Bierkeller: An Enjoyable Visit

It was around the beginning of November when I was meeting up with various friends to tell them about my adventures in Spain and beyond. As one does when telling 'those' kinds of stories, when arranging to meet one of these friends, I told my friend we needed beer and a quiet warm environment. My friend suggested going to 'Bierkeller' which he had not tried since it had turned from being called 'Mozart'.

The place was pretty empty when we went in (not a surprise on a weekday evening) and just as we were about to get a table, I remembered the good times in Madrid and thought to myself, 'nothing bad ever came from sitting at the bar', so I suggested it, and that's where we sat.

We started off with a snack, just to go with the beer (I was dreaming of a light dinner). I was immediately drawn to the 'ΣΑΛΤΣΙΤΣΕ' (a play on the Greek word for 'sauce' made to sound German) because of its promise of chilli heat. My friend was otherwise inclined but after having a conversation with a guy dressed in chef whites (we got the feeling he was the owner), who warned us about the heat, we decided to go for it.

ΣΑΛΤΣΙΤΣΕ: Pork Sausage with a Thyme, Honey, Chilli, Garlic and Red Wine Sauce

Home Made Bread

Though tasty, I can't really say that it was special and there definitely wasn't, in any way, shape or form, any chilli heat. A bit of a disappointment really, but not that I was really expecting much at the time.

My friend however did have an expectation: to fill the empty hole in his stomach! I couldn't keep him under control and no sooner had we finished this snack than he was ordering a Currywurst and a Pretzel!

Currywurst: Berlin Sausage with Curry sauce

Pretzel

The currywurst was better, but by the time we had finished it we were more taken by the barmaid with whom we had become friendly, and had been exchanging stories and general chit-chat. When I pointed out that she had no alcohol in the coke she was sipping on and that that prevented us from cheers-ing her, she was swift to pour herself a half pint. 

We were having good fun, the beer had been flowing and the story telling had got me nostalgic. I had forgotten any notions of a light dinner and was craving the 'Hunters Schnitzel". It didn't take much persuading my friend and off was the barmaid to the till to place the order!

Hunters Schnitzel: Schnitzel with a Mushrooms, Onions, Cream and White Wine Sauce.

The guy in chef whites and waiter took it in turns to come talk to us, ask us about the food and tell us the story of what they've tried to 'create' in this place. We told them we were happy and my friend made a point that the Schnitzel was much better than when he had tried it while the place was still 'Mozart'. Meanwhile I wondered if me snapping away with my camera here and there had anything to do with the attention we were getting or if all customers were getting this kind of treatment. Either way I wasn't complaining, enjoying it more like it!

By now we were having too much fun ordering one thing at a time. For novelty value if nothing else we asked what was recommend. They said generally the 'Pork of the Cellar' or 'Frankische Schaufele' for those who 'know' (according to their website), was highly recommend but given we'd already eaten, and that it was for two to three people, it would be a waste because we wouldn't be able to finish it. I was tempted to try as was my friend, but we decided to keep things civil. 

The next recommendation was a selection of sausages which we went for. (And for whoever is thinking we over did it on the food front: two starters and two mains: not that much food! It's the beer we had that you should be wondering about).

Three Sausage Selection

The sausages were as one would expect. We happily went though them continuously chatting with the barmaid, generally having a nice time. And then it was time for desert. On the house!

Palatschinken: Classic Austrian Crepes with Jam, Chocolate, Nuts and Icing Sugar

Simple, almost childish (the jam dominated in terms of taste), but decadent and delicious!

Front of the bar

Entrance

Overall, the food was good. Nothing wrong, but nothing that brought tears to my eyes. I wouldn't go out of my way just for that. The people on the other hand were amazing, and for that alone I would highly recommend a visit! At the end of the day, we really enjoyed our visit and hope to visit again soon in order to try the Pork dish!

http://www.bierkeller.gr/
http://www.athinorama.gr/restaurants/data/places/?id=10000092
http://athensmagazine.gr/portal/restaurants/businesses/3745
http://athensmagazine.gr/portal/reviews/10320
http://www.facebook.com/pages/BierKeller/247504368618590
http://www.beer.gr/beerhouse/579-bierkeller

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The Time of my Life

You know what they say: that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I have a story that I am gagging to get out. I am bursting with fondness and want to shout it out to the world. I want to tell everyone to stop! To take a break. To look around them and to see the best in everything that surrounds them. My problem is I don't feel I can tell a story well enough to do the actual events justice.

"Good so what will it take to get to Greece..."

"Just say the word. Short flight. et voila!"

"Word"

The conversation between two people, each with a friend to go with them, who were complete strangers less than a week ago. The conversation between two people who had met in a bar and had a drunken night of fun. No! Not that kind of fun! The sort of fun you have with your friends, dancing your troubles away untill the early hours of the morning (OK, and maybe just a tiny bit of the other kind of fun ;) ).

"omg they dont stop... its almost 6 in the morning and the disco is still going on... The clubs in the usa have nothing on the clubs here"

Ofcource, 'here' was not Athens. 'Here' was Madrid, and the next day, the girls in the story were destined to fly to Paris. And yet so early in their acquaintance, a proposal was made. 'You should come to Paris with us'. The two boys will forever kick themselves in the behind for not getting on a plane the next day and going.

And yet, a few days later, it was the girls who were getting on a plane and heading to Greece. And as shocked as they were at themselves for going, the boys were at them for coming. Neither party knew what to expect but both buzzed with excitement and anticipation!

As it turned out, one of the boys fell ill, and it was up to the other: the quiet and mildly shy one, to show the ladies the best that his land had to offer. As it turned out, that boy was me, and the only way I can describe the next two days is the best experience I have had and every wish to have in my life! And I get asked by my friends (boys being boys), did you get it on with any of them? My answer I believe is as revealing as it is unrevealing: "If I had the choice of not doing everything we did but having a group orgy instead, or doing what we did, I'd go for what we did; every time; hands down!". That is how much a cherish the fun we had.

So there I am, waiting at arrivals gate B, a nervous wreck, thinking how my friend could have left me to deal with two sensationally gorgeous women on my own, when I see them walk through the sliding doors, and everything goes away. And I walk straight up to them, two girl, four cheeks, four kisses, "because this is how we say hello in Greece", and off to the car we go.

"Wow, a mountain. Back home we only have speed bumps." This was the first taste I got of what was to come. The joy that I was to take from showing and exciting people with the simplest of things.

We made our way to the hotel, chatting continuously allong the way, like we had known each other for ever. A quick check-in later and short wait in the lobby and we were off again to the coast. To Mikrolimano and a place called Amos, for a seafood dinner and a walk by the coast.

View from the Table

"In Athens and it is amazing so far... Octopus mussels and a whole fish were part of my dinner tonight, along with mastiha and fresh donuts and ouzo? Totally out of my element and I love it!"

There is not the tiniest of exaggeration in my words when I say that tears come to my eyes thinking that something that is so simple for me; something that I take for granted, can spark so much enthusiasm, so much joy in another.

After our walk we decided to head back to the hotel considering we had to get an early start the next day in order to see everything. But not before a quick drive by tour of the centre. "Look, ancient stuff", I cried as we went by the Temple of Olympian Zeus. They were impressed at a couple of columns, so I can't imagine what went though their mind when they got their first glimpse of the Acropolis, all lit up, as we whizzed by Monastiraki Square.

Next day I picked the girls round ten, which was quite an achievement considering we didn't get to sleep till around two. And because breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and coffee makes the world go round, I stopped by a Grigoris to get cheese pies, spinach pies and Freddo Cappuccinos!

We made our way to an underground station where the girls witnessed first hand the nightmare of finding a place to park and gave major respect for my parallel parking technique!

I was so busy chatting and not paying attention that when we switched lines at Sytagma we got the train in the wrong direction and had to turn back at the Panepistimio stop. But that was fine: I just pointed at all the 'Ancient stuff' that was on show at the station. Stuff that was unburied while the station was being built.

Eventually we got to the entrance of the Acropolis and made our way up. Words cannot describe the ascent and descent. We visited the acropolis museum next, had yoghurt with various toppings as a snack as we made out way through Zapio to the Panathinaiko Stadium. We went by the temple of Olympian Zeus, but didn't make it in time to enter.

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

The Erechtheion

View From the Acropolis

View From the Acropolis

The Parthenon

And again, The Parthenon 

The Acropolis Museum

Panathinaiko Stadium

Passage Under the Panathinaiko Stadium

Temple of Olympian Zeus 

'How often do you hear a girl cry out with joy', said one of the girls as we entered the top level of the Acropolis Museum. I looked at her with the corner of my eye and raised my eyebrow. "I walked right into that didn't I", she continued. We laughed.

Eventually we made our way to Syntagma square, stopping by the Hard Rock Cafe to take picture (that was a special request). We took more pictures of parliament and of the girls with the Tsoliades. Next up Karaköy Güllüoglu for the best Baklava I know of. I was amazed how the overwhelming sweet syrupy taste didn't slow down one of the girls who had four or five pieces just like that!

Assorted Balkaba from Karaköy Güllüoglu

No time to ponder the differences between Greek and Turkish Baklava, and we're off to the Tourist shops on Andrianou street. All the way down to Monastiraki we walked, and straight to Bairaktaris for a soublaki. Then it was through the flea market, then the pedestrian road past Keramikos and to Gazi, where we took the Metro back to the car and back to the Hotel to freshen up for dinner.

We had seafood on the first night, so my plan was to go for meat on the second. And what more fitting a place than Ladokola. A place where instead of plates you get greaseproof paper, and the meat is tipped over in front of you in a huge pile. We had a salad and some mixed greens and a mixed grill for three. We also got some Mousaka and was hoping for stuffed tomatoes and green peppers but they were out. And of course lots of wine.

Pile of meat, fries and pita at Ladokola

The girls were surprised at how the wine was flowing. They said back home, they'd have a glass and sip at it throughout the night. "Seriously", I told them, "Can you image the ancient Greeks, sitting round a feast slowly sipping at a glass of wine?". Then there was the thing of looking at each other in the eyes before drinking up. Nobody wants a year of bad sex! "You look at me before you swallow that!" snapped one of the girls at the other with a passion unseen before. Clearly she took her sex life very very seriously. We all burst out laughing at the myriad of interpretations her statement could take.

As the meal came to an end, the question of 'what next' came up. The idea of Bouzoukia came up, but in the sense that is portrayed in the movies: plate breaking. Unfortunately, not only was I not aware of where we could find this (apparently I've just read that it's been banned by law since the 1970s!) but the next day, the girls had a 9am flight so we could't really stay up that late. We settled for a few drinks at Baba au Rum and when made out way back.

The next day it was a miracle that we all managed to wake up and arrive at the airport on time. The girls checked in and we had just enough time to sit down and do the last thing on my to-do list. Have a Frappe. Eventually I took the girls the entrance of the gates area where I could go no further. We hugged, "because that's how we do it in the US", and said goodbye.

And that is the end of my story, and I know I haven't been able to portray a tenth of the fun we had, but I hope that I have given you a tiny insight into it. And you may ask, now that they are gone, half way around the world, how do I feel? I feel grateful. Grateful to have been given an opportunity to share what I am lucky to have with others. To give them joy and happiness. To share with them an experience that we will always remember. I feel grateful to have had this rare opportunity to make friends that I hope to keep for life.

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33: The Menu Says it All

Last weekend I went out with a friend for, what we planned as, a quiet drink. After allot more thought that we should have actually given the issue, I told my friend "you decide", after ofcourse sucking up a bit "you know all the beast places anyway!"

He came back with "lets go to 33, seems fair as it's in-between the two of us." For those of you who don't know it aleady, 33 is named after the fact that it's housed in an area 33 meters squared. Some might be able to imagine a bar fitting in that space, but the supising thing is that they do food too! Unfortunately we weren't there for the food which meant I was drooling as fresh salads and piping hot pizzas went by me onto the table next to us. And for a place this size, that was too close to me for comfort. I wondered if I could grab a piece of pizza without anyone noticing. Luckily we hadn't had any drinks yet or I might have lacked the self awarness, so easily stripped away by alchohol, to try!

I hadn't been to 33 before but I sure had heard some positive reviews on it, including my friend claim that it hosted the best cocktails he'd tried (this it turned out, was a claim made after trying a grand total of one cocktail!) We sat at the bar, metaphorically speaking, because there wasn't actually a stool to sit on as the place was full from the ten people that were already there.

I was surprised that the cocktail menu was only a laminated list of no more than ten cocktails. My friend told be that they'll do anything even if it's not on the menu. I went for the Margarita. It's my benchmark drink which I always go for when trying new places.

I watched the guy making it and immediately realised I wasn't going to be happy. It turned out that, in the absence of other instructions the default Margarita was a frozen Margarita. Sigh. I understand that many like this Margarita slush, but for me, the perfect Margarita is shaken with ice and served without it in a chilled glass. And even that aside, I wasn't too fond of it. I got a stronger alcohol kick that a savoury sour one from the lime and salt. Oh well, onto round two.

From my experience of the pretty good array of cocktail bars now available in the centre of Athens, I knew that one way to get the perfect cocktail was to have a chat with the barman. I can recall numerous conversations with various barmen at Baba-au-Rum regarding my taste - always directed by them: bitter, sweat, savoury, sour, spicy, aromatic, strong, mellow... the list goes on. And at the end of it: "And if you don't like it I'll make you something else!"

So we asked the barman what he recommended. He answer was short but very revealing - though I'm not sure he'd be happy with what I took from it. "It depends on what you like. You should take a look at the menu." That would be the menu with the ten cocktails on it, and nothing remotely exciting on it at that. We went for the Long Island Ice Tea: better to be drunk than disappointed.

By the time we were done with that, the ten people have gone down to five, and we decided to move on to another place. That place was The Speakeasy Bar No.31 in Halandri, and that story is another, very different story!



Further Reading:
http://www.queen.gr/Pop-Culture/Events-Exodos/item/830-Multi-snack-bar-sta-Brilhssia
http://www.athinorama.gr/clubbing/data/places/?id=10000513
http://el-gr.facebook.com/pages/33-τετραγωνικα-μετρα/15855935752095
http://www.madamefigaro.gr/content/fun-se-33-tm
http://www.in2life.gr/delight/goingout/articles/207141/article.aspx
http://www.dailysecret.com/secrets/mystikos-ari8mos-33/

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Hard Rock Cafe Athens: Consistent Through Time and Space!

In my last post, I described how an unexpected phone call led me and a couple of my friends on a mini bar crawl in the centre of Athens. What I left out from my story was a little part in the beggining where I layed down some ground rules to our outing, and a little part towards the end, where those ground rules went gloriously down the drain!

The rules where simple:

1) We would't be eating

2) We would not be eating

3) We would NOT be eating

I'd already had five stuffed tomatoes and three stuffed green peppers, and let's face it, the summer is here and I do plan on making my share of visits to the various beaches in Greece without being harassed by members of the WWF wearing 'Save the Whales' t-shirts!

Now knowing my friend, and knowing we always end up eating out (the number of places I've gone to with this guy on the way to or from the gym you wouldn't believe!), I told him, "We can go on a wild bender, we can end up on a plane bound to Mexico, Moscow or Shanghai, I don't care, as long as we don't end up stuffing our faces again!". "Ofcourse", he said, "I just called you so we could have a quiet civilised drink."...

Legendary 10oz Burger

Yea... this would be the 'gloriously down the drain' part. You see, I hadn't counted for my friend's bro being with us. This guy is unstoppable! I managed to swerve his attempts to get us to "Indian Kitchen", a very interesting looking new Indian restaurant just off Syntagma square which has yet to be tried. Dodging souvlakia was easy, but when he said he'd been to the Hard Rock Cafe the other day and he thought the burger was actually pretty good; well, that was check mate!

So there we were, at the Hard Rock Cafe, Legendary Burger each and Caesar salad and Chicken Tenders to share. Was the burger all that good? Lets just say I bit the bait and found myself dangling at the end of a fishing line! It was ok.

Caesar Salad

You wouldn't expect that three guys could have a fifteen minute conversation about a salad. But of course my friends and I aren't just any three guys! Should a salad be tossed with its dressing or not? What sparked the conversation off was that the Caesar Salad didn't taste overdressed, but it just felt heavy, and the salad leaves were just stuck to each other like... well... nothing particularly appealing! We concluded that when dealing with light dressings such as vinaigrettes, then these should be tossed with the salad. However, when dealing with heavy creamy dressings, then the salad should be tossed with no more than half the dressing and the rest should be on top of the salad.

Tupelo Chicken Tenders

Tender, juicy, spicy. Not bad at all!

The first HRC I went to was in Manchester while I was a student. That was more than ten years ago. Since then I've been to the HRC in Barcelona, Berlin, and Athens, and it is and has been a consistent experience through time and location.

Contrast this with TGI Fridays. I can still remember when the first one opened in Kefalari over ten years ago. Then, it was like nothing else. I can remember going there with friends, girlfriends and family. Now? "It's not you, it's me. I've changed. I want something different. I still want to be friends". If only this was the case. But it's not. First I got served the Jack Daniels Chicken Strips in an elongated rectangular place - as if I was having Gyoza in a posh Japanese Restaurant. An attempt to excuse the steep prices, to hide the low quality, or to blend in with the other restaurants in the area? Then I got served a Burger in a small plate: it made sense given there were hardly any chips to go with it. I wonder why they even bother asking how I want my meat cooked if it's going to be cooked to a crisp every time. And then being charged double for a margarita because we didn't want ice in it. Hello! Smaller glass!

So if you're in the centre and fancy that kind of food, make your way to the HRC and don't look back!

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42 and The Gin Joint: Have-a-laugh Cocktails and Serious Cocktails all within walking distance!

A few days ago I got a phone call from a friend claiming that 'gone are the days of Baba au Rum'. A bold statement indeed (you want to go about half way into this post to see what I'm talking about), but I wasn't shocked. I had already read about a place called 42 on Miss Ls' blog, who in turn saw it on Athens Daily Secret. I calmly answered back, with a smug note and the air of someone who is ahead of the times (or a smart arse), "Oh you must mean that place '42' where that barman who worked at both Baba au Rum and Guru used to work". Obviously I was forwarding what I had read on Miss Ls blog. I wasn't prepared for the answer. "No, I was talking about The Gin Joint". We both paused, knowing that it wasn't going to be an early night.

First we arrived at 42:

The Entrance

An entrance? More like a gateway: to another galaxy! As in 'the answer lies within'. If you can't tell where I'm going with this it's because you haven't heard about the epic comedy by Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I quote from Wikipedia:

In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (published in 1979), the characters visit the legendary planet Magrathea, home to the now-collapsed planet-building industry, and meet Slartibartfast, a planetary coastline designer who was responsible for the fjords of Norway. Through archival recordings, he relates the story of a race of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings who built a computer named Deep Thought to calculate the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. When the answer was revealed to be 42, Deep Thought had predicted that another computer, more powerful than itself would be made and designed by it to calculate the question for the answer. 

Inside: wooden flour boards, low lighting, very welcoming. Like an English pub, but with the practically totally open façade, its different. In a nice way of course!

We sat outside, at the far end, almost under the building that was towering above us. Big mistake! The pigeons sitting on the windowsills many flours above us had no notion of 'appropriate public behaviour'. After two near misses, we promptly moved. 

We started looking through the menu which was shaped like a fan, made of plastic and sturdy as such. I'd go as far as to say it was a fan, or designed to be used as one. Perfect for the hot summer nights in the city centre!

A little message on the fan read (more or less), 'If you can't find something you like, come to the bar, introduce yourself to the barman and talk to him about yourself. Tell him your sign, if you prefer the sea or the mountain, what you usually like to drink etc. etc. Armed with his 'hereditary gift', he'll make you exactly what you wanted and didn't know about. If he makes something you don't like, we promise to punish him severely and make you another drink'.

Message on the Menu

After taking our time with the menu, we went for the 'Trouble', the 'Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster' and the third one I can't remember for sure, but I believe it was the 'Sherry Cobler'.

An inexcusably amount of time later (given the place was empty when we went), we got our drinks.

Sherry Cobler

Tarragon, orange, sherry and bitters. I heard no complains from the friend that got this one, and he was also impressed by the carvings on the glass (you can faintly see them if you look closely at the full size picture).

Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster

Strawberries, basil, raspberries, vodka and pepper. My friend that was having this complained that the basil and pepper didn't really come through, and that the drink was weird just for the sake of it. I think the waiting had got to him!

Trouble

Watermelon, ginger, chilli and a double of tequila. I had this one so I can tell you what I thought of it. It was nice. Not the 'last drink before I die' nice that I get with the 'Sonic Boom' at Baba au Rum, but I didn't have any complains.

Nuts

Now these babies were sweet! The green ones had a wasabi-ish heat to them. I could have had a bowl of them all to myself!

No time to chat, next stop, the Gin Joint which was practically just around the corner!

The last place was named after a comedy, this one after a classic romantic drama. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum! And if you don't know which one I'm talking about, that would be Casablanca, and Humphrey Bogart famous line "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine".

The Menu

I really enjoyed the menu at the Gin Joint. It starts with a story about how prohibition of alcohol in the United States in  the 1920s resulted in a large array of illegal underground bars and numerous cocktails to go with them. Most, if not all, of the cocktails on the menu were accompanied with the story of their origin. It almost makes one nostalgic of a time they never even got to know!

We sat outside (though the slant of the pavement didn't make things easy!). To be honest now I can't remember what my friends ordered, but I did get pictures anyway. I ordered a Tommy's Margarita.

You can tell how much the table was slanting by level of the drink in the glass!

Tommy's Margarita.

I was surprised my Tommy's Margarita wasn't served in a tall glass and that it was served with ice. None the less, I tried it and found it had exactly the same taste as the one I had a few days ago at Baba au Rum. It was a slightly bitter taste that confused me because of the Agave Syrup which should be present in a Tommy's Margarita. My friend explained that, though many argue against it, a 'Reposado' tequila is used to make a 'better quality' drink. This sort of tequila has been aged a minimum of two months, but less than a year in oak barrels. That taste I was getting was from the oak barrel. Soon as he'd told me, I connected the dots and verified that the taste I was getting was an oaky one.

We drank our drinks and agreed that this was a serious place and had it not been a weak day and had the hunger not kicked in, we would have happily tried more of the drinks on the menu!

Read more about The Gin Joint on Athimorama

I think the bottom line on trying these two places is that, the opening of Baba au Rum in the area has sparked the opening of more serious cocktail bars all of which are at least on the same league - it was about time!

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Kozi's: Definitely the best meat in town!

The first time I wrote about Kozi's I said it had the best meat in town. I've been there many, many, many, many times since. Last time was only a few hours ago and I can now confidently say it has, consistently, the best meat in town.

Seriously, I'm generally a fast eater and tend to gulp my food down, but every single time I'm at Kozi's, and have before me that phenomenally juicy and tender rib-eye steak, cooked perfectly medium-rare as requested, I can't help but take my time carefully cutting every bite, swooshing it around the juices in the plate, delicately placing it on my tongue, and then slowly biting into it so that each and every one of my taste buds can savour the taste of the steak as it literally melts like butter in my mouth.

The Rib-eye

It recently occurred to me that whatever else I eat, wherever else I eat it, I think to myself, "it was nice, but it could have been a rib-eye at Kozi's instead"...

And steak loves a salad, so this time round we had a Kozi's salad, which has Mozzarella, prosciutto, lettuce, rocket, cherry tomatoes with Kozi's sauce. Usually however, I have the ceaser salad which has big lovely grilled pieces of chicken in it, just right to get the appetite going!

Kozi's Salad

The starters are also to die for! I've had the stuffed portobello, the BBQ chicken wings, and the honey delight (grilled haloumi wrapped in prosciutto and served with honey and lemon) and they are all really really good. The burger is definitely one of the best going around, and of course all the grilled meats are all right up there with the rest! And last but not least, the deserts, which I believe are all home made. I usually go for the cheesecake, but the Oreo version is very very naughty indeed!

Honey Delight

BBQ Wings

This isn't on the menu (yet?). I believe they called it the Super Kozi's Burger!

Mala Mala Burger

Panna cotta

Cheesecake, Oreo Cheesecake and Chocolate moose

Basically almost everything on menu is very good, but they are shadowed by those which are exceptionally good, which in turn bow down to the phenomenally amazing rib-eye!

And then there's the environment; genuinely cozy! The staff always pleasant, and then Kozi himself! Always there, you get the sense that he absolutely loves what he is doing and the place he's set up and wants everything to be perfect! I've actually been sat outside in the street, waiting, not for a table, but for my company to arrive and he has come out, said hello, and offered me water or something while I wait! Now I think that goes further than customer service, I think that comes straight from the heart!

So honestly, do yourselves a favour, make the effort to get to Melissia, somehow, and have a meal at Kozi's. You won't regret it.

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And if you're still not convinced, see what others have to say:

Athinorama: Burger με λίγη Νότια Αφρική
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Pandespani: Kozi’s: νόστιμα μπέργκερ με νεανικό πάθος
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Athens News: Spicing up the family
To BHMA: Kozi's: συναντήσεις meat to meat.
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Vamos Amigos: Authentic Mexican the American Way!

About a week or so ago, I had arranged to treck all the way down to Glifada after work to meat up with a couple of friend. A year ago I wouldn't have done this, not on a weekday and not after work. Rush-hour traffic going down to Glifada is an absolute nightmare! However, ever since I've gotten my motorbike, getting around has become so much easier so I said what the hell, I'll do it!

The thing is, I'd read about a burger joint, The Burger Joint, that is competing for the best burger title! I figured this was a good opportunity to try it out. Unfortunately, one of the friends I was visiting, who lives in the neighbourhood, had been there the day before, so we were looking for something else.

We started by checking athinorama, then used foursquare and eventually just ended up walking the streets. We were hoping for something non-european (so unfortunately Bayern Bierhaus was out the question - damn!). Eventually we decided to try for a taste of Mexico and entered 'Vamos Amigos'. Their website reads "we are committed to serving our guests authentic Mexican dishes". It should have read "we are committed to serving out guests what they know as authentic Mexican dishes". I've sort of jumped the gun in saying this however so I'm going to rewind now and tell you how our visit panned out.

The first thing I noticed on entering the place was how large and empty it was. It probably was just the time  and day, but I still wondered how often it fills up. We sat right in the back, next to the glass that separated the inner seating from the outside ones. I did wish it had been open so we could have gone outside because it did look nice. They had a water feature going outside, each table had a little cactus on it and generally care had been taken into giving the place a Mexican feel - maybe too much care (we did manage to extract from the waiter that the sombrero sealed baskets the tortillas were served in had been purchased from some food and hospitality exhibition in Germany).

A Cactus per Table

Water Feature

Going through the menu I noticed it was more or less split into the the Mexican half: Nachos, Nachos, Nachos, Quesadillas, Chilli con Carne, Guacamole etc. for starters and Fajitas, Tacos, Burritos, Enchilada, Chimichanga etc. for mains, and the western half: BBQ chicken wings and a whole load of fried stuff for starters, and Grilled stuff, chicken with various sauces, burgers and pasta for mains. Sounds like a Fridays/Applebees/Ruby Tuesday menu you say... no no no, it must be your imagination. I immediately dismissed the western half, and we eventually decided to go for Chilli con Carne, Guacamole, Nachos and a basic mixed salad to start with, and then the Chimichanga and the Fajita with veal as our mains. To finish we said 'sod it' and went for the deep fried ice cream (for novelty value - though I have to admit I have had deep fried ice cream before).

Nachos with Dipping Sauce

When the waiter first arrived, somehow the conversation turned to how spicy the food was, and how we were puzzled because I like my food really spicy but my friends didn't. He said, "I could bring you some spicy dipping sauce on the side". I said, "Yea!". He asked "How spicy I would like it?". I said, "Give me all you've got". He said, "What if I bring medium spicy, and if its not spicy enough I'll bring very spicy". I said "No, you're more likely to get it right if you bring very spicy and if its too spicy you can bring medium spicy". he said, "OK". He brought the sauce, I tried it. It rated 'barely hot' on my hot scale. Oh if only I had a penny every time this happened I'd be a rich man! By the end of the meal, when he came around to ask if everything was all right, I couldn't help but mention that my hot sauce rated 'barely hot'. He sighed with disappointment and said, "Well next time you should let us know and we'll bring you the not stuff".

The Ensalada Mixta

Basically, lettuce leaves cut it to strips in a crunchy tortilla nest with chopped tomato, lots of carrots, cheese and sour cream on top. Theoretically there were was also sweat corn, kidney beans and it was dressed with a vinaigrette. I can't remember seeing of tasting the last three. Either way, the salad wasn't bad, but it left me largely indifferent.

The Guacamole

Is this the colour of guacamole? How come I remember a more vibrant green? Taste-wise it tasted oily, either from the avocado or from added olive oil, either way I think it needed some acidity to cut though this, which would also explain the colour as the avocado would darken without some lemon or lime.

The Chilli con Carne

Not much to say, it tasted great, but there's a fine line between Chilli con Carne and Bolognese sauce, and this was too close to that line! Barely spicy -both in terms of heat and spices used. Hardly any beans in it (if any at all) (though my understanding is that there's an ongoing 'war' about if Chilli con Carne should have beans in it).

The Chimichanga

Chicken and cheese wrapped and cooked in a tortilla. How wrong can you go with that. It was always going to taste good, but if you're not eating it at home, you expect it to taste great.

The Fajitas

What you see it what you get. The meat was tender, you wrapped it in one of four tortillas, added some condiments and ate it. I did think that for the amount of meat, they could have had a few more tortillas.

Deep Fried Ice Cream

This was actually the most exciting thing we had. The crust we were told was made with some sort of cereals. It tasted like biscuit. Very nice. And the ice cream inside: no picture means it wasn't there long enough to take one ;)

After the meal was over, my hunger subsided, and my brain functional, I started to think about the meal I'd had. The first question I ask myself, every single time I visit a new place, is will I be coming again. Quick question, gut feeling answer, and the answer was no! And I couldn't understand why. There was nothing wrong with the meal, it was sort of what I expected, and yet there was nothing special about it. Nothing to scream "wow!".

The same night I'm still thinking what went wrong. Maybe I just don't like Mexican food. But how can it be? Given me lime, coriander, cumin, tequila, peppers, sweetcorn, beans and chilli! I love so many of these flavours that I associate with Mexican food. And then it hit me. They were all absent. The Chilli con Carne and Fajitas meat was garnished with the greens from fresh onions (instead of possibly coriander), there was no lime zing in either Fajitas or the Guacamole, the salad was hardly dressed, the use of sweetcorn and beans was negligible, and there was no chilli - either that or it was as weak as Weak Mac. Weak! All the food tasted nice without tasting of anything!

I wasn't done though. I'd already read in Heston Blumenthal's Total Perfection that Chilli con Carne is far from authentic Mexican cuisine, so I decided to look around the internet for what is. I was as much shocked as appalled with myself for what I found: bottom line being that what I largely understood and associated with Mexican food is actually American influenced Mexican food, or Tex-Mex. I'll spare you the details, less to link a few pages that I found particularly interesting: this one which basically talks about how Tex-Mex evolved and this one which is basically all about the real deal Mexican food.

Going back now to Vamos Amigos, call it Mexican or call it Tex-Mex, for me, it is a poor and sloppy attempt at both. Attention has been put into the detail of how the place looks and how it presents itself, but the lack of that attention in to food show in dishes that are just OK: not notably better that anything you can get at the likes of Fridays, Applebees etc. But don't take my word for it, here's a map, see what you think.

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