Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
mangoes.
Fruit
is relatively expensive and available
mainly by season, though in more cosmopolitan
spots one can find such things as avocados for
much of the year. Reliable picnic fruits include
cherries (June-July);
krystália
, small, heavenly green
pears (Sept-Nov);
vaniliés
, orange- or red-fleshed
plums (July-Oct); and kiwi (Oct-May). Less portable,
but succulent, are figs, whose main season is
August and September. Salad
vegetables
are more
reasonably priced; besides the famous, enormous
tomatoes (June-Sept), there's a bewildering variety
of cool-season greens, including rocket, dill,
enormous spring onions and lettuces.
should beware of overcharging and bill-padding at
such establishments too. In towns, growing
numbers of pretentious “
koultouriárika
” restau-
rants boast fancy decor and Greek nouvelle (or
fusion) cuisine with speciality wine lists, while
producing little of substance.
Greeks generally eat very late in the evening,
rarely venturing out until after 9pm and often
arriving at midnight or later. Consequently, most
restaurants operate flexible hours, varying
according to the level of custom, and thus the
opening times
given throughout the listings
should be viewed as approximate at best.
Estiatória
With their long hours and tiny profit margins,
estiatória
(sometimes known as
inomayiría
, “wine-
and-cook-houses”) are, alas, a vanishing breed. An
estiatório
will generally feature a variety of
mayireftá
such as moussaka, macaroni pie, meat or
game stews, stuffed tomatoes or peppers, the oily
vegetable casseroles called
ladherá,
and oven-
baked meat and fish. Usually you point at the
steam trays to choose these dishes. Batches are
cooked in the morning and then left to stand,
which is why the food is often
lukewarm
; most
such dishes are in fact enhanced by being allowed
to steep in their own juice.
Restaurants
Greek cuisine and
restaurants
are usually straight-
forward and still largely affordable - typically
€12-20 per person for a substantial meal with
house wine. Even when preparation is basic, raw
materials are usually wholesome and fresh. The best
strategy is to
go where Greeks go
, often less
obvious backstreet places that might not look
much from outside but deliver the real deal. The
two most common types of restaurant are the
estiatório
and the
taverna
. Distinctions are slight,
though the former is more commonly found in
large towns and emphasize the more complicated,
oven-baked casserole dishes termed
mayireftá
(literally, “cooked”).
As one might expect, the identikit tavernas at
resorts dominated by foreigners tend to make less
effort, bashing out speedily grilled meat with
pre-cut chips and rice containing the odd pea. You
Tavernas and psistariés
Tavernas
range from the glitzy and fashionable to
rough-and-ready beachside ones with seating
under a reed canopy. Really primitive ones have a
very limited (often unwritten) menu, but the more
elaborate will offer some of the main
mayireftá
dishes mentioned above, as well as standard
taverna fare:
mezédhes
(hors d'oeuvres) or
orektiká
(appetizers) and
tís óras
(meat and fish,
fried or grilled to order).
Psistariés
(grill-houses)
serve spit-roasted lamb, pork, goat, chicken or
kokorétsi
(grilled offal roulade). They will usually
have a limited selection of mezédhes and salads
(
salátes
), but no
mayireftá
. In rural areas, roadside
psistariés
are often called
exohiká kéndra
.
The most common
mezédhes
are
tzatzíki
(yoghurt, garlic and cucumber dip),
melitzanosaláta
(aubergine/eggplant dip), fried courgette/zucchini
or aubergine/eggplant slices,
yígandes
(white
haricot beans in hot tomato sauce),
tyropitákia
or
spanakopitákia
(small cheese or spinach pies),
revythókeftedhes
(chickpea patties similar to falafel),
octopus salad and
mavromátika
(black-eyed peas).
Among
meats
,
souvláki
and chops are reliable
choices; pork is usually better and cheaper than
FAST FOOD GREEK STYLE
Traditional hot
snacks
are still easy to
come by, although they are being
elbowed aside by Western fast food at
both international and nationwide Greek
chains such as
Goody's
(burgers, pasta and
salad bar),
Everest
,
Grigoris
and
Theios
Vanias
(baked pastries and baguette
sandwiches), and various pizzerias. Still,
thousands of kebab shops (
souvladzídhika
)
churn out
souvlákia
, either as small shish
on wooden sticks or as
yíros
- doner
kebab with garnish in pítta bread. Other
snacks include cheese pies (
tyrópites
),
spinach pies (
spanokópites
) and, less
commonly, minced meat pies (
kreatópites
);
these are found either at the baker's or
some of the aforementioned chains.
