Dafni @ Peristeri

One Sunday afternoon, the weather not being fine and us not knowing what to do, we went to explore one area of Athens where we have never been to: Peristeri.

Peristeri is used to be one of these unreachable areas in periphery of Athens, but now it has a Metro station and very much accessible. The same line (No. 3) should come down up to Piraeus at some point in future. This time we took our car and found it surprisingly "close" using the National Road (highway without toll inside Athens). We did not measure the time, but felt like it took 15 to 20 min. To go to Korydallos, which is closer in distance, it takes more time for us. It was easy to park, too.

After having walked around Bournazi area, we looked for somewhere to eat. I used Foursquare and decided on a taverna called Dafni.

When we arrived the place, we were told that all the tables were taken and it was for smokers (yes, it is illegal, but you know...). We were instead sent to the place just next it called Dafnoula, which is non-smoking and shares the same kitchen. Even here almost all the tables were either taken or reserved, but fortunately we were assigned one of the 2 tables available (you see lots of tables outside, but it was too chilly to be seated on that day).

The interior was retro-style and pretty cozy. We liked it. It looks like empty, but all the tables have "reserved" cards on.

The menu is relatively long. It contains starters, salads, cheeses, main courses, and extra dishes of the day. I don't remember to have seen any fish/seafood. If there were, there were only a few. The prices are relatively high. Probably 20% or so higher than you would expect. Prices of the salads looked particularly exorbitant, a half of them cost more than 10 Euros.

On the menu they show the prices before and after the VAT decrease and the funny thing is that many of them have exactly the same figures as before, or are not the whole decreased amount less (although the VAT decreased from 23% to 13%). What point they are trying to make, you think?

I would have ordered only 1 starter and 2 mains, but as always, GH went compulsive and decided that he would die of hunger if he did not order 4 dishes. So here we go.

These are the nibbles that came with bread basket. They charge 1.90 Euro per person for bread and cover, by the way.

As most of the salads looked to expensive, I picked a humble Greek salad (7.30 Euro). I did not like so much the creamy feta on top, but it was a matter of taste and generally tasted all right.

Tzatziki was GH's order (3.80 Euro). Again it was a creamy sort and gentle in flavor (little garlic and little salt).

Both of our main courses are from dishes of the day. Here is chicken breast in coconut curry sauce served with aromatic basmati rice (9 Euro).

I found the chicken was too dry and the sauce was too sweet. I would called it an un-successful attempt at a modern twist, which happens often in Greece. My impression is that in general the Greek cooks are not very good at adding exotic or modern touch to their cooking; many turn out to be amateurish.

The other main dish, oven baked goat and askolybros (name of the vegetable), 12 Euro, was much more successful.

It was a bit under-salted, but the wild flavor of the green was awesome. The portion was big, too.

At the end, they offered a dessert. Evidently they had several variety of desserts (I saw them on other tables), but we got only 1 because GH said he could not eat any more.

With a bottle of beer, the final bill came to 39.30 Euro, which is expensive but not extraordinarily so. I did not became a fan of the place myself, but I understand why there are people who like it. You might want to try it, if you are in the area.

Dafni- Δάφνη
Megalou Alexandrou 86, Bournazi, Peristeri, Athens
Μεγάλου Αλεξάνδρου 86 Μπουρνάζι, Περιστέρι, Αθήνα
Tel. +30 2105773721.