Lunch @ Ikea

Went to IKEA to buy a coffee table.

And as we were there, we took the opportunity to go to the restaurant.



IKEA restaurant might not be a great gourmet experience, but it is a nice place to savour 'exotic' European food for a very affordable price.



The most famous dish should be Swedish meat balls. (By the way, when the Greeks call them "Souidika keftedakia", I cannot help but laugh).

I had rocket salad with prawns and mushroom soup.



If you are reading this blog in UK for example, you might not realize how exotic they are in Greece.

When I was living in UK, I used to eat often these small half-cooked prawns. Here in Greece, I can barely find them.

And mushroom soup. The Greeks do not have this sort of cream soups. It was a shame that it was lukewarm.

There are also Greek dishes and, being a good Greek, Hubby took gemista.



He did not look very enthusiastic, but said it was fine.

Afterwards, we had also cream Cheese cake and coffee.

The total bill is 13.45 Euro. Maybe cheaper than at Goody's or MacDonald's.

We won't fail to visit the restaurant whenever we come to IKEA.

O Loulas @ Marathonas

When we went to Marathon, we thought we should eat pork chops, as someone told us that Marathon was famous for brizoles (pork chops).

I am not sure if it is true, but we found one grill restaurant and stopped there.



It is inside the town of Marathon. Decor was basic & rustic. There was a big fire place.



The menu was, as in many rural grill restaurants, not long and it did not take us much time to decide what to order.

Grilled bread with olive oil and oregano was obligatory order.



Tzatziki & cabbage and carrot salad. Judging from the texture of cucumber, tzatziki was not fresh.



This is a dish called "Tsoukalaki", aubergine, tomato & cheese in oven. OK, although 6 Euro for this seemed a bit excessive.



Fried potatoes were frozen variety.



And we shared 1 pork chop which was nice (in the photo it looks small, but it is actually of normal size; the lemon was huge).



At the end of the meal, they offered us yogurt with syruppy fruit (It was something unusual but I don't remember its name). This yogurt was excellent; dense and almost cheesy.



We had also house red wine which we liked much.

The food was good, if not exceptionally good and the price is fine for what they offer. We might come back if chanced to be in Marathon.


O Loulas
Dimokratias 1, Marathonas
22940 66108

Bread 0.50 x 2
Tzatziki 3
Cabbage Salad 3.50
Tsoukalaki (auberine) 6
Potatoes 2.50
Pork Chop 8
1/4 wine 1.50
Big Bottle of Water 1.50

Seoul House @ Alimos

[Update on 29 March 2014: This place was closed and then reopened in Zisimopoulou Street of Palaio Faliro. I have not been there yet].


One Friday evening we happened to visit a Korean restaurant in Alimos.



I don't think there are many Koreans living in Athens, maybe less numerous than the Japanese in Athens. Most of the Greeks had no clue about what Korean cuisine is.



Maybe that is why the menu is more Chinese than Korean and the Korean part is not much translated in English. There are some extra Korean items written on the wall, in Hangul only. The family who is running the restaurant is apparently Korean, but the waitress is Filippini, probably because the owners do not speak English or Greek enough.

So we gave up ordering single items (the main dishes looked rather expensive, but the price might include several side dishes, as the Koreans often do) and got a set menu, 15Euro per person.

First to come was a bowl of soup.



And small side dishes. Various pickled salads, Korean Omelette, and rice.




Stir-fried veggies.



Stir-Fried Korean glass noodles.



Squid and Prawns in Chili Sauce



Beef in sweet soy sauce.



We got pretty stuffed at the end of meal and at the end a plate of fruits.



Not the best Korean food you can expect, but the meal was enjoyable. If you happened to be in the area, why not?



Seoul House Restaurant
Leoforos Eleftherias 34, Alimos 174 55, Greece

Taverna O Thespis @ Plaka

So. If you live in suburbs of Athens, not that you find much chance to eat in Plaka, while it is the absolute favorite for the common tourists to find somewhere to experience Greek/Athenian dining.

Working in tourism industry, I thought I should know what the tourists are eating. Visit to Geros tou Moria was the first of my experiment. And here is the second: Thespis Taverna on Thespidos Street.

The restaurant is situated at the upper end of Thespidos street. It looks small, but actually has a quite large space outside.



The menu is classic taverna fare without twist or creativity (and it is OK not to be creative for Greek cooks, because most of the Greeks do not like innovation).

Bread.



I like this sort of yellow bread. Tyrokafteri was clearly homemade and mixed with black pepper. Nice. But 4.90 Euro for this? Really?



And a Greek salad. Looking from the top, it looks ordinary, but strangely there was shredded cabbage below the tomatoes.



Fried potatoes were freshly made and we liked them. I guess it is not easy to find fresh fried potatoes in Plaka.



As main dish, we had oven baked lamb (9.90 Euro) to share. It was very soft & juicy, as it should be. It is totally different from the roast lamb that the English people make. Greek oven roast lamb is like stewed inside the oven.



Over all, we liked the food, although it wasn't particularly cheap. We will be happy to return, if we happen to be there.



Bill, please!

Bread 0.80 Euro x 2 = 1.60 Euro

Water 1.80 Euro

Coke 1.80 Euro

Greek Salad 6.50 Euro

Tyrokafteri 4.90 Euro

Oven Baked Lamb 9.90

Euro Fried Potatoes 3.50 Euro

== Total 30 Euro



Taverna "O Thespis" 18 Thespidos, Plaka Tel. 210-3238 242



Ταβέρνα Ο Θέσπις Θεσπίδος 18, Πλάκα

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Alternative Fast Food Choices for Lenten Fasters

As far as I am aware, serious Lenten fasters are rare among the Greeks. Even so, Greek fastfood shops offer Lenten fastfood for those who want to observe even at fastfood joints (or rather, fastfood joints are trying to be Lenten fasting friendly). We tried some of these Lenten fastfood.

First, my favorite fastfood joint, Grigoris.



Here is Koulouli with mushroom.



Korouli dough was more like pie pastry. Mushrooms were mixed with tomato sauce and reminded me of pizza.

Then, Goody's.



Fried Squid Rings were a failure in my opinion. Squids were so skinny and I thought I was eating a batter fry.



Prawn spaghetti instead was OK.



It is much better to cook at home, but still, as fastfood, I found it acceptable. 1 more week to go until Easter.

From this Sunday, even not so religious Greeks start to fast, to join in the Easter Spirit, more than to share the suffering of Christ. Agonas continues...