Last Sunday, I was a bit sick because of the unseasonable cold that I had caught while I was sleeping. Not wanting to move much, we took a car and went to Neo Psychiko to try a place popular on Foursquare: The Albion.
It is a restaurant, but serves also coffee and on Sundays also brunch (from 11 to 16 o'clock).
This is how it looks like from outside.
It has an indoor space, but it looks that it works exclusively in the yard during the summer. The indoor space was totally empty; there were not even tables and chairs.
The yard is very pleasant and peaceful. There were lots of people with babies. If you come in a group on Sundays, I guess it is better to book a table.
We saw both the brunch menu (below) and the regular menu. The regular menu is mainly Italian (pasta, pizza, main course etc.) and very expensive. Any pasta or pizza costs 10 Euro and up. One beer costs 6 or 7 Euro. On the other hand, the brunch menu is reasonable. A sandwich costs 6 to 8 Euro, pancakes from 5 to 6 Euro. More or less the same price at any high-end cafe in Athens.
I ordered one chicken burrito. The tortilla was toasted and nicely crispy.
GH ordered beef and cheese sandwich. It was also good, but GH regretted his choice because it had too much horse radish, which he does not like. It was, however, his fault, as he had read on the menu that it contained with horse radish. I guess you can ask the waiter to skip it, if you do not like it.
The difference from the normal cafes was that we were charged for bottled water, 3 Euro. I am not sure if one bottle cost 3 Euro, or they just charge 1.50 Euro flat per person. So we paid 20 Euro including tip. We thought we paid a fair price, because the environment was very pleasant and the service was good, too.
The Albion
Omirou 6, Neo Psychiko, Athens
Tel. 210 674 0710
We could have taken coffee at the Albion, but once we were in Neo Psychiko, we decided to explore another venue, too: Gaspar.
It is less than 10 minutes walk from The Albion. When I saw the building, I remembered to have been in the area before.
The environment is totally different from The Albion. It is more like Gazi College. It serves both food and drink.
As we have already eaten, we ordered only drink. We could have ordered desserts, but the price was so high that I was not sure if it was worth it.
I tried to order a homemade soft drink with stevia, but the waitress told me that there wasn't. She recommended to order flavoured cold tea instead because it was more or less the same thing. I did not believe her and ordered an espresso. GH ordered a freddo cappuccino, cost 4.50 Euro.
There was really nothing special about this place, at least as a cafe. Maybe it is different in the night, as a club. It was a total disappointment.
Gaspar
Leoforos Dimitriou Vasiliou & Lykourgou, Neo Psychiko
Tel. 210 677 5011
