Attic Moon @ Syntagma

If someone asks me to pick up only one favourite cuisine, I would probably take "Chinese". The Thai comes close second, but as the Chinese cuisine so full of variety, probably I can find something close to Thai in Chinese cooking anyway.

It is a shame that GH prefers Greek cuisine to any other.

But, sometimes, I manage to convince him to come to eat something else. The excuse this time was that I had found a discount coupon.

The Chinese restaurant, Attic Moon, opened some months ago at the location of Diros restaurant used to be, in Xenofontos Street. It is fairly close to the other Asian restaurants in the area, like Furin Kazan, Dosirak, Koi and East Pearl (the one that moved away from Piraeus).

The interior is simply and nicely decorated. There was a strong smell of food in the dining area; I think they need a stronger ventilator in the kitchen.

The menu consists in Chinese and Thai food, but I do not trust in Thai food served in Chinese restaurant of Athens, so we did not order any Thai dish.

Here is a Tsingtao Beer for GH. I guess it was about 3.50 Euro. We paid 5 Euro for the beer and a bottle of water, but I do not know the details as the receipt for the drink was not issued (I got the receipt for the coupon, though).

Here is chicken satay (3.80 Euro). Satay is a Malay dish, but considering that the Chinese use "Satay sauce" (which can come in a jar) I guess it has been adopted in Chinese cuisine.

In any case, these chicken skewers were different from what I expected. What I expected was marinated and grilled chicken on skewers, served with satay sauce while here the chicken was dusted with fine bread crumbs and deep-fried. The sauce I guessed was 'Satay sauce'.

They were fine as they were, but just not the chicken satay I know. And I wanted them to be served piping hot, not lukewarm as they came.

The Spring rolls were pretty average (2.70 Euro).

This is sweet and sour pork for GH (7.50 Euro). I did not like much the sweet and sour sauce here, because it was as if ready-made. Otherwise fine.

Here is Kung Pao Chicken for me (7.50 Euro). There is plenty of chili and pretty hot. It contained a healthy dose of ginger, which GH passionately dislikes. But what can we do?

Normally the chicken in Kung Pao should be diced and not sliced as this one. And the meat should be cooked in a very strong heat while the chicken here is casually stir-fried.

Accordingly I did not recognize this dish as classical Kung Pao Chicken, but, again, it is still OK as sliced chicken stir-fried with vegetables, peanuts, and chili.

We ordered also two portions of steamed rice (1.50 Euro per one).

I think it was Thai Jasmine rice and quite good.

Maybe this is wrong in the Chinese manner book, but this is how I like to eat casual Chinese food.

We were given 2 fortune cookies at the end.

Message for me was "Someone is speaking well of me". Well, thank you.

All in all, it wasn't bad, but I wasn't satisfied with the cooking skill and method. But it is in Athens and in Syntagma, so I'd live with it.

Attic Moon / 名月楼
Ksenofontos 10-12, Syntagma, 10557, Athens
Ξενοφώντος 10-12, Σύνταγμα, Αθήνα
Tel. +30 210 3227095
http://www.atticmoon.com/