Dragon fries at New Acropolis Museum

When I went to the New Acropolis Museum on 16 September 2009, I saw something strange happening in front of it.



This is glass flooring in front of the building. Through the glass, we can admire the antiquities just below the museum.



Just over the surface of the glass floor, there were many copulating dragon fries. Can you see them?



They were thinking planting eggs in water. The shining glass was just like the shining surace of lake or river.

Considering the number of dragon fries is dwindling, it was a shame that their eggs were wasted in this way.

New Entry: Dosirak Japanese-Korean Restaurant

I wrote a review of Dosirak Japanese Korean restaurant near Syntagma Square.

http://www.mesogeia.net/athens/places/syntagma/dosirak_en.html



I actually liked this place better than the Japanese-owned Furin Kazan. If I should speak about authenticity, Furin Kazan probably is the better, but for the value-for-money factor and for the variety of menu items, my preference goes to Dosirak.

Only negative factor is that inside the restaurant it does not smell Japanese cuisine. But, if you are not Japanese, the probability is that you won't notice and it is negligible.

New Acropolis Museum Cafeteria

Having some time to kill in Athens, I visited the New Acropolis Museum for the second time. It was in afternoon of an weekday and there was hardly any queue for ticket.

I knew that there was a panoramic restaurant in the museum, but I rather opted the cafeteria in the ground floor as I wanted to eat something before starting the viewing.



Beside drinks, they offer light meals like sandwich and cakes.

Sandwich menu is rather interesting, in the sense that there is no 'ham and cheese sandwich', but 'smorked turkey ham and katsiki cheese from Domokos sandwich' and so on. I choose the one seemed the most adventurous: Kalloni (town in Lesvos) sardine, grey mullet bottarga, and fresh basil leaves in semolina bread sandwich.



I like fish sandwich, but this one was far too salty to my taste buds. Kalloni sardines are salt cured and the ratio of salted fish againt bread was too high. I quickly finished diet coke and a glass of water to get the sandwich through my mouth.

The remarkable point about this cafeteria is, however, the pricing. Sandwiches are beteen 2.80 and 3.50 euros and cakes are 3 euros. Soft drinks are about 2 euros, so you can have a light lunch only for 5 euros circa. Considering the cafeteria of National Archaeological Museum charges exorbitant price, it is a great bargain.

Just that I will order something else next time. ;)

P.S. I visited this place on a different day and the service was quite caotic. Yes, it was busy, but it does not have so many tables and there were 5 or 6 service persons. You might have to be a bit patient on one of busy days.

Rivisting Fish-Taverna Without Name

These days I have been quite busy and tired, such that I could not bring myself to write this blog, which - to be honest - not the priority of my life.

But, this does not mean that I stopped to live or to photograph; now I have accumulate quite a lot to write about.

However, I am still out of energy. Not because I am tried, but it seems I caught cold. It was quite chilly yesterday, and while having lunch outdoor, I mush have chilled myself too much. I don't feel very well at this moment, and for this reason, I am kicking off with a short post.


Several days ago, Hubby and I returned to the fish-tavern-without-name in our neighbourhood, as I was far too tired to cook after a long journey.

They don't have many items on the 'menu' which actually does not exist and should be recited by a waitress; various fish and shellfish, salads, fried potatoes, and a few other mezedakia (they had feta saganaki, courgette balls, fava on that day).

This is mixed salad.



And grilled squid (thrapsala) which Hubby loves.



We had also feta saganaki, chips, a bottle of beer and a bottle of water. All for about 21 euros.

You see. Here, food is fresh and nice, but nothing fancy and the cooking isn't that good to brow your mind. This is a sort of taverna where neighbours gather when they don't bother to cook or when they want to chat with neighbours over some plates and ouzo. I don't think it worth travelling to visit this place, but we are lucky to have it in 5 min walk from our flat.

Lunch in Anaxos, Lesvos

Some time ago I uploaded a page about Anaxos in Lesvos.

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/lesvos/anaxos_en.html

And the following are the photos I did not use there.

On arriving Anaxos where we booked a studio for 2 nights, we were starved. Walking toward the beach, we just entered almost the first taverna that we found. I think it was called Elafina, but not so sure. It looked quite touristic, but had a nice shadey garden, so we settled on it. I would have walked kilometers to look around other places, but Hubby is not as enthusiastic about food as I am and we usually find a way to compromise.

Strangely decorated Greek salad.

Feta cheese was surprisingly small for Greek standard. It was more like cream cheese than usual feta (not that I am saying it wasn't feta; feta cheese has wider variety than we non-Greeks think). Olives also looked like those from glass jar. Nevertheless, the veggies were fresh and more than edible.

Hubby ordered brizola of moshari, meaning veal steak.



Greeks burn the steaks to death and that is why I never order veal steak, but Hubby is Greek and did not mind it. He said it was OK and was happy that it came with chips, which were frozen ones and oily, but not bad in terms of taste. I mean, they were sweet and not burnt.

I ordered hirino tigania (pan fried pork morsels braised in white wine with onion and green pepper).

This again wasn't particularly good, but not bad either. It was fine. Generous portion and, again, with edible chips.

After the meal, they offered us a plate of water melon.

We ordered also a glass of beer and a bottle of water. The total bill was only €22.

I would have preferred to pay more to get better and more interesting food, but at the same time I admit that it was very good value. So we walked out quite happily.