Premiera Again @ Kallithea

2 Sundays ago, we went to Premiera in Kallithea. It looks that I did not write about it the last time we paid a visit and this was our second. It is housed in an elegant residence building and the interior is quite nice. This time, however, we sat down in the courtyard; it was a bit hot, but there was some breeze from time to time.

It was totally vacant when we arrived at around 2 o'clock, but started to fill from 3 o'clock on by the people who looked and/or sounded like Russian Greeks (i.e. the Greeks who moved from the former Soviet Union countries and their kids and grand kids).

First come was warm pieces of bread and garlic butter colored by red beet. Good, but you really should be aware that it fills your stomach.

Crepes (which is not the real name) filled with yellow cheese as starter. Very nice but a bit heavy, maybe I should have chosen minced meat or smoked salmon version.

Here is the starter for GH: fried potatoes. Besides, his main course was a pasta dish (as you will see later). Do not ask me why. He said that they were delicious. Lucky for him.

Caesar salad with croutons, grilled chicken and Parmesan cheese. We should have ordered something more Russian, but it seems that the Russians do not have habit of eating raw vegetables. As it was a hot day and I needed fresh veggie, I ordered this and was happy with the result.

My main dish was pork shashlik, which is like an enormous souvlaki. The meant had some fat and sinew, but it was fine for me, as I do not a big fan of clean fillet.

GH got Russian ravioli with ricotta cheese served with butter and sour cream. I think he ordered the same dish when we came here for the first time. He loved it, but had difficulty finishing all, as he has eaten too much already.

But you don't say no to the ice cream at the end in such a hot day (on the house).

The bill was a bit above 30 Euro, which we think is excellent value for money. Very much recommended.

Premiera
Doiranis 29, Kallithea, Athens
Δοϊράνης 29, Καλλιθέα

Tel. 217 716 9500

Momo @ Kallithea

I am officially on summer vacation and don't have to go to work for 2 weeks. How nice. I feel thankful to the company I work for, even though its their legal obligation to give employees days-off.

By the way, yesterday, the 20th July Sunday, was the first Sunday from the start of the summer sales season. On such Sundays, the shops are allowed to open for trade (and you might also know that there is a controversial pilote plan that might allows the shops to open as many Sundays as they want). GH and I went to Kallithea for window shopping.

Not all the shops were open, though. Probably some chose to be remain closed because many Athenians were out for beaches.

After window & non window shopping, we went to a cafeteria near Kyprou Square called Momo. I had found the place on Foursquare; it is highly rated and the food in the photos looked good.

As all the other cafeterias in Kyprou Square, Momo has tables there (in the square I mean), but it also has a yard just behind. It is like a small garden or park. It was surprisingly peaceful in the heart of busy Kallithea. GH complained about a strange smell, but I am pretty sure it was from plant food. The interior space is also attractive, but the Greeks tend to want to be seated outside.

Momo is a cafeteria which offers various handmade food like warm sandwiches, salads, hot dogs, burgers, and cakes. And a good variety of them. Here is a sample of sandwich section.

GH ordered Pasta salad (4.80 Euro). It was cold ring shaped pasta (like very small ditali) mixed with chopped vegetables and bacon and combined with mayonnaise. To be honest, I did not like it. It was too oily for me and the pasta was slightly stale, but GH seemed to like it enough.

I ordered grilled sandwich with roast beef and mushroom (4.80 Euro).

This was much better. When I read roast beef, I expected cold cuts, and then it turned out to be braised veal. It was a disappointment, but not a bad filling as it was. The bread was country style sour bread. Although I would have preferred non-sour bread, it was better than anemic white bread. The portion was huge. We could well have shared one plate between us.

The food might have not been a top notch, but it was a big step forward from usual cafeteria food. And I welcome the fact that Athens in crisis has more eating option than, say, 5 years ago.

We will be back to try other dishes.

MOMO
Sapfous 96, Kallithea, Athens
Σαπφούς 96, Καλλιθέα, Αθήνα
210 9562300

Palia Xanthi @ Tzitzifies

A couple of months ago, while we were walking in Tzitzifies, we came across a taverna called Palia Xanthi, which I have never heard of. Although it was an odd hour (around 6 o'clock in the afternoon, if I remember well), there were some people eating there and the food looked promising.

So we returned there last week.

The place is rather large. There was smell from the fireplace and kitchen. You'd better avoid coming here with nice clothes because the smell sticks (we regretted afterwards).

The menu contains usual starters, a variety of simple salads, a variety of fish mezedes and main dishes (but not big fish), and again usual grille meats. One thing that notably lacking was Mageirefta (stewed or oven baked food). No moussakas, no pastitsio, no meat cooked in tomato sauce, no stewed vegetables.

And I did not notice anything exotic either, except for Kavourmas. But I have no idea about the food in Xanthi and I might be wrong.

Here are grilled bread with oil and oregano, tyrosalata (which was tyrokafteri), and horta.

All of the above were pretty good with fresh green olive oil.

The fried potatoes came in a big portion, but the oil was slightly stale.

We wanted to order Midopilafo (rice cooked with mussels), but they did not have it. So we decided to try one meat dish. This is a portion of Keftedes (7 Euro).

They looked like biftekia, but the texture was not as meaty. It was like balls of mince treated with a pinch of soda, which gives a bouncy consistency to the meat. I know a Turkish recipe of such meat balls. They were not bad, but I don't think I want to order again.

The "Married Sardines" instead were our favorite of the night (6.50 Euro). These were fillets of sardines facing each other and slices of tomato in between.

A bit salty, but they made a good accompaniment to Vergina Weiss beer that we ordered.

The total bill came to 28 Euro, including a bottle of water (sort of obligatory order) and there was no free dessert or drink.

The price was fair, if not cheap. It seems that during the weekend they have live music. We should be trying one of these nights.

Palia Xanthi - Παλιά Ξάνθη
Pisistratou 87, Tzitzifies, Kallithea, Athens, Greece
Πεισιστράτου 87, Τζιτζιφιές, 17674, Αθήνα
Tel. 210 9403855

Antonia @ Tzitzifies

About Antonia first spoke to me a taxi-driver who is also a good friend. He said it was a fabulous taverna and I had to try. And later I read good reviews on the web. So I went one Wednesday night with GH.

From what I read I expected the place to be more humble. So it was a nice surprise when we found this large place with a nice environment. I was relieved, because GH sometimes refuses to enter, when the restaurants I want to go look to shabby.

I could not count how many tables there were. The smokers were on the other side, and the non-smokers were on the side where we were seated.

The menu is not short, but the choice is rather limited, because they do not have grill. Most of the people seemed to order fried calamari, fried prawns (large ones for 35 Euro per kilo), fried small & fresh cod, and/or steamed mussels. They have also usual small fish to fry, like barbounia, koutsoura, and gopes.

To start, we ordered mixed salad and tyrokafteri (Cheese & chili dip).

The salad was lovely and huge for 5.50 Euro. It was filling, for it included black-eyed peas and boiled potatoes.

Of course GH ordered fried potatoes.

I am sure they were hand-cut and freshly fried, but they did not taste quite well, probably because the potatoes were not of the right kind.

As main course, we had fried calamari (frozen) for 7.50 Euro.

Unfortunately I did not like them. Not because they did not cook well, but I found them tasteless. GH, instead, said they were fine.

We had also 4 large prawns (14 Euro in total).

As I did not want 3 deep-fried dishes, I had them boiled (I would have preferred grilled, but, as I said, there was not grill). I found them slightly over-cooked and not quite flavorful. They would have better as saganaki or garidomakaronada (or deep-fried, as the other people were eating).

At the end, we were offered semolina halvas, which was just average (not that I am complaining).

The total bill was 36.20 Euro which is quite reasonable. In fact, in Antonia, all the fish/seafood are sold at 35 Euro per kilo at the most (there are no luxury fish), which I believe is quite a bargain in comparison to many fish tavernas in Athens.

For a relaxing meat with friends or family, this seems an ideal place; you will enjoy the food without worrying too much of the bill. I won't, however, come all the way here for the best meal.

Antonia - Αντωνία
Isminis 36, Tzitzifies, Kallithea, Athens
Ισμήνης 36, Τζιτζιφιές, Καλλιθέα, Αθήνα
Tel. 210 9404508

Biftekopoleio @ Kallithea

Happy Christmas to you all! I guess you are eating all sorts of nice things and in big quantity. I am suffering from sugar-overload and, regrettably, the gym is closed until Thursday. Ooups

While on Christmas shopping expedition, we ended up in Kallithea and looked for somewhere to eat. I wanted to go to a politiko grill called Tamam, but on arrival I found that the owner had changed and it was now a normal grill.

In itself it might not be a bad thing, but seeing that it did not look fully open or closed (it was around 5 in the afternoon), we walked toward Davaki Square in search of something else.

Then we arrived here: Biftekopoleio, since 1960.

It is not a restaurant, but a grill with counter. They do delivery as well. And it is open only 10:00 to 17:00.

We decided to give it a go, as it looked quite busy and lively. The girls serving at the counter were very friendly.

As it is called Biftekishop, we ordered biftekia in pita (2 Euro a piece).

In the pita, there are only biftekia (beef/veal burgers), tomato and onion. Things were kept very simple like at Thanasis in Monastiraki, save that Thanasis does kebab.

The combination of fluffy pita and juicy biftekia was really good. Because the ingredients are minimum (no tzatziki, no potatoes), I felt like eating a biftekia sandwich. The quality of the meat might not be great seeing that I found a small piece of bone in the bifteki, but still the biftekia were great.

It is quite small and you shall have to eat at least two to get satisfied, but it is a sort of thing you shall crave for from time to time.

We ordered also one pork skewer in pita for 2 Euro.

To our disappointment, it was pretty mediocre. The meat did not say much.

If you order a portion (merida), instead of pita wrap, 4 biftekia, 2 pitas, grilled tomato and onion cost you 7.50 Euro. Tzatziki is 2.50 Euro and they do not seem to have fried potato at all (at least it is not on the menu).

Not a great meal place, but it is a perfect snacking spot.

Biftekopoleio
Davaki 59, Kallithea
176 72, Athens
Tel. 210 9512929

Μπιφτεκοπωλείο
Δαβάκη 59, Καλλιθέα

From 10:00 to 17:00

Kazakh Restaurant Eugenios @ Kallithea

Having heard about various Russian restaurants in Kallithea, I have always been curious, but I have never visited any, because, basically, I do not like much Russian food.

But, when I heard that there is one Russian-Kazakh restaurant, I decided I could try it.

It is called Eugenios and situated in Kallithea, between Thiseos and Sygrou Streets.

It was a Sunday afternoon, which is usually busy hours for restaurants, so I called 1 hour ahead to know if there was a table at 3:30. The owner told me that there was not need to book, because there should not be much people. Better.

The decor is minimalistic.

Except for this Kazakhstan shrine.

In the restaurant there was a couple who should be the owners and the woman helped us to choose the dishes. There is not strange stuff like horse meat which seems to be a popular meat in Kazakhstan and there are more familiar Russian dishes like pelmeni (maybe it was not exactly in this name, but its variety).

GB ordered a "local" beer which turned out to be Ukrainian.

Russian Salad (5 Euro). It is with green peas, potatoes, gherkin pickles, boiled eggs, ham/sausage and carrots, as far as I remember.

Very generous portion and we did not manage to eat it all.

We ordered also a pita because we were told we needed one. It tasted like something between bread and pita.

This is beef (veal) in terracotta pot. We laughed because we ate something very similar in Pelion last summer. Pelion and Kazakhstan. Ha ha ha ha ha.

In the pot, there were potatoes, preurotous mushroom, sliced meat and cheese on top. The soup smelled sheep, maybe because there was sheep fat it it. Nice.

Manti (6 Euro) came in a very generous portion and were served with soy sauce, white vinegar and chili paste (adzika?).

The filling was mixture of minced meat, cabbage and possibly onion. We liked these very much.

The last to come were shashlik - souvlaki. On the menu there were chicken, pork and lamb and we could choose whichever combination we wanted. We ordered 1 chicken (2.50 Euro) and 1 lamb (3 Euro).

They were sprinkled generously with vinegar. Both very nice, but I liked better lamb.

Here our stomachs reached their capacity and gave up. The total bill was 25.50 Euro. Excellent value for money. I am not sure how typically Kazakh the food was (I think the owners were from there, but the "Russians" in Athens are often of Greek origins), but surely we will come back.

Open everyday except Monday, from 1 o'clock onward.

EUGENIOS
Andromachis 267, Kallithea
Tel. 210 9410001

ΕΥΓΕΝΙΟΣ
Ανδρομάχης 267, Καλλιθέα,
17674, Αττική

Thalassinos @ Tzitzifies

It has been a long time since the last time we found a restaurant that serves interesting food. We visited good ones, value ones, sympathetic ones, but we do not remember which was the last one we said "Wow!".

You might say that it is because we go only to cheap restaurants and I can answer it is VERY TRUE. I will return to this point a bit later.

The restaurant we visited was a fish tavern in Tzitzifies (Kallithea, Athens) called Thalassinos. Tzitzifies is not one of the hip places of Athens, but there are quite a lot of noteworthy restaurants for some reason. Thalassinos is one of them.

From outside, it is unpretentious, at the best.

When you enter inside, your impression would certainly change. It does look more ... expensive. In this photo there is only one couple, but in later hours, more and more people arrive (and unfortunately the hall got filled with cigarette smoke!).

The menu is quite long, but some of the items are not offered everyday. Your waiter will explain to you what are the "today's dish".

There are many meze dishes, while what they define as "main dishes" are only big fishes, which are very expensive as in every fish restaurants in Greece. However, they don't mind us ordering only mezedes, so nothing to worry about (I did not see any table with large fish).

The bread was served with a sort of tomato salza with fine bulgur. The waiter warned us that it was hot, we did not understand any hint of chili. It was probably because I have an Asian tongue and Greek Husband's have been accustomed to my cooking little by little in past years.

We did not order any "salata" (dips for bread or raw vegetables) variety and got only boiled stamnagathi.

First meze was garidoprasopitakia (small pies with prawns and leek).

Excellent crunchy fyllo pastry and nice flavour of filling with sweet leek and flagrant dill. I usually do not like fried pitakia (small pies), but these convinced me.

Next meze, seafood kokoretsi.

From the name I expected something rolled & sliced dry food, but turned out to be tomato stewed seafood (squids, octopus, prawns and sliced mushrooms). We were not impressed at the first look, but on tasting it, we were duly impressed by the strength of flavour.

Fried potatoes would have gone very well with this dish, but the restaurant does not offer normal patatoules (they have fried match-stick potatoes), so we did not order it.

There are three varieties of pasta and we ordered one of these: spaghetti with seafood.

It turned out to be linguine with vongole and tomato sauce. It was evident that they use very high quality tomato to make the sauce. Even though some of the clams had sands and it was slightly over salted, it is a pasta that I would expect to eat at a good Italian restaurant and not at a Greek taverna.

The total bill came to 50 Euro & below is the details:

Bread x 2 = 1.80 Euro
Stamnagathi = 6 Euro
Garidoprasopitakia (4 pieces) = 7.90 Euro
Seafood Kokoretsi = 14.90 Euro
Spaghetti = 14.90 Euro
1/2 l. white wine = 4.50 Euro

As you see, the prices are relatively high, but not too high. I would say that the kokoretsi looks too expensive for what it is, even though the dish was good.

If I were told to pay what I would think it worth, I would have paid 45 Euro. For the same question, GH said he would have paid 40-45.

The reality, however, that I paid only 35 Euro because I had a discount card which entitled me to pay only 70% of the final bill.

For this price, we will certainly return. It is an example that research helps a lot to get a good food for affordable price.

Thalassinos / Θαλασσινός
Lysikratous 32, Tzitzifies (Kallithea).
Athens
Tel. 210-9404518
(Λυσικράτους 32, Τζιτζιφιές)

Estate in Kallithea

I am at Estate cafeteria in Kallithea. Very warm day if it isn't really "estate" (summer in Italian).

Savvas @ Kalithea

I am still pretty sick and have not yet gone out to breath 2011 air.

Thus, I am continuing to post the photos of 2010.

Some days before the end of the year, we stopped at Kalithea branch of Savvas restaurant.

I have seen some branches around Athens and I guess there is a connection to that Savvas in Monastiraki. I found a website, but it does not have any content at the moment of writing.

http://www.kebapsavvas.gr/

It is a souvlaki restaurant with Constantinopolitan touch. Many dishes are some sorts of Turkish.



The beer was served in icy glass.



It would have been nice, if it were in summer, but in chilly winter evening, it is difficult to appreciate.

Cold chicken salad.



Most of the things that might look like chicken are actually small pieces of pita bread. These tasted stale oil and were disgusting. Otherwise, ... just passable, I am afraid.

Lahmacun.



It had an unpleasant small of half-cooked meat. I think the heat was not high enough.

Kotobakon (bacon wrapped chicken morsels) ordered by my ever-conservative-in-food husband.



Finally this was ok. Well. I don't like kotobakon in general, but this was better than the ones I have ever eaten.

But Hubby was mourning that the menu had promised it to be served with fries. As I did not read it, I don't know if it was so.

The bill was about 20 Euros. Normal price for souvlaki restaurants. If I am ever coming back to this restaurant, I would try to order ordinary, classic things as possible. But I don't think I would go back willingly.