people who ordered the same dish were saying it was too hot. But, of course, there are normal steamed mussels as well.

And small fried fish of the day, atherina (white bait or smelt). It came in a good portion.

It was fine, but not exceptionally so. The fish did not much taste (out of season?) and was slightly too oily.

The vegetables came a bit late (usually the vegetables arrive first and eaten as a starter in Greece). This is boiled veggies in citrus dressing.

It contained celery, potatoes, zucchini, potato, carrot, leek and finocchio (fennel). It was good accompaniment, but I wanted a larger portion.

At the end is giouvetsi with prawns and mushroom, from main course section.

It was quite heavy with cheese and butter and had a good flavour from prawns. I did not like that the prawns were not well-cleaned, but this I should have expected. The Greeks evidently do not mind eating prawns with sand.

In addition to the above dishes, we had also a 0.5 kilo of white wine, which was very good for a house-wine, and a bottle of water, which was obligatory order. The total bill was about 40 Euro, which was all right, and I really paid only 32 Euro thanks to a discount card.

The price is slightly too expensive without discount card, but for bit of wine and fish mezedes, I find it a good place to visit.

Here is the bill in detail:
Bottled Water     0.90 Euro
Bread and Dip     0.90 Euro  x 2 persons
500 ml white wine     5 Euro
Boiled Vegetables     5.50 Euro
Small Fried Fish     6 Euro
Mussels with Chili     8.20 Euro
Giovetsaki with prawns     13.50 Euro


ΤΟ 25ARAKI (To Eikosipentaraki)
Artemidos 3, Glyfada, 16674
Αρτέμιδος 3, Γλυφάδα, 16674
Tel. 210 8944112

Rififi @ Exarchia

Visited Rififi during a weekday evening.

I have been wanted to visit this place for years now. I happened to pass in front of it and it looked that I would like the food their patrons were eating. I told GH that we should try it, but he has been telling me that Exarchia was an area of high risk.

I don't think I has changed the idea, but one night I managed to convince him, after a coffee at TAF.

It wasn't cold yet and the walk from Akademias was pleasant, though the streets were rather dark for such a central place in Athens.

Here is Rififi.

We arrived there at 19:30. There were two other tables occupied. One was by a young couple and the other was by 2 guys in suits and 1 woman who looked colleagues from a work place. They were at the end of meal and left while we were reading the menu. From that moment, we were the only patrons until 3 girls arrived at around 20:30.

Here is the interior (they have outdoor tables, but it wasn't enough warm, as it was November).

Bread and olives were obligatory order, but the water was from tap.

The menu is fairly long and in addition there are several dishes of the day. I would call the cooking "modern Greek". I liked the fact that they have both meat and fish. You can read it on their website, if you are interested.

Not hugely hungry, we ordered 4 dishes. The first came the salad. They offer salad in two sizes - small and normal - and this is a smaller version of winder salad. It is fine for 1 person, or as a side dish for 2 persons. Due to dry bread and cheese, it was pretty filling.

These are burgers from mushrooms and lentils.

Being a mushroom lover, I liked this dish quite a lot.

These are maroulokeftedes (minced meat and rice balls wrapped in lettuce leaves) with egg and lemon sauce, which was one of the dishes of the day.

This was the first time I ate maroulodormades of which I have heard several times. Lettuce leaves being much thinner than cabbage leaves, I did not understand much the taste of lettuce, but they were cooked quite well.

This is pork stewed with tomato jam, served with mashed potato, again from the "Dishes of the day".

To my taste, the pork was too dry, as it often happens with lean cut of pork, but otherwise the sweet sauce went well with the mash and I found it good enough.

At the end masticha liqueur shot on the house.

With a half litre of house red wine, the bill came to 29.10 Euro.

Not cheap, but about right on price-quality balance. Recommended for those who like new Greek cooking.

Rififi - Ριφιφί
Emmanouil Benaki 69 & Valtesiou
Exarchia, Athens, Greece

Εμμανουήλ Μπενάκη 69 & Βαλτετσίου
10681 Αθήνα

Phone: 210-3300237
Delivery: 210-3300238
E-mail: info@rififi-restaurant.gr
http://rififi-restaurant.gr/