Serkos's Kebab @ Glyfada

This is one of the restaurants I have wanted to go for years and last weekend finally I found an occasion to pay a visit.

Serkos kai ta Tessera Asteria (Serkos and the Four Stars).



What first caused my desire was that it calls itself an Armenian restaurant. I am very curious about the cuisine of unknown countries. But then I learnt that the Armenian cuisine - at least the one that served in Greece - is very close to Turkish cuisine and my curiosity weakened. On the second phase, this place was recommended by someone I know as one of the best kebab restaurants in Athens, so my desire continued.

It did not look particularly great from outside, and also inside is an average taverna standard with some Armenian decorations.



Although we did not have reservation, could find a table without problem, BECAUSE it was almost 4 o'clock. My experience told me that even at the busiest restaurants, we can find a table if it is 4 o'clock and indeed that was why I did not worry about reserving a table. But if you want to eat at normal meal hours, reservation is very much recommended, as it is not a big restaurant, especially in winter when it is too cold to eat al fresco.

There were a couple of large groups and most of the people looked frequent visitors.



The appetizers were brought to us on a large serving plate and we could choose whatever we liked. You have to be careful when you pick them up, as price is rather high (I will tell you later).

Then, the waiter asked up what main dish we wanted without telling us what they have. Having asked by GH, he orally listed the choices. But I requested the menu and I did well, as the menu describes each dishes.

The huge brown ball is their bread. This is an obligatory order and was pretty good.



GH picked up dormades yalantzi. The vine leaves were fragrant and the rice was nicely minty. Curiously the rice was sweet, as if it was sugared (maybe it was actually). We liked them. 5.50 Euro. OK. Not cheap, but many tavernas charge as much.

I picked up aubergine with tomato sauce. Aubergine had caramelized sweetness. OK, they were tasty, but 5 Euro for 4 slices of aubergine? 1.25 Euro for a slice?

Then GH complained (to me, not to the restaurant) that he had to have tzatziki to be able to eat that bread. I though the bread was nice enough on its own, but he did it in his own way.

Good tzatziki, 4 Euro. Tasted fresh.

This is GH's cheese kebab.

Very good kebab, although I would prefered without cheese (but who cares, as it was not my choice). 12 Euro (tzatziki on the plate was not included).

I ordered chicken sis kebab (10 Euro).

This was superb. The chicken breast can easily overcooked and dry, but these morsels were still moist and so soft. I was very happy.

Although we were full, we could not resist from ordering a kunefe when we saw it on other tables.

Kunefe is freshly baked kataifi with yellow cheese filling. This one was not too sweet and we could almost finish it to our surprise. Unfortunately GH did not like the ice cream as it was mastiha flavoured (he refused to eat even the part of kunefe 'contaminated' by mastiha!). Degenerated Greek he is.

I think the kunefe costs 5.50 Euro, but they did not charge us.

With a half liter of red wine and a big bottle of water, the bill came to 43.50 Euro. They did not give us the receipt, but we could not demand as they offered the dessert. It was an embarrassing situation.

If we paid for the dessert and paid the normal bill, the meal would have cost us 50 Euro together with tip. Expensive? Yes, a bit, but if you know that you won't get disappointed, probably you won't care. My belief is that 30 Euro disappointing meal is more expensive than 50 Euro satisfying meal, as far as you can afford it.

Serkos kai ta Tessera Asteria
Zepou & Xenofontos 28, Glyfada
Tel: 210 9649 553
Fax: 210 963 4920

Σέρκος και τα Τέσσερα Αστέρια
Zέπου και Ξενοφώντος , Γλυφάδα
Τηλ: 210 9649 553
Fax: 210 963 4920

http://www.serkos-glyfada.com/

Mourouzis Grill @ Kalyvia

In Athens we are in the middle of 48 hour strike of the public transport.



Tomorrow there won't be even taxi.

There is no one collect garbage, because, alledgedly, the dumping site is under occupation. At some points, the roads are completely closed by the garbage and there is no space to walk.

Archaeological sites and museums are closed for 2 days, because the guards are on strike. Next week the tax officers are on strike, when the state is desperately in need of tax collection.

Bloody situation to live in really.





***********

Here is what we did on a Sunday about a month ago.

On our way back from the sea we stopped at Kalyvia, famous meat grilling place in Attiki. Vari is better know to the foreigners, but it is now in serious decline. It does not make much sense to go there, except for a week before the Lent. Kalyvia, instead, seems to be buzzling.

We stopped at a restaurant called Mourouzis. It occupies 3 or 4 buildings and there should be more than 1,000 seats.



The street was full of meat grilling smell.



It is not a place to look for sophisticated dishes, so we ordered some classic: fried potatoes, salad (greek salad without feta), tzatziki, and grilled bread (which was an obligatory order). As you see, the portion was enormous. Tzatziki would have been 4 portions in a touristy taverna in Plaka.



And meat!



We usually share 1 portion between us, but on that day Hubby insisted he was very hungry and wanted 2 dishes.

This is grilled veal T bone.



I never order veal steak, as it does not have meaty tastiness like matured beef. Hubby sometimes orders it and always gets disappointed. He never learns.

The meat was soft and nice, but still it was... veal.



We both liked better pork belly slices ("pancetta" in Greek).

We could not finish it and took half the meat away. Looking around us, most of the people do the same. Order huge amount of meat and take away what remains.

After the meal, we were offered some fruits.



Many people were eating yogurt (in an enormous portion again) served with bright colour spoon sweets.

The bill was a bit above 40 Euro. Not cheap, but the food was enough at least for 3 people, so if you come in a big group, the cost performance should be very good.

That is what we would like to do next time.
http://mourouzis.gr/

Oraia Tou Prodromou @ Artemida

The other Sunday, we went to Brauron (Vravrona) to see the archaeological site.

The road was pleasant and the scenery was green, and our expectation got high. However, unfortunately the archaeological site was closed. In front of the site, there was a sign saying that the site was closed from 11 January. I am guessing that it will reopen by the summer, but you'd better check before going.

We could visit the museum nevertheless, which was well presented and interesting.

On our way back we stopped at a psistaria (grill restaurant) called Ta Oraia tou Prodromou in Artemida.

It was almost empty when we entered.



The restaurant does not have menu and a waiter told us what they had on the day. Hubby wanted 2 main courses or at least two meat dishes, but I stopped him and it turned out to be a wise decision.

Grilled bread of unusual shape.



Fried potatoes (Hubby's order) and mixed salad. The potatoes were average frozen ones.



Salad was fresh and abundant. On ordering, the waiter suggested us to reduced the amount as it was big. It was a good piece of advice.

Cheese saganaki.



Another of Hubby's order. I think it was kasseri. I like fried cheese, but I don't eat it, as it is too heavey on my stomach.

And the main course. Veal T-bone steak.



It was HUGE. Including the bone, I would say it weighed half a kilo before cooking. Inside the meat was pink, as we ordered medium. It was not as flavoursome as beef (Greeks usually don't cook beef steak), but as veal stake it was fine.

With a bottle of water and a can of coke, the bill was 28.60 Euros. We judged it was a good value and comforting meal.



By the way, I wrote that the restaurant was almost empty when we entered, but it did not remained in that way.

After 20 min or so, a group of 70 people entered without reservation and it turned the place into a chaos, eldery citizens trying to snach best seats.

Evidently it was a KAPI excursion (KAPI is a public institution to support the people in old age, if I understood well).



In the meantime, a live music band came in and started to play music. Elderly women could not wait to be served and started to dance!



In Greece, the eldery with good pension and with family and friends look to be the happiest people in the country.

Peloponnisos @ Parnitha

We visited Parnitha mountain with friends.



The idea was to have a coffee at the casino establishment on top of the mountain enjoying the view. Then we found out that the restaurant serves coffee in an area where there is no view whatsoever.

That is life. We just enjoyed coffee & chat. Without view.

On the way back, only Hubby & I stopped at one of many psistaries lining the road leading up to Parnitha. There are much more restaurants than on the Vari-Kolopi street. Not have any idea which one should be good, we just stopped at the one that looked relatively busy (it was not meal time and no restaurant was really busy).

Peloponnisos.



Curiously, the restaurant did not have paper menu and the items on offer were communicated verbally to us by a waiter. It is a common practice in restaurants in countryside, but it is rare to find this practice in a place where a lot of tourists/visitors. In this sort of restaurant, you don't usually know how much each dish is if you don't ask the waiter explicitly.

Peloponnisos salad (mixed salad with balsamic vinegar), fried potato and tzatziki.



Later we found out salad was 8 Euros (!), tzatziki was 3, and potatoes were 2.50. The salad came in a generous portion, but I did not think it was worth 8 Euros.

Saganali of Talagani cheese, 4 Euros.

We have never seen this cheese before and we liked it very much. Consistency was close to haloumi cheese, but not at all salty and had a very strong milky taste.

Kokoretzi (7 Euros).

I ordered this because I wanted to try and the waiter told me that he could bring me a small portion.

Actually it came in a normal portion and the price was also full.

It was just OK.

Grilled pork chop (8.50 Euros).



Again the meat was very average and the potatoes were so salty that we could not eat.

With a coke and bread, the total bill came to 36.50. Probably OK for the amount we ordered (6 dishes), but we thought that the quality of food was poor for what I paid.

I had an impression that this is just a tourist trap; once trapped, we should learn to avoid.

And a photo of a lovely cat just outside the restaurant.

Peloponnisos
19 km leof. Parnithas
Tel. 210-2463318
http://www.plpsos.gr/

Paradosiako Tis Larissas @ Glyfada

Really, we went to go to a place in Alimos.

But it was full because of a post-baptism party.

Then we went to another restaurant we wanted to go in Glyfada. Again, it was full of the post-baptismal crowd.

So we ended up in this psistaria in Glyfada.

Sprite turned up in a unfamiliar glass bottle with plastic cap. I have never seen this before.



Cucumber & Tomato salad. We did not order Greek salad, because...



We ordered Galotyri.



It is a kind of cheese, cross between feta and Greek yogurt. I like this cheese.

And, meat of course.

Pork souvlaki wasn't bad, but not exceptional either. What I did not like were these stick like chips.



I left them all to Hubby who said he liked them.

And Hubby ordered grilled pork chop.



The meat was tender, juicy and well cooked. Thumb up.

But, 30 Euros bill looked a bit steap for what we ate.

Paradosiako tis Larissas
Kyprou 19 & Zerva 24 str.
Glyfáda, Greece
Tel. +30-210-8980032

Then off to an after-meal espresso at Alea.



I have not eaten cakes there and don't know how their sweets are, but can tell you that the espresso is excellent. Truly Italian.



I should eat cakes sometimes, but when we arrive here for espresso, we are too full with food and don't have space for anything but a single espresso.

Arni Psito @ Agia Anna

We went to Ossios Loukas recently.

We thought to be able to find a taverna nearby, but couldn't. Se we went up to Agia Anna where we knew that there are tavernes.

After half an hour of drive we stopped at a place called Elikonio.

When we entered, we did not know it was a psistaria (restaurant specialised in grilled meat), but anyway we were expecting to eat meat and it wasn't a problem.

As it happens in restaurants in countryside, they did not have menu and a woman who looked to be the owner or owner's wife explained to us verbally what they had on the day.

Here are tzatziki, beetroots,and local feta cheese.



Beetroots were delicious with a hint of vinegar. The Boeotia is famous for feta cheese and it was why we ordered one; I guess it was good, but to be honest we are not knowledgeable about feta cheese.

Then fried potatoes for Hubby.



They were fresh, but did not have much taste. We discussed that maybe the potato they used was not right sort of potato. Fried potatoes are such a simple food, but it is not easy to prepare good fried potatoes. These were OK, but rather dissapointing as we were expecting better ones.

About the time we started to worry about our main dish, it arrived.



800 grammes of grilled lamb on bone.

This did not betray our expectations: very soft, juicy and fragrant.

When we order, we were told that 1 portion is 800 grammes and we ordered accordingly. As the meat was on bone, there wasn't actually 800 grammes of meat to eat, but it was still a big quantity of meat for 2 of us.

But it was a shame to leave such a nice meat uneaten and eventually we managed to finish.

The bill came to 30 Euros (incl. tip). Not the cheapest food, but as the meat was very good, we were happy to pay.

Would love to come back, if we have a chance.

Greek Pastourmas

I have never eaten pastourmas until a few days ago. Even my Greek husband has never eaten it and did not even know what it was like.

Pastourmas is a sort of ham of Turkish origin and its varieties are eaten everywhere in ex-Ottoman countries and in neighbouring countries. It is basically a dried meat coated with spice paste.

Here is 200 grammes of pastourmas.



You can find it even in humble supermarkets, so I presume that it is a common food in Greece, but you hardly see it in restaurants.

Can you see the red rind around the meat? It is the spice paste.



It was not as stinky as I suspected, but it did have a very strong flavour, saltiness and spiciness. It was in fact too strong to eat on its own, and I combined it with melon, as many do with Italian prosciutto crudo. Hubby, who has children's taste buds - was not particularly keen on it.

I bought also some beef sausages.



I have not tried them yet. The seller told me that I could grill them.



90% of contents are beef and they look rather dry. I will tell you how they are, when I eat them.