Where We Ate in Delphi

In the beginnings of December, we stayed 2 nights in Delphi to participate in a trail running event there. For average tourists, Delphi is a place where they stay 1 night the best, as they visit there only for the archaeological site and the museum. Both terrific, but if you are not archaeologists, it does not need more than one full day.

I had visited Delphi several times in the past, because of the tourism sector job I used to have. And what I knew was that it was difficult to find decent restaurants there, because most of them depend on tourist trade.

If we had time, I'd rather go to Arachova or Itea to eat, but as our main objective was the run, we just settled in Delphi and tried our best.

After having searched web and read reviews, I concluded that only decent places to eat in Delphi were To Patriko Mas and Vakhos (I may well be wrong) and we tried both.

To Patriko mas is a relatively high-end restaurant where most of the main dishes cost more than 10 Euro. But the environment is such that we did not feel it was unreasonable. They have their menu outside, so you can check it before you decide to go in or not.

The menu is Greek gourmet kind. They are some classic dishes, but most are with some chefy touch. They have both fish and meat as well as pasta and risotto.

Bread and dip were obligatory order.

The dip looks yellow here, but in reality it was rosy. It was like mayonnaise with a bit of ketchup.

As having seen on the other tables that portion size was generous, we limited to order only 3 dishes.

Here is green salad with chicken (I think it was called Patriko Mas Salad). It was indeed generous and filling. Having eaten the salad and bread, we felt almost full. It was delicious, but I would prefer the chicken to be a bit warm at least (it was fridge-cold).

GH ordered Oriental lamb (?) with spaghetti. The white blog is yogurt. It was 'Oriental' because of the use of spices, so not the Orient like China or Japan, but like Turkey. Very filling dish.

I ordered chicken with mushroom cream and rice. The chicken was too tough and dry as well as the rice was not well-cooked (it still had hard core). I think this one was a failure.

At the end, they offered two shots of liqueur. With a bottle of beer and a bottle of water, the bill was more than 40 Euros. I did not think it was expensive for this kind of restaurant, but it was not 40 Euro well spent, as I can find this sort of a bit chefy food easily in Athens for the same price or less.

The restaurant should have a superb view, but we did not enjoy this advantage, as we visited in the winter evening.


To Patriko Mas - Το Πατρικό Μας
Vasileos Pavlou kai Friderikis 69, Delphi
Βασιλέως Παύλου & Φρειδερίκης 69, Δελφοί
Tel. (+30) 22650 - 82150
http://www.topatrikomas.gr/



Next day, the lunch was offered by one of the organizer of the run, Hotel Iniohos, so we had only dessert and coffees outside.

We entered a cafeteria-patisserie called Melopoleion. The coffees were quite good, but sweets looked rather expensive at 4.50 Euro.

In the evening, we tried another well-rated restaurant called Vakhos, which is more like a Greek traditional taverna. This place should also have a nice view, but again we did not see it as our visit took place in the evening.

Bread was obligatory order. Now that I see, it looked quite similar to the one served at to Patriko Mas. Heavy, off-white bread that you often find in Greek countryside.

There was no dip, but we were offered large olives, often called Amphissa olives (Amphissa is a town close to Delphi and famous for olive culture).

This is a rather original lentil and sun dried tomato salad. Interesting and healthy combination that I would try again at home. A good idea.

This is hortopita (pie with green leaves). Although it was delicious, I don't think they should charge 6 Euro for this small piece of reheated pie. We felt like to have felled into a tourist trap.

GH ordered a pork souvlaki, served with rice, fried potatoes and salad. 8.20 Euro.

The meat was fine, but the garnish was totally indifferent.

I ordered chicken soup, as I wasn't hungry. Tastly, but portion was small to be eaten as main dish.  6 Euro.

At the end of the meal, we were offered two small pieces of homemade baklavas. A nice gesture.

With a bottle of beer, the total bill came to 30.90 Euro. Not cheap for a humble taverna meal.

Vakhos - Βάκχος
Apollonos 31, 33 054, Delphi
Απόλλωνος 31, 33 054, Δελφοί
Tel. (+30) 2265 083 186
http://www.vakhos.com/

All in all, neither of the restaurants really satisfied me. I felt that I was paying too much for rather average food. If I had a choice, I would rather avoid having meal in Delphi, except for the time when I can have a lunch with splendid view to the Corinthian Gulf.