Europe - The Hungry Nomad

Athens, Europe, Greece, Greek food, Summer

A Culinary treat at the Galaxy Restaurant and Bar (Athens, Greece)

January 9, 2014 No Comments

During our short stay in Athens, we were invited to dine at the Galaxy Restaurant and Bar located on the top floor of the Hilton Athens. After 40 weeks of eating the local foods of Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece we were in the mood for something that would remind us a bit of home. The Galaxy Restaurant was the perfect choice as it had both international cuisine mixed with a touch of Greek.

Our hostess was so courteous and knowledgeable about the menu and ingredients. She spoiled us from the moment we sat down until the last second when we wobbled our over-filled stomaches to the elevator. We were seated in the outdoor patio overlooking the majestic Acropolis ruins. All this view under the Athenian stars sipping on Greek wine, listening to good music and watching a fashionable crowd could not be beat.

Our meal started with a salad tree resembling an enchanted forest of delicious treats. It consisted of crisp baby spinach leaves with prosciutto chips, walnuts, dried figs, local kalathaki cheese drizzled with a nutmeg vinaigrette. In the land of Greek salads, this salad was a nice change. After finishing the salad we were presented with a plate of the seared tuna starter set in a slate board. The sesame crusted tuna was served with snow peas, caviar, pickled pearl onions, black and yellow cherries and a truffle vinaigrette. It was the most perfect serving of seared tuna. Both in taste and presentation.

I thought we were done but it turns out that our meal was just getting started. Next we were served with another starter, the roasted fillet of grouper. It was artfully presented in a bed of squid ink couscous salad served with a vegetable pea puree and sun dried tomato olive oil. The combination of the couscous, its texture and colorful contrast with pieces of tender white grouper made for a visual and culinary treat.

The one page sushi options was the biggest welcoming surprise. There is nothing I crave more than a good serving of sushi, especially on a trip, and the Hilton Athens satisfied this craving. We were presented with a colorful array of sushi rolls. Options ranged from the crispy salmon roll to the classic spicy tuna roll. Sashimi and Nigiri were also available. The rolls were presented on a large slate board arranged beautifully with rose shaped salmon sashimi and wasabi cubes in the middle. It tasted quite authentic with the perfect portion of rice and fresh fish per roll. It was the perfect way to satisfy my cravings.

After finishing off the sushi plate we were too full for words. But our hosts insisted on serving us more of their wonderful culinary creations.

The Galaxy Roof hot stone is something that should not be missed. There are two options: the sea food platter or the surf and turf. We opted for the surf and turf which consisted of pieces of top quality beef tenderloin and lobster tail. The meat was served raw in a dish and presented alongside a sizzling hot stone. Our server placed the meat on the stone to cook to perfection. There were side order options to go along with the hot stone meal of which we had an eggplant melange and a bowl of local greens only grown in the hills and mountains of Greece.

For dessert we had a little bit of everything including the frozen mojito cream with crunchy mint jelly, lime syrup and lemon sorbet. A tart dish perfect for those who love a tangy dessert; the milk chocolate mousse bar with vanilla ice cream and berry coulis, great for us chocolate and berry lovers; the semifreddo amaretto with almond crocant and orange sauce; and a blueberry soup with lavender ice cream, meringues and strawberry froth. A colorful treat blasting with distinct flavors.

The meal at Galaxy restaurant far exceeded our highest expectations. The food was divine, the view was breathtaking, and the service was excellent. If you want a great meal served alongside a great view with a hip ambiance then don’t miss the Galaxy on your next trip.

Europe, Food, Italian food, Italy, Travel, Tuscany

A Medieval Feast in Montisi (Province of Siena, Italy)

November 21, 2013 No Comments

In my previous post I mentioned how our trip through Italy was left up to the stars and in the end we ended up driving through Tuscany, staying on an olive farm in an olive farmer’s home in Castelmuzio and drowning in local wine at a medieval jousting competition in Montisi.

On the eve of our arrival in Montisi we were invited to feast with the locals on the eve of the jousting competition. Montisi is a small walled hill town on the outskirts of Siena. Yet, in this small town there are four distinct contradas: San Martino, Castello, Torre and Piazza. Each contrada hosts a four course dinner prepared by the towns grandmothers shared alongside endless bottles of wine and the local contrada’s chant. Walking through town I felt like I was stepping on the scene of Romeo and Juliet. It was exactly how a medeviel town should look in my mind. All along the narrrow streets were picnic tables topped with bottles of local wine. Everyone was wearing their contrada’s colors and flags. We sat next to a group of locals from another neighbouring town in the Piazza contrada section of town. One out of the four of them spoke broken english and the rest was left up to communicating the good old way, through wine, food and hand signals.

The dinner was prepared in the local square by a handful of grandmothers with the assistance of many. Large pots of pasta was served to us in plates and the grandmas walked around offering second servings sometimes forcefully reminding me of my own grandmother insisting we eat seconds.

Boundless bottles of red wine later and representatives of our contrada all dressed up in green and orange started walking toward our table asking us to pledge our allegiance to their contrada alongside a christening with the local red wine. About half a bottle of wine was poured down my throat and I can now claim that I am an honorary member of the Piazza contrada for life.

By the end of the dinner, the Count and I were on first name basis with our Italian comarades and somehow the communication skills flowed with ease. It seemed their English and our Italian had improved tremendously making me believe that the secret to speaking another language is a few bottles of wine.

The following day the four contradas paraded through town and to a field for the jousting competition where the Castello contrada won and celebrated again that evening in town with more red wine and good food.

Athens, Bakery, Bar, Brunch, Coffee Shop, Europe, Food, Greece, Greek food, Ice Cream, Travel, Wine Bar

The Hungry Nomad’s Guide to Athens | Greece

July 23, 2013 1 Comment

After living in hot and lively Athens on and off for almost four years, I’m now on to new adventures. About high time for a small, and very personal, guide to my favorites in the city! Also, just in time for Tala’s visit and I can’t wait to see how she will experience the city and what she will add to this list.

I absolutely loved living in Athens, it’s such a bubbly, messy and creative city. Times have changed though in the last years and I’m so happy that the owners of my favorite places are still going strong. If I would have to say why I would recommend most of the places below, it’s because they are lovely people (do take your time to chat with people here), they promote either local produce or local design, and usually give a modern twist to Greek tradition which I thoroughly believe in and, not unimportant, enjoy immensely. Most are located in amazing central spots, aren’t ‘touristy’ and simply serve great stuff. All of these are based in or very close to the centre (no suburb recommendations, sorry!). Thus, easy to find if you’re in town only for a couple of days or great to frequent if you’re staying here for a longer time, as I have done. Do wander the backstreets of Athens, you’ll surely find many more hidden gems.

I hope this guide will help you explore and love this city with all its contradictions as much as I do.

Acropolis & around

Filistron | Restaurant

Apostolou Pavlou 23 (in between Acropolis & Thissio Metro stations)

Close to one of the oldest open-air cinemas in the centre of Athens, an upscale tavern with great versions of traditional Greek food (pictured is the delicious Greek bottarga with dried figs & cream cheese), good wine list and the absolute best view of the city. Do make a reservation for the roof terrace (not open in winter), it’s one of the few places in Athens that needs one. Open for dinner only.

Fabrika Arts & Crafts/PSIT Jewelry/Sous-Sol Furniture & Lightning | Shops

Veikou street 9/6 (Acropolis Metro station)

Our little neighborhood behind the Acropolis is up and coming. More and more little independent shops have opened, offering you great hand-crafted alternatives for the traditional souvenirs. If you’re lucky, you’ll stumble upon one of their street parties!

Gelatopoli | Ice Cream & Coffee

Dionysiou Areopagitou 8 (Acropolis Metro station)

Close the new Acropolis Museum (which I believe we will continue to lovingly call the ‘new’ museum forever), simply sweet ice cream and delicious fair-trade freddo cappuccinos that are very reasonably priced for this area. Do try iced coffees if you’re in town during the summer. The Greek generally prefer ‘frappes’ made with nescafe, but I personally like either iced espresso or cappuccino. When you order, add whether you want it sweet, semi-sweet or without sugar and you’ll be sipping your favorite cold coffee in no time.

Makriyianni 3| Coffee Shop & Sandwiches

Makriyianni 3 (Acropolis Metro station)

Click on the link to check out an earlier post I wrote about our favorite neighborhood cafe. In the past years it has been surrounded by new cafes and bistros, but we still return to this lovely shop.

Fresko | Dessert

Dionysiou Areopagitou 3 (Acropolis Metro station)

With frozen yoghurt being the hype for a couple of years now (and being mainly very disappointing), Fresko serves actual Greek yoghurt with your choice of traditional Greek spoon sweets. Do ask to sample all their different yoghurts, you’ll be surprised by the flavors.

O Takis | Bakery & Sandwiches

Misaralioutou 14 (Acropolis Metro station)

Known by virtually everyone in the center of the city, Takis is hands down the best bakery in town. A family store for generations, they serve absolutely amazing traditional fare such as cheese pies, koulouria and little bread rolls with olives and feta, but also delicious carrot cakes, rye bread, sandwiches with grilled veggies and fresh croissants oozing with chocolate. Go early in the morning before it’s all gone! Usually closed for holidays a few weeks in August.

Monasteraki & Plaka

TAF (The Art Foundation)| Art & Coffee/Drinks

Normanou 5 (Monasteraki Metro station)

The door always seems closed, but push it open and you’ll find yourself in a lovely courtyard surrounded by tiny traditional houses filled with ever changing art exhibitions. During the day it’s a cool hang-out for a coffee, at night delicious cocktails and good music.

Six D.O.G.S | Art & Coffee/Drinks

Avramiotou 6-8 (Monasteraki Metro station)

The bars are a bit too hip to my taste but walk down the steps through the tiny tunnel and you’ll find their garden, to me one of the nicest surprises in town. They serve just about anything: coffee & snacks (mediocre), organic wines and cocktails. One of the coolest places in summer during the day and with all the lights on in the trees at night. Click here to check out an earlier post I wrote about Six D.O.G.S.

Ice Scream | Ice Cream & Coffee

Pandrosou Street 19 (Monasteraki Metro Station)

Conveniently at the edge of the neigborhoods of Plaka & Monasteraki and close to the main shopping street Ermou, Ice Scream easily serves the prettiest (and perhaps tastiest) ice cream in town. They also serve milkshakes (hard to find in Athens) and my favorite frothy freddo cappuccino.

Yiasemi | All-round Cafe (coffee, dessert, drinks)

Mnisikleous 23 (Monasteraki Metro station)

Smack in the middle of the beautiful old neighborhood of Plaka, this seems the only cafe not catering towards tourists. Lovely people, home-made pies which you can pick out from a huge table (savory and sweet, all delicious!) and a few small dishes (the garlic and butter-filled mushrooms are my favorite). Great to have a break while showing your friends around the old town. In the summer sit at the lovely steps, in winter sit next to their fire place with some rakomelo. Click here to see an earlier review.

Hellenic Art & Design| Shop

Herefondos 10 (Acropolis or Monasteraki Metro station)

Tiny store selling beautiful and funny modern arts and crafts from Greek designers (including from the people at Greece is for Lovers and Paper Kingdom). The lovely owner loves a chat and tell you all about her wares.

Syntagma & around

Oinoscent | Wine Bar & Shop

Voulis 44A in between Syntagma and Plaka (Syntagma Metro station)

Awesome wine bar and shop. I love these guys (we got engaged here so I might be partial) and ordered lots of really good Greek prosecco from them for our wedding. Knowledgeable about wines, serving delicious ones from all over Greece and abroad, wonderfully paired with their plates of cheeses & cold cuts. Take your favorite bottle with you from their shop or get it delivered.

Ippolito | Shop

Voulis 38 (Syntagma Metro station)

If you’re looking for a unique bag or clutch to take home with you, this is the place. Gorgeous Pavlina designs beautiful, elegant and quirky leather bags in small quantities, accompanied by her adorable Geppetto (look at him striking a pose in the picture below! His dog collar is also by Ippolito).

Filema | Tavern

Romvis 16 (Syntagma Metro Station)

Our favorite laid-back tavern and the one I’ve visited most of all restaurants in town and the one I request to go to every time I come back from abroad. Real central Athenian vibe (a bit gritty and extremely likable at the same time) just behind the bustle of Ermou street. In the summer you sit at the side of this little street. Service is personal and informal, food is simple, fresh and of great quality. You will find all your Greek favorites here from beef burgers and tzatziki to fried anchovies and Greek salad. Check out this post for pictures.

Korres| Shop

Ermou street (Syntagma Metro Station)

The beauty products of Korres are sold in all pharmacies throughout Greece (and are also popular abroad), but since the beginning of this year Korres also has its very own store at the start of the main shopping street of Ermou. Natural products that smell delicious (such as Vanilla Cinnamon and Bergamot Pear shower gels) with great design. I’ve been a loyal fan ever since I first came to Greece seven years ago.

Mama Roux | All-round Cafe (coffee, lunch, drinks)

Aiolou Street 48, near Kolokotroni Street (Monasteraki or Syntagma Metro Station)

Mama Roux is one of Athens’ internationally oriented places serving American pancakes for Sunday brunch (brunch! Impossible to find elsewhere in town), falafel for lunch and cocktails & music for your night out. I’ve tasted just about everything on the menu and find it all delicious. Great, relaxed vibe. Check ahead if you’re coming this August, they’re closed part of the month.

Heteroclito | Wine Bar

Fokionis 2 (Syntagma Metro station)

Just off Ermou street, this new and hip wine bar also serves other hard-to-source local drinks such as specialty beer from the island of Zakynthos (which even my Zakynthian husband had never even heard of and absolutely loved). Great fresh snacks too.

Psyrri

Cantina Social |Bar

Leokoriou Street 8 (Thissio or Monasteraki Metro Station)

Hidden at the end of a little stoa, this bar has a great garden with videos playing on the huge wall that surrounds it. Also serves coffee. Good music, cocktails and relaxed crowd. Visit after having taken a stroll throughout the neighborhood of Psyrri during the day when it is quiet and serene before the party-goers arrive.

Kerameikos

Bios Terrace & Elvis Souvlaki | Bar & Mid-night Souvlaki

Peireos 84 & Plataion 29/Leonidou (Kerameikos or Thissio Metro Station)

Excuse the photographs, but I really wanted to add these two to my list of go-to places. During the summer the Bios terrace is open with an absolutely amazing view of the Acropolis (for the surprise factor I didn’t add that specific picture, ha!). Just turn into the side street when you reach Peireos 84 and go up the stairs. When you’re done sipping your drink, meeting some nice new friends and staring at the view (they have one of those old-school coin-operated binoculars) you can head into the gritty neighborhood towards Elvis and get the traditional late-night snack of Greece: souvlaki. Great night out.

Last thoughts

There is so much more to see and to eat than what I’ve mentioned above.

Go take a walk up Filopappou hill at dusk to get an awe-inspiring view of the city and the sea.
Go visit the Acropolis museum (gorgeous! the light! nice restaurant too) and Benaki museum (roof terrace, beautiful building!).
I would definitely recommend visiting the neighborhood of Exarcheia (originally the anarchist area of town) where there are great bars and taverns to be found and to understand the versatility of this city.
Also the residential area of Petralona is worth a visit food-wise. A favorite among all my friends there is the French bistro Chez Lucien where you can practice your French with the patrons and imagine you’re in Paris for a little while.
Look around you at all the great street art: stencils, graffiti and stickers.

Lastly, if you don’t have the time to go explore on your own or simply want to see Athens like an insider, check out Alternative Tours of Athens. I’ve been on one of their free tours (great concept) focusing on new designers and I loved it!

p.s. A little warning to prevent disappointments: most Greeks go on holidays during August and some shops might be closed if you visit during this month. Check ahead, I added links whenever available.

p.p.s Athens sadly is not the best European city to visit if you have a mobility impairment. However, the areas around the Acropolis (including the museum and the pedestrian street of Dionysiou Areopagitou), Monasteraki and the main streets of Plaka are doable. Plus, in general people are extremely helpful if you need a hand.

Europe, Food, Spain, Travel

A Day in Asiego, Spain

June 26, 2013 1 Comment

Although most people think of sun, sangria, and flamenco dancers when they think about Spain, I recently returned from a part of the country that is a bit different from these things. I spent a semester in Oviedo, Spain, studying Spanish language and culture. While I have been studying the language for many years, I really didn’t know much about the culture of Spain before I moved there. Like many people, I only knew of the Spain I saw on TV promoting cruises that stopped in places like Barcelona and Ibiza, and these ads did nothing to prepare me for the lifestyle of Oviedo.

Oviedo is the capital of a region known as Asturias. Asturians are proud of their culture and many of the people I met in Oviedo had families that had lived here for generations. One part of the culture that I obviously enjoyed was the food and drink. Every month, the group of students from Temple University was taken out by our program director in order to try Asturian food. Once we were able to see where a lot of these traditional foods are made by taking a trip to the village of Asiego.

Here we participated in a two-hour tour of the area where we discovered how the popular Asturian hard cider called sidra and Cabrales blue cheese are made. Over these two hours, the man who owned the farm told us about the fermentation process for sidra and how the Cabrales that the farm produces is a mix of both cow and goat milk. Even though most of us were looking forward to the dining portion of the trip, we definitely learned a lot about the way that these foods are created.

After the tour, we were served a traditional Asturian spread for lunch which included over 10 dishes. We each began the lunch with sidra and although it is a cider, it is very different from the cider we drink in the States. It is normally served by a waiter who pours the drink by holding the sidra bottle above his head and the glass around thigh height.

This process carbonates the drink and after a few seconds of pouring, a glass with about an inch of sidra in it is presented to you and you promptly chug it. I tend to prefer sidra to other ciders because it’s a bit more tart and acidic than the canned American brand.

Quickly after we were done with our first glasses of the drink, the family of the man who gave us the tour started to bring out lunch. By this time it was around three in the afternoon, typical lunch time in Spain. It began with salad, bread, and both Cabrales and Manchego cheeses. The Cabrales was accompanied by an apple jam and honey in order to balance out the strong taste of this blue.

I started to feel full after just this course, but it was followed by chorizo cooked in sidra, blood sausage, and some of the best wild boar I’ve ever had. The wild boar was one of the stand out dishes for me since it was incredibly tender, flavorful, and it isn’t something I have the pleasure of eating often.

Overall, all of the food was great, and the controversial blood sausage was the only dish people disagreeing about since a lot of the students were a bit too squeamish to try it. After lunch we were served a homemade pudding with applesauce and nuts on top which provide a nice, light, refreshing end to the meal. While I’ve had a lot of amazing experiences during my year abroad, this feast in Asiego was one of the events that really stood out to me and is one dining experience I don’t plan on forgetting anytime soon!