Eating in the Greek Isles - Santorini

A trip to Greece is incomplete without a visit to the Greek Islands of the Cyclades.

I'm typically a city-sort of person. I love walking in bustling areas, taking in the energy of the people, the buildings, and (of course!) the food. I enjoyed Athens a lot. It was rich with history, full of culture, and had great food.

Having said that, I can see why most people flock to the islands when they visit Greece. The scenery alone is absolutely phenomenal. Furthermore, after a few days in Athens (which can start to feel crowded, polluted, and overwhelming), the Greek isles are a much needed oasis from the craziness of it all.

For this trip, due to limited time, I only visited one island - Santorini.

Despite the short duration of my trip, I absolute will never forget this magical place.

Thira

The island is small, with the two major towns (Thira and Oia) perched high on top of the steep cliff.  You get gorgeous ocean views from almost every building on the island.

Oia

The town we stayed in, Oia (pronounced ee-ya), is well known for its blue-domed white buildings. It's also known as the location for one of the most beautiful and romantic sunsets in the world.

One of my favorite experiences in Santorini was hiking the six-mile trail between Thira and Santorini. The scenery is breathtaking throughout (rolling hills, expansive ocean, a gorgeous sunset) plus the exercise is refreshing (can you see us walking in the picture?).

Of course, by the end of that hike we were famished. Though we had already traversed six miles, we made another tiring and steep descent down to the bottom of the island. You can see the steps leading all the way down to the oceanside.

We ate at a well-known seafood shanty with prime outdoor seats facing the famous sunset. Essentially, you pick out your fish and they grill it for you.

In Greece, fish is served with the head and tail (though they do filet it for you!). The preparation is simple (grilled with a splash of lemon), but very good. We also tried some traditional Greek appetizers, such as Greek salad and roasted eggplant. We also had deep fried tomatoes, which is a specialty of Santorini (known for its tomatoes).

Overall, we enjoyed our meal very much. Because we were visiting off-season, the fish was not as fresh as we would have liked (we saw some cloudy eyes while picking out fish - never a good sign!). Nevertheless, we enjoyed our meal immensely, and our waiter was super nice. In fact, he was so nice that he drove us all back up the "mountain" to our hotel at the top so we wouldn't have to climb the steep stairs ourselves.

We slept very very well that night.

This post is a part of a larger series on Greece
Greetings from Greece! 
Sweets in Greece 
Gyros, Souvlakis, and Pitas, Oh My!
Tavernas - Everyday Dining in Greece

Bon Chon Chicken

Korean fried chicken.

It's crunchy, savory, slightly sweet, and spicy all at the same time. The skin is paper thin, the fat having been mostly rendered out of it (not unlike Peking duck!). It's almost always served with pickled radish, and most people like to enjoy it with beer or soju (Korean distilled alcoholic beverage, sort of like vodka).

Bon Chon Chicken is one of the most popular South Korean chains that serves this addictively delectable snack. Korean fried chicken differs from American fried chicken in that the skin is smooth, there is a slight glaze covering the chicken, and it's much less greasy.

The stuff reheats amazingly well, and (of course), tastes even better straight out of the fryer.

Lucky for us Bostonians, Bon Chon Chicken finally opened up in Boston in 2009 (first inside another restaurant Privus and then on its own in 2010 when Privus closed).

I'm a bit of a latecomer on this one, but I finally had a chance to try Bon Chon Chicken more than a year after it opened.

Of course you have to get the fried chicken - that's what they're known for! My friend and I got a small order of the chicken as an appetizer. You can either order the "soy garlic" (slightly sweet) or the "hot spicy" (self explanatory!) one. Although both are good, I can only take so much of the spicy one before I need to take a break! Therefore, for all practical purposes, I like the soy garlic one better. Plus, that slightly sweet glaze is irresistible!


If you're not a fan of fried chicken, the restaurant has a lot of other standard Korean and Japanese options. On the Korean front, you can order classics such as bulgolgi, kalbi, bi bim bap, and seafood pancake. On the Japanese front, you can order a variety of sushi and sashimi as well as cooked dishes such as okonomiyaki, katsuu-don, and takoyaki (octopus balls).

Honestly, it's an extensive menu, of which only a small portion I have tried!

Overall, we were quite happy with our food. The fried chicken, of course, is the true star. However, I thought the other dishes were quite enjoyable as well. The bi bim bap was tasty and the seafood salad was decent. In general, the prices were quite reasonable (most items were in the $10-$15 range), and the restaurant is (overall) a pretty good value for what it delivers.


Bon Chon
123 Brighton Ave
Allston, MA 02134




It's still not too late to enter the Chinese Wok Kit Giveaway!

Tavernas - everyday dining out in Greece

This is part 3 of a longer Greece Series. Please see bottom of the post for hyperlinks to the rest of this series.

While in Athens, we ate almost exclusively at casual, local places called "tavernas" (ταβέρνα). A taverna is sort of like our equivalent of a pub - a small, casual restaurant that serves local, Greek cuisine. Prices are usually quite reasonable, and the atmosphere is decidedly very Greek - traditional Greek music or even Greek dancing is not unusual.

In the touristy parts of Greece (e.g., Plaka), there are tavernas everywhere trying desperately to get your business. They are not shy, and they will stand outside their storefronts fearlessly beckoning you to enter.

We decided that any place that's super aggressive must not be very good, so we took care to do our research and sought out well-reviewed places. Not surprisingly, the places we chose (which were all very good), did not have a single aggressive person standing outside trying to get people to come in.

The first place we visited was a lovely restaurant called Psarras, which bills itself as Plaka's oldest restaurant. It's situated up the hill (towards the Acropolis) and serves authentic, traditional Greek fare.

I love the traditional Greek salad, which consists of a base of tomatoes, peppers, and onions topped with olives and a big chunk of feta cheese, A simple drizzle of extra virgin olive oil serves as the dressing.

We ordered a classic "oven baked lamb and potatoes," which is a common Sunday dinner dish in Greece.

Moussaka
This very traditional Greek dish consists of 1) layers of thinly sliced eggplant on the bottom, 2) ground lamb sauteed with onions, garlic, tomatoes, and spices in the middle, and 3) bechamel sauce or custard on top. The entire, hearty entree is baked and then served with a flavorful sauce.

Our second night in Athens we visited yet another taverna in the Plaka where we sampled even more traditional Greek dishes.


Grape Leaves!
You see stuffed grape leaves (dolmadakia) all over America, and you see them in Greece too! I love grape leaves, so of course I enjoyed these delicious rice stuffed grape leaves, which were served with olives and lemons.

The fried fish dish initially looked pretty boring. "How is this any different from Fish & Chips?"

The secret is completely in the sauce. The fish came with a generous side of this lovely garlic sauce, called skordalia (αλιάδα), that was absolutely delicious. The sauce is simple - pulverized garlic with olive oil, mashed potato, and an acidic component (either lemon or vinegar). It sort of reminds me of aoili or allioli from other European countries. It worked beautifully with the fish and we actually couldn't stop eating it!

The fried calamari was good - nothing particularly special or different, but decent.

Here is a lamb dish that (I believe) was topped with cheese. Flavorful, rich, and hearty on a cold rainy night (yes, so sad, but it rained in Greece several days while I was there!).

This baked eggplant dish was much richer than we had expected, though it was quite good.

Fresh fruit with cinnamon - a surprisingly simple but perfect ending to a satisfying meal.


This post is a part of a larger series on Greece
Greetings from Greece! 
Sweets in Greece 
Gyros, Souvlakis, and Pitas, Oh My!

Gyros, Souvlakis, and Pitas, Oh My!

Note - I think the word "gyros" above should be souvlakis!

One of the my favorite parts of travel is the opportunity to sample the local, casual cuisine.

I've always been a huge fan of street food. I feel like I get to know the culture on a much deeper level when I experience what the locals are having, not what's being served at the local Michelin star restaurant (though those are fun for different reasons).

In Athens, we stayed right inside the Plaka, a cute, historical area right at the foot of the Acropolis. The neighborhood consists of narrow cobblestone roads and tight buildings all scrunched up next to each other. It's a charming, very walker-friendly area full of restaurants, shops, and cafes. Frankly, I wouldn't stay anywhere else if I were visiting Athens.

After "hiking" up the hill in the morning to see the Acropolis and surrounding sites, we were famished by lunchtime. What lovely Greek food could we find in the Plaka?


My friend is a Rick Steves junkie and swears by his book for all her European travel. Rick recommended a few restaurants in and around the Plaka that were inexpensive and quite tasty. We decided to eat at one called Thanasis, right on the edge of the Plaka in an area called Monastiraki square.

Since the weather was nice, we ate outside. The restaurant is huge and seats probably over a hundred. The place was packed with locals and tourists alike.

The freshly made pita bread all over Greece is so good. It's soft, warm, and just downright addictive. Even though we were full, we couldn't help but continue to munch on the bread!

Greek Salad
One thing we quickly learned about Greek salads - they have no lettuce! Frankly, I much prefer the salads in Greece compared to the "Greek salads" we get here in the US. I love the chunky mixture of fresh ingredients - tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, and olives.  No filler! Of course, you must drizzle on some gorgeous olive oil plus add a nice chunk of feta cheese.

"Cheese" salad
We thought we were getting a real salad when we ordered the "cheese salad." Instead, it's more like a whipped feta spread, which was good, but hard to finish without eating too much bread!

We then ordered a bunch of things on the menu to try. It's great fun traveling with a slightly bigger group because you get to try so many more things! My favorite from that meal? The chicken souvlaki, which was absolutely incredible. It was among the best chicken I'd ever had - hot, juicy, tender, and full of delicious spices.

Similarly, the lamb sausage souvlakis were juicy, perfectly seasoned, and delicious as well.

I guess it takes a lot of muscle power to carry so many gyros all day long!

Fries just seem to be a part of every culture! In Greece, they put fries inside the gyros!

It's easy to find souvlakis, gyros, and the like all over Greece. At most of these shops, you can choose between various types of meats. Here in a tiny place near the bus stop in Oia, Santorini, we have a choice of lamb (left) or chicken (right). You can see pita bread grilling at the right of the rotating meat.

Here are some chicken gyros we had at another street side gyro place in Oia, Santorini.

Back to Athens! 
After enjoying a nice lunch in the Plaka area, you can just walk around and enjoy the ancient sites of Athens. There's so much to see within walking distance of the Plaka.

Old Roman style ruins.

You can't forget the Acropolis (which is just up the hill . . .)

And surrounding buildings . . .

This post is a part of a larger series on Greece
Greetings from Greece! 
Sweets in Greece 

Cafe Sushi

This is a conversation that Bryan and I often have.

Bryan: What do you want to do for dinner tonight?

Jen: hmmm . . . I dunno, what do you want to do?

Bryan: well, it's Sunday . . .

Jen: It's SUNDAY!!


Jen starts jumping up and down in excitement. Bryan smiles in amusement.

Why am I so excited that it's Sunday? Well, on Sunday evenings, my favorite hyperlocal sushi restaurant has nigiri sushi for $1 a piece.There's hardly ever a wait, the sushi is good, and it's less than a five minute walk from home.

edamame
If we're feeling like we want to eat something green to offset all that protein (and carbs!), we'll often start with a simple order of boiled edamame (fresh soy beans).

Nigiri Sushi - $1/piece
The great thing about the special is that you can order a la carte - essentially you design your own menu. Bryan and I typically order salmon (sake), yellowtail (hamachi) and mackerel (saba). I usually like to have a piece of egg (tamago) while Bryan loves his sea urchin (uni).

mackerel

tamago 

unagi

uni

As part of the $1 Sunday sushi special, they also reduce the prices of many of their other rolls. We love coming on Sundays so much, we basically never come on any other day of the week.

Cafe Sushi mostly focuses on sushi. In fact, their facebook page provides the latest updates on what kinds of special fish they have imported from Japan. They often have really interesting offerings - the other day I tried a salmon belly special (completely with a light touch of ponzu sauce some other flavors) that was really really enjoyable.

Rainbow roll

The chef can actually make some pretty interesting things. They host special tasting menus every so often  (I've never actually tried one, though others have). The closest I've come is I've tried the whiteboard specials, which are pretty good and definitely different from your run-of-the-mill nigiri.

In front, a few more exotic ones: uni (Santa Barbara sea urchin) and monkfish liver

Of course, non-raw fish eaters have a few options, such as various types of teriyaki, yakiniku, as well as a number of vegetarian rolls.

I like the sushi at Cafe Sushi. Of course, it doesn't compare at all to the best sushi in Boston, and I've lately been intrigued by another place that offers $1/piece sushi that's supposed to be fantastic.

Nevertheless, for a casual Sunday evening dinner that's conveniently close, reasonably healthy, and perfectly enjoyable, I really can't think of many better options.

UPDATE: I just found out that the Sunday $1 sushi deal is NO LONGER AVAILABLE as of June 26, 2011. So bummed, and so sorry!

Cafe Sushi
1105 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138


It's still not too late to enter the Chinese Wok Kit Giveaway!