To Gym or not to Gym

Last Friday, on finishing with another day in the office, I found myself contemplating whether I should go to the gym or to have a bite to eat together with a fellow co-worker. The weather was pretty dismal. It had already rained and it looked like it may be raining again. Given that we were going to get to either place by bike, we were concerned about being rained upon, so the option of going home was also on the table.

I insisted that we were 'good' and went for the gym. If we were rained upon it would have been for a good cause. For an unknowing observer, this would have seemed to be the angel on my shoulder pulling the strings and doing the talking. Zoom in however and change point of view by only a few degrees and one would see the masking tape covering the angels mouth, a pair of horns only just visible being it: angel pulling my strings and devil pulling angels! The purpose of course was just to get the option of going home scrapped!

Luckily it worked, and once we were on the bike I casually suggested just passing by 'Chez Lucien', a lovely little French restaurant that I have heard so many good things about and still haven't had the opportunity to go! We went by, but this time round my luck betrayed me: to my disappointment it was closed. On the flip side however, the amazing smells coming out of the kitchen (fully visible from the street) from the preparations that were under way flipped some sort of hunger switch and my friend insisted that we ditch the gym and go to Colibri. I wasn't going to argue.

I've visited Colibri again and again, but the important thing about this visit to Colibri was that I got a picture of the Rucola Pizza.

Pizza Rucola

For me, what makes the pizza at Colibri one of the best I've tried is the base. The thing about pizza is that the base has to be cooked well, with a strong crust that can keep a slice from flopping when lifted. On the other hand, the cheese must be just melted with maybe a little bit of colour, definitely not incinerated as is more often than not the case. The way to achieve this is to put the pizza on a very very hot surface in a very hot oven. I'm told, stone ovens in Italy burn at over five hundred degrees Celsius, and a pizza will stay in they for no more than a minute or two before it is ready!

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COLIBRI: Round two

Last time I visited Colibri, it was under the pretence of it having the best burger in Athens. Under that context I was disappointed, but the pizza did impress me.

This time round was different - in a positive way of course (otherwise why write about it?). I had assembled with the guys for a trip to a little Mexican place called Rincon Mexicano which we had discovered from the same source that led us to Colibri: Athens Daily Secret.

To make a long story short, we ordered about half the menu, were still starving by the end of it and didn't really care much about trying either another round of the same or the other half of the menu. I am open to the possibility that we may have been victims of our own expectations, so I urge you to try the place and form your own opinion - it wasn't particularly expensive (unless, I guess, if your intent is to relieve thy hunger).

So as we left, with an empty space where our food should have been, one comment led to another and off we were to Colibri. This time round the only expectations were to eat good and satisfying food. This time round our expectations were surpassed!

I contemplated ordering a pizza for myself since I remembered my last visit, but since everyone else was getting a burger and a pizza to share I decided to follow them. We each got chilli burger and shared a large pizza topped with rocket and parmesan shavings.

The pizza was as amazing as I remembered it! Thin based with a proper crust, not too much cheese, fresh tomato sauce and then mounds of fresh and vibrant rocket topped with wafer thin delicate and fully flavoursome parmesan shaving. Wow did that go down well (and that was after having already eaten at the Mexican place)!

And then, the burger arrived. And like I'm sure I said last time, this isn't your coarse ground, fat and hearty American style burger, but damn it, it sure as well did the job! Sauces dripping everywhere on every bite... so juicy and soft and filling. And to finish it off, a hefty swig of Weiss beer - ecstasy in the making!

So.. DAMN IT... GO HAVE YOURSELF A PIZZA AND A BURGER AT COLIBRI!!

And best of all, the owner(s) of Colibri have opened a second shop in Pagrati - so now there's no excuse!

View Colibri 1 & 2 in a larger map

p.s. a few related links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ebw_5IqYPw
http://www.dailysecret.com/secrets/to-kalutero-burger/
http://www.zoomout.gr/food/colibri.html
http://www.zoomout.gr/food/colibri_2.html
http://foursquare.com/venue/6999057
http://www.onlinedelivery.gr/ShowFlashBook.aspx?CompanyId=820569#/2

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The best burger in the city?

So, a few weeks ago I'm supposed to meet up with friends for to grab some food and maybe a few drinks. But, me being me, I made up some excuse and went home to make my own dinner and relax after a hard days work.

No sooner than I had finished dinner I get a phone call from one of them claiming that they had discovered - in no other words - the "Best burger in the city" and that I had missed out. Now normally I wouldn't have given this preposterous statement much weight, had it not come from the other burger lover (the first being myself) of my friends. I had to try this burger for myself.

The very next day I was on my way to try this so called champ. Accompanying me were my friend who made the claim and another (who obviously hadn't had enough the day before).

The source of this burger was a small establishment in the Mets area of Athens called COLIBRI:


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On arriving, one notices the compactness of the place. Jam packed in an area no bigger than my bedroom, full of clutter creating an enticing, warm and friendly atmosphere.

We ordered a burger each, a pizza and a salad to share.

Now, while waiting for the food, my friend came clean: his overblown statement was but to spite me for not coming to the previous days gathering (and it only took one beer for him to come clean). However I was still quietly anticipating being surprised. And surprised I was! Not by the burger, but by the pizza which was thin and crispy and fresh and everything that the PizzaHut generation has destroyed. Not quite your Italian stone baked pizza, but as good as you can hope to get from a conventional oven. As a matter of fact everything was very nice. The burger was - well not that fat juicy medium done American style patty I had hoped for, but was juicy and pleasantly different from other alternatives in the city.

I imagined myself living in an apartment round the area and grabbing dinner from this gem at least a couple of times a month on my way back from College. Alas, I was reminiscing my University experience and remembering the local take-outs I had lived by all those years ago. This is the sort of place this was: a bit further out of the city for me to want to have to go out of my way for, but just the sort of place I'd like to have down the street from home.

So, the best burger in the city? Well, not quite: but with the closure of Hells Kitchen the hunt is on!

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