Rakaki @ Kaisariani

It has been a couple of month ago since we visited Rakaki in Kaisariani. It is a Cretan restaurant in the Kaisariani Square. As it was already a good season, there were many tables outside. The indoor space is very limited.

The bread came with a cheese dip and small Cretan olives. 1.50 Euro per a head.

Under the bread there were some dried harbs and their fragrance filled our table all through the meal.

They just put a bottled water even if you do not order. 1.70 Euro. It was Cretan water I have never seen before.

We ordered only 3 plates, as we were not hungry and also the price looked a bit high. When the price looks too high in tavernas in Greece, there are two possibilities. One is just because they can charge as much as they want. The other is because portion size is larger than normal. Anyway, in both cases, it is better not to order too many things.

The first dish was a salad of almyra green, boiled potato and spring onion. 7.10 Euro. I have never tries this combination and it turned out to be really good. Because of the potatoes, it becomes filling, too.

Baked kataifi with cheese filling, served with honey and what I think was onion seeds. Enjoyable. Portion size was rather small. 6.30 Euro.

For the main dish, we ordered a stewed rooster with handmade pasta. 9.90 Euro. It was a rather indifferent dish and the meat was extremely small (note that these 2 pieces are on bones).

At the end we were offered glasses of sweet cinnamon drink without alcohol. With one bottle of beer, the meal with 3 dishes came above 30 Euro.

All in all, the food was good, but the price looked too high for what it was.

Rakaki - Ρακάκι
Moschonision 2-4, Kaisariani, 161 21, Athens
Μοσχονησίων 2-4, Καισαριανή, 161 21, Αθήνα
Tel. 210 7237457

Flowers of Protomaia

The first of May (Protomaia) is a national holiday (Labour Day) in Greece.

I don't think that there is anything to do with the labour, but there is a custom to make a circle of flowers like this below.

I feel guilty to collect wild flowers, so I collect flowers with my camera. Most of them are from Hymittos Mountain.

It was a very fine day and there were people everywhere. Especially the traffic of Kaissariani side of Hymittos was dramatic, partly due to the people who dare to park the cars where they are supposed not to. Lesson learnt.

Vourliotina @ Kaissariani

It was cold last weekend and the weather wasn't good either. We had a plan to go to Kessariani Hill Sunday, but we gave up the idea and we just went to a taverna in Kaissariani called Vourliotina.

It is a small family-run taverna of 'politiki cuisine', not in Kaissariani Hill, but in walking distance from Hilton or Divani Caravel Hotel. I read very good reviews on web and decided to try.

It was smaller than expected.



During the summer, they have tables outside, but the indoor space is very limited and there are less than 10 tables.

The decor is "Asia Minor" themed and quite cozy.



Bread came with olives, cheese dip tasted like kopanisti & yogurt, and olive oil + balsamic vinegar (I think).



This obligatory order cost 2 Euro x 2 persons = 4 Euros.

The mix salad was like this.



Mixture of lettuce, carrot, cabbage, red cabbage, spring onion and dill (and possibly something else) with sweet yogurt-ey dressing with pomegranate topping.

Not bad, but too sweet & too little salt for me. Just passable.

This is something called Vourliotina, ordered by Hubby. I tried to dissuade him, when I read it was a mixture of veal & pork, but he insisted.



The meat was VERY dry, like jerky. I don't know if it was intended or not. Even it was intended, I should say it was a very peculiar dish. I could eat it, but Hubby had difficulty due to the presence of many whole black peppers.

I was attracted by Isli Pilaf, but gave up the idea when I heard that it contained liver. I love liver, while Hubby hates it.

So I chose Manti instead.



This was a big mistake. The dough contained many hard inedible bits. I don't know how they managed to create solid dry wheat mass. Hubby suggested that maybe these were old. I thought maybe these were frozen badly for a long time. Who knows. Bad execution.

At the end of meal there was free offer of dessert and liqueur. The sweets were pannacotta like mass with lots of mastiha and rose jam and almond & semolina cake with mastiha cream.



The bill arrived in a present box (It is funny, but not of good taste, I am afraid).



The bill came to 36.20 Euro. If the food had been OK, it would have been OK, but I don't think that the food was even on "OK" level.

It is a sympathetic family taverna in old neighbourhood. How could the food so bad was beyond my guess. Was it just a bad day?

Vourliotina
At the corner of Hymittou and Vassileos Alexandrou 10
Kaisariani, Athens
Tel. 210 72.91.545

Βουρλιωτίνα
Υμητού κ΄ Β. Αλεξάνδρου 10
Καισαριανή, Αθήνα
Τηλ.: 210 72.91.545

http://www.vourliotina.gr/intro.swf



And we had a coffee at Utopia.



Nice ambiance, but our Nespresso machine makes better espresso. :D