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. 

Mikio @ Palaio Faliro

Again, it has been a while to write a post. The reason is still the same: too many sports activities.


Anyway, these are some pics from a Cretan mezedopoleio called Mikio (accent at the last 'o') on Agiou Alexandrou Street of Palaio Faliro. We decided to go there because it was highly rated by Foursquare users (Currently 8.2/10).

It was a warm Sunday evening of September. It was almost empty as we arrived, but it was just because it was early for dinner time and it filled up quickly.

The menu was relatively short and our choices were even more limited because they sold out many items during the lunch service. I noted that they do not serve slow-cooked dishes on the menu, which was disappointing.

First came were bread and marinated olives and peppers.

Feta baked with tomato and peppers. Feta tasted good, but nothing particular about cooking.

The salad would have been good, if it were not soaked in dressing.

I think it was Apaki, if I remember well. Served without any garnish.

We had also fried potatoes and beer. Potatoes were all right, if a bit burned with bitter aftertaste.

We had 4 dishes and the bill came to 28.10 Euro. Not expensive, but I would not say it is good value for money, as there was nothing stood out.

And strangely for a Cretan place, there was no freebie. Let alone dessert, not even a shot of raki.

Mikio is a sympathetic kafenio, which serves some mezedes, but I don't consider this as a restaurant/ taverna/ mezedopoleio. The kitchen is not to that standard. That was my impression.

Mikio - Μικιό
Agiou Alexandrou 58, Palaio Faliro, 17561
Αγίου Αλεξάνδρου 58, Παλαιό Φάληρο, 17561
Tel. 6946995740

What We Ate in Gytheio and Around 4

The final post about the food we ate in Gytheio; click here for the first, the second and the third part.

This is a hotel/cafe/restaurant called La Boheme.

Here and in another cafe in Gytheio, cappuccino freddo was served with whipped cream. You can see it in Athens, too, but it is normally described as "freddo capputticno with whipped cream", and you won't order it unknowingly.

With coffee, we ordered a chocolate souffle. I don't remember how much it cost, but was rather expensive. I felt disappointed when I saw the small size of it, but the taste compensated the quantity.

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On our way back to Piraeus, we stopped at Sparti for lunch.

We did not plan it, so I did a quick search with Tripadvisor to find a nearest place with good rating.

That was how we found Tsipouradiko 50.

It is just some streets behind the central square, but I would not find it, if I was not searching for it specifically. It should have a courtyard, but it was closed, because, it was raining (strange for August in Greece). The interior is old taverna/kafenio style but the establishment is relatively new, only 3 or 4 years old.

We ordered some mezedes, that all came in a decent portion.

This is spaghetti cooked with butter, garlic and cheese. The owner told us it was a traditional recipe of Mani. Not only the garlic, but also grated cheese were fried in a pan. Interesting dish.

With 5 dishes we were stuffed and the bill came to very reasonable 25.50 Euro. Recommended.

Tsipouradiko To Peninda - Τσιπουράδικο το '50'
Evangelistrias 50, 23100, Sparti, Lakonia
Ευαγγελιστρίας 50, 231 00, Sparti Lakonías
Tel. 27310 83585

What We Ate in Gytheio and Around 3

Here is the part 3 of "What We Ate in Gytheio and Around", following the part 1 and the part 2.

To complete the picture, we could not omit visiting Saga, which is probably the most famous fish restaurant in Gytheio.

The menu is fairly simple. Evidently fish soup is their specialty, but we did not tried it.

To start, we ordered melitzanosalata and tomato & cucmber salad (also known as horiatiki horis feta). The bread came grilled, accompanied by small olives. All fine, but nothing spectacular.

For the main course, we had grilled squid with boiled vegetable as side (12 Euro), and shrimp spaghetti (garidomakaronada, 15 Euro). Both quite tasty, but portion size was small. Spaghetti came freshly boiled (surely al dente) and tomato sauce had a clean taste; I felt as if I were in Italy.

That said, there was really no comparison with the splendid garidomakaronada that I ate at Takis taverna in Limeni near Areopoli 1.5 year ago.

At the end of the meal, our waiter offered either fruits or dessert (semolina halvas). Saga was the only one taverna that offered us free dessert in Gytheio this summer.

We had also half a kilo of white wine and the total cost came to 40 Euro. The most expensive meal of this trip, but I won't complain as the food was satisfactory and the service was impeccable. The professionality of the waiters were exemplar.

I am not sure if I want to go back there, because it is not one of the best seafood restaurants I can think of. However, the kitchen seems to be reliable as well as the service. So if you are looking for a meal that won't disappoint you, I would say this is the place to be.

Saga
Tzanni Tzannetaki
Tel. 27330 21358
http://sagapension.gr/

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We tried also 2 places outside Gytheio. One of them was called Kali Kardia, which is situated along the road from Gytheio for Areopoli. It looks like a small roadside taverna, but actually is a "exohiko kentro" (large restaurant that local people uses for special occasions, for example, to hold a marriage party). It is featured in Tripadvisor, so you might be interested to visit.

The menu is mostly meat, grilled as well as stewed.

We started with tyrokafteri (cheese and chili dip) and boiled green.

GH ordered veal in tomato sauce (moshari kokkinisto) served with fried potatoes and I ordered grilled sausages served with fries and mayonnaise. Look at the quantity.

All the dishes were tasty and portion was very generous. At the same time, I have to mention that the quality of the sausage was inferior to the one that we ate at 90 mires in Gytheio; they contained some hard bits and lard. The veal, on the other hand, was quite lean and there was really nothing to be left.

One thing of note is that this place features beers from Greek micro-breweries. We had a bottle of Royal Ionian Pilsner, which was pleasant.

The bill came to reasonable 26 Euro I would not travel to eat here on purpose, but if I am in the area, I would definitely come back.

Kali Kardia - Η Καλή Καρδιά
Hosiario (Gytheio)
Χωσιάριο (Γύθειο)
Tel. 27330 93250
Facebook

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The best restaurant award of this trip goes to En Plo in Kotronas. I did not like particularly the beach of Kotronas, but would go back only to eat at this place.

From outside, it looks like a humble beach bar/taverna. It also offers sun beds and parasols at the beach. The menu includes club sandwiches and frappe. There is no element that makes you suspect this is a gourmet restaurant.

The first to come were bread, olive oil and small olives. You see that the napkin of under the bread is cloth, instead of paper?

This is salad with Graviera from Crete and Sigrino from Mani. Incredible flavor. The quality of sigrino was top notch. The price tag of 8.50 Euro was justified.

We got also "Orphaned" Moussaka (right below in the photo). Our waiter explained to us it was moussaka without meat and white sauce. We did not understand what it could be, but then it turned out to be more or less solid Briam. And fried potatoes. Again the flavor was very strong. I think it was down to the quality of the ingredients.

I did not like the beach of Kotronas so much, but I would travel there only to eat at this restaurant. Maybe I'd just stay at Kotronas to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner here.


Gefsis En Plo - ΓΕΥΣΕΙΣ ΕΝ ΠΛΩ
Kotronas Beach, 230 62 Kotronas
Κότρωνας 23062, ΛΑΚΩΝΙΑΣ
Tel. 27330 22900

The same owner has a hotel called Kotronas Bay, which is, however, not exactly at the same place.
http://www.kotronasbay.gr/

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And two additional photos.

Gytheio has a healthy amount of tourism, but not so much that every cafeteria offers breakfast combinations. We stayed at a hotel called "Pantheon" paying 49 Euro per night for a twin bedroom (the price was fine, as it was very close to the highest peek season). It had B&B option, but we did not take it. One morning we went out for breakfast. GH was not in a mood to walk around to search, so we ended up in an ouzeri/kafenio. They had tyropite (cheese pie) for breakfast.

One evening we went to a village called Petrona, about 10 KM from Gytheio, as it was holding a festival. Visitors could buy souvlakia, salad, cheese and fried bread. We gave up to buy fried bread (Maniot specialty) because of loooong queue, but got souvlakia. In taste wise, there is nothing noteworthy, but I was impressed how quickly and faultlessly the local boys serving the ordered items to the visitors.

What We Ate in Gytheio and Around 2

Here is the 2nd part of "What we ate in Gytheio and Around", continuing from the part 1.

GH generally does not like to eat in the same place repeatedly. Just for this reason, we visited also 90 Moires (read "Eneninda mires", meaning 90 degrees, as the restaurant is positioned at a corner). It is a fairly large place by Gytheio's standard.

We had once ate here 1.5 years ago and I knew what to expect (GH did not really remember).

Here are tzatziki and tomato-cucumber salad to start.

The restaurant has both meat, fish and cooked vegetable (ladera) dishes. We got grilled sausage and briam.

I found both very tasty, but the portion was small and over-priced. The bill came to 29 Euro, without eating much and without free dessert (which I remember to have had when we visited here in the winter).

Good food, but too expensive. I am not sure I would like to try it again.

90 Moires - 90 Μοίρες
Tzanni Tzanetaki Street
Tel. 27330 25425

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As the restaurants in Gytheio do not offer free dessert (at least during the summer), we stopped buy Italian gelato at a place called Vitorino. The ice creams were pretty good and 1.60 Euro a scoop. They have never given us receipt, though.

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As we get tired eating at Greek taverna lunch end dinner, sometimes we at alternative places. Gytheio is not a town with disco and clubs, but there are nice cafes and bars along the seaside.

One of these places was Lybe-Lybe, which offers Italian style food as well as drinks.

This is a salad with rocket and mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto with balsamic vinegar.

Pizza came a bit burnt, but did not taste bad as much as it looked in the photo. It was also huge and was enough to feed us 2 (although you have to know that I cannot eat pizza so much especially for dinner, as I cannot digest).

The dough was a bit too tough and was difficult to bite.

The price I think was around 25 Euro including a bottle of beer. The wifi worked perfectly. As I said, it is a nice place for non-Greek meal.


Lybe Lybe
Tzanni Tzannetaki, Gytheio
Tel. 27330 75404

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We ate also crepes sometimes at Touristiko Periptero.

Touristiko Periptero -  Τουριστικό Περίπτερο
Eleftherolakonon, Gytheio
Ελευθερολακώνων, Γύθειο
Tel. 2733022282