Dining in Athens (Part I)

Every time honey and I are visiting a new city, one of the things that we are looking forward to is sampling the native cuisine. I have always believed that a countries way of preparing their local food is a reflection of the evolution of the country’s culture itself. Each ingredient, method and technique used in the preparation of a local dish mirrors the uniqueness of the country’s ethos and way of life. With the Greeks, I have noticed that although their dishes are made up of very basic ingredients, it is prepared in so many various ways that produces different results each time. And (according to Lawrence Durrell) “apart from the food itself, a complete Greek dining experience also considers the ambiance, the view and the conversation” which makes every meal a highlight of the day.

Our first meal ever in Athens consisted of a saganaki (fried cheese), which was good albeit very salty for me (and even for honey who has very high tolerance for saltiness!), grilled burger (again.. I know first meal in Athens and we’re eating burgers! – our excuse: it was late and this was the closest restaurant to the hotel), and calamari. The burger came as a surprise to us though, the platter that was served to us had three humongous beef patties that were salty (I am not sure if it’s only because I have a low tolerance for salt), partnered with some greens and fries, no bread whatsoever. The calamari was again very salty for my taste. After our meal, I concluded that maybe the cook in this particular restaurant just had a saltier palette and since in spite of its saltiness we enjoyed the Saganaki, we thought that maybe other restaurants would serve a less salty version of it. It was like a flash bulb lit at the top of our heads, we immediately thought of starting our quest for the best saganaki in town.



The following day, while we were deciding whether to trek the steep path towards the Acropolis or continue our exploration of the Plaka, we passed by this restaurant that looked interesting so we decided that we should have lunch first before we make up our minds on our next destination. As it is a warm day, and the memory of the leftover we had on the previous dinner still lingers with us, honey and I decided to order lightly. We went for the mixed grill platter and of course, Saganaki. From the very first time I sampled Greek food, I can’t help but notice a similarity to those entrees that we used to enjoy from Arabic restaurants in Dubai. This meal in particular brought back fond memories of Arabic dining. When the ginormous platter of mixed grills coupled with pita bread (I’m not sure if that’s what they call that bread though) arrived on our table, honey and I knew that we made the right choice of ordering lightly. The grill included skewered chicken, pork, thin slices of beef, grilled meat patties and lamb. All the meat were grilled to perfection and matched well with the pita bread and the loaf of bread that was also served. I could have asked for a dip though (garlic sauce or hommus maybe), to cut off some of the saltiness. The Saganaki on the other hand was fantastic, it was not salty at all, nowhere near the saltiness of the first one we’ve tried and it blended well with the lemon, honey, who normally don’t eat cheese was hooked.



Our second taste of Saganaki intensified our drive to find the best Saganaki we could find in Athens and honey has found a favorite in Greek menu.