31 January, 2015

Glyfada Update - January 2015


About a week or two ago, we went to Glyfada for a walk and I noticed some new restaurants (or, rather, I verified where they were, as I have already heard about most of them).

We parked on Napoleon Zerba street, in front of a yet another new kebab shop called O Proedros.


This one is more like a take-away outlet, but there is a proper restaurant establishment on Lazaraki Street. It is incredible how quickly kebab shops multiply.

And this is Vinarte on Maragkou Street. For some reason, I had an impression it was somewhere near Hesperidon Square, but it was wrong.

It is a wine bar, but looking at the menu, it is also an Italian restaurant.



Now Glyfada has 2 Indian restaurants, one on Konstantinopoleos Street and the other one is on Zisimopoulou Street. This one the former one, Indi Go.


It offers Sunday lunch buffet for 15 Euro p.p.



Maybe this one is not so new: another Lebanese restaurant on Konstantinopoleos street, almost next to Livaneziko Lebanese restaurant.


Together with Souk and Kipos tou Edem, this is the 4th Lebanese/Arab place in Glyfada (although I am not totally sure if the Kipos still exists).

Although there were many attractive choices, we just went to Baron to have glasses of wine, as we had already eaten elsewhere.


We will try to return soon to visit some of the new places.

29 January, 2015

Σούμα Κολοκύθι @ Agios Dimitrios


A Friday evening, we visited a new restaurant called Souma Kolokythi in Agios Dimitrios. The occasion was that I have read good reviews and then found 15 Euro discount coupon online. I have a long list of restaurants that I want to visit and it seems that I am visiting first those offering limited-time discounts.

So, Souma Kolokythi. According to what I read, souma is a strong alcoholic drink made from figs and kolokythi is pumpkin. I read also why they named it so, but I am afraid that I am too lazy to repeat.

The place is about 10 minutes walk away from Agios Dimitrios metro station. As it is not facing main street, you won't easily see it unless you look for it.


As you see, there is quite a large outdoor space, which should be the main dining area in warmer seasons. Now that it is winter, all the tables are indoor. The indoor space isn't so large, so it is recommended to reserve a table before you visit.

The restaurant serves only dinner from Wednesday to Sunday and it opens at 19:30. We arrived at 20:00 o'clock and there was no other patron. The decor is industrial style and the kitchen is open; when we entered, there were 2 chefs and later arrived 1 or 2 helpers.

The menu is relatively short, with 2 or 3 additional dishes of the day. There are dishes without meat, but fish/seafood was none.

A bottle of water, grilled bread and accompaniments (sun-dried tomato paste, olive oil+balsamic vinegar and 4 black pitted olives) were brought to our table without request. The water seems to be 1 Euro and 1 Euro for bread p.p., 3 Euro in total.



The tomato paste (which I think was mixed with red pepper) had very strong flavor and we liked it very much. The others were nice, too.

First to arrive was smoked aubergine paste (melitzanosalata), 4.50 Euro.


It came in a generous portion. The taste was quite mild, with least garlic, oil and salt, so much so that we eat it on its own easily, without bread. I loved it.


This is chicken and Naxian graviera cheese salad with lemon dressing, 7 Euro.


It is not evident in the photo, but there are slices of grilled chicken under the mound of cheese. Due to the presence of croutons, it is quite filling. It should be eaten rather as a starter than a side salad. GH liked the chicken very much.

This was one of the dishes of the day, fried potato with eggs and cheese, 6 Euro.


The potatoes had a proper potato flavor. I would have preferred them to be a bit more crunchy, but still pleasant. With 4 eggs and generous amount of cheese, this was very filling. It was served as a starter, but from the calorie point of view, it is easily be a main course.

At this point, we were really full and almost regretted that we had ordered a main dish, which was pork shank with pumpkin puree for two, 14 Euro.

A shank is mostly bone, but still it was a lot of meat.


To be honest, I did not like so much the shank, because it was rather dry; one side was OK, but the other side was probably overcooked in too high temperature. The pumpkin puree with mint (a very Greek combination), however, added desired moistness to the meat.

Until about 9:30, the restaurant was totally empty and we felt lonely. But then, it filled up suddenly. It looks that the most of people eat from 9:30 on.



The total bill with a bottle of Alpha Weiss beer (3.50 Euro), the total bill came to 38 Euro (I paid 23 Euro plus tip because of the coupon). We ate well and plenty.

We would revisit, but maybe after some time, expecting the menu to change somewhat.

Souma Kolokythi - ΣΟΥΜΑ ΚΟΛΟΚΥΘΙ
Omirou 27 and Ifigenias, Agios Dimitrios, 17236. Attiki, Greece
Ομήρου 27 & Ιφιγενείας, Άγιος Δημήτριος 17236
Tel. 210 9766565

17 January, 2015

Ndrangheta @ Elliniko


The first post of 2015 is about our first restaurant in 2015.

I have been in search of good pizza in Athens. Finding a new pizzeria opened in Elliniko and a discount coupon on sale, I decided give it a go.

It situated indeed close to Elliniko station, about 2 minute-walk away.


From outside, it does not look much like a restaurant, and more like a cafeteria. And indeed, the most of the people there were for coffee when we visited in a Sunday afternoon.

The space is divided in smoking and non-smoking sections and we were seated in the latter, But afterwards, a member of staff sat down and started to smoke at one of the tables (the family seated there seemed to be her friends). So what the meaning?


Evidently they have a garden on the back side, but now that it was winter, it wasn't open.


The kitchen was semi-open. At least 3 cooks were working inside.


Bread and dips to start, provided without order. The bread was like very think pizza crust; it was warm and pretty nice. The dips are green olive paste and olive oil with balsamic vinegar.



As they did not give me the receipt, I do not know how much it cost.

This is Caesar salad with grilled chicken. Chicken was warm and plenty, while amount of cheese was a bit poor. But I liked it as a starter (in Greece, the salad is often eaten like a starter, and not as a side - contorno - of a main dish in Italy).


GH ordered a pizza with prosciutto crudo. As you see, some parts were burnt and the cheese was dry. I suspect that the heat from above was too strong. Fresh and crunchy crust was nice and the size was good, but not my perfect pizza.


Seafood pasta, instead, was really good. Seafood consisted in mussels and karavides (which normally translated as scampi, but they look different from Italian scampi). On the menu, the past was supposed to be black tagliatelle, but was less broad and similar to linguine. To my taste, it was too buttery, but the strong seafood taste convinced me.


As always, we were too full for a dessert.

Including two bottles of coca cola (these miserable small glass bottles that you can find only in restaurants), the bill came close to 40 Euro. Not cheap, but I don't think it was more expensive than other Italian restaurants, as Italian food tends to be rather expensive in Greece. We paid about 12 or 13 Euro less because of the discount voucher, and maybe for it, we did not get any receipt, as I mentioned earlier.

I liked the salad and pasta, but not so much the pizza. My search for perfect pizza in Athens continues.

Ndrangheta Pizza Bar
Iasonidou 10, Elliniko
Ιασωνίδου 10, Ελληνικό
Tel. 210 9649092