sunnuntai 24. tammikuuta 2016

Restaurant Paei kairos, Lefkada, Greece

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

Dark, narrow alleys of Lefkada Town are photogenic.

During our summertime stay at Lefkada we, more often than not, ate at some of many restaurants of Sfakiotes mountains. However, every now and then we ate at Lefkada Town and one of our favourites was Paei kairos. We always ate outside, enjoying the weather, but we of course noticed the names on the backs of chairs and other movie themed elements of interior design.

On this trip we ate at twice at Paei kairos. The first time was a lunch when Heidi had sea bream and I had perhaps the best meal of the trip. The meat and sauce of the winter rosemary pork were just delicious. During our visit we learned that the restaurant had live music on several nights a week. Music is dear to us so we definetely wanted to visit at leat one of the Paei kairos music nights.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

Winter rosemary pork, the meat was excellent.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

The Sea Bream.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

The complimentary dessert.

Greek restaurants very often serve a complimentary dessert after the meal.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

Even the decanters in Paei kairos are movie themed.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

Cheese and ham filo pastries are absolutely delicious.

We have eaten cheese and ham filo pastries in several restaurants in Lefkada and I really want to try to make them at home.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

The chairs of the restaurant have names of Greek actors from 60's and 70's painted on them.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

The walls are full of big and small photographs from the movies.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

The vocalist was very good.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

And so were the bouzoki and the guitar players.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

Saganaki was also tasty, and it's one of those Greek appetizers I definetely want to try at home.

We've repeated a same mistake several times in Greece: the portions may be very big and ment for sharing between several people. If in doubt, ask how big the portions are. This night we shared two appetizers as we were not very hungry and we were satisfied.

Final Words


We really loved the food and the music and we had a memorable night. We do recommend Paei kairos for anyone visiting Lefkada Town.

torstai 21. tammikuuta 2016

Chiliset ja valkosipuliset katkaravut oliiviöljyssä - Gambas pil-pil

From Äijäruokaa 2016-01

Flunssakaudella äijä haluaa lohturuokaa ja vielä sellaista, joka valmistuu helposti ja nopeasti. Bongasin tämän minulle uuden ruokalajin kuvan netistä ja googlasin reseptin. Katkaravut ja chili sopivat hienosti yhteen, joten tein tätä alkuruokaa lounaaksi.

Tarvitset


1 pussi katkarapuja
1 dl neitsytoliiviöljyä
5-8 valkosipulin kynttä
1 tuore chili
persiljaa
basilikaa
suolaa

Ohjeet


Sulata ja valuta pakastekatkaravut.

Poista chilistä siemenet ja hienonna se. Leikkaa valkosipuli ohuiksi siivuiksi. Hienonna persilja ja basilika.

Kuumenna oliiviöljy pannulla. Lisää suola, valkosipuli, chili, persilja ja basilika. Kuumenna noin yksi minuutti. Lisää katkaravut. Paista pannulla 1-2 minuuttia.


Tarjoile kuumana pienistä kulhoista patongin kera.

Kommentit


Resepti nostattaa kulmakarvoja öljymääränsä vuoksi ja sitä olikin minun makuuni liikaa. Patonki tai vastaava vaalea leipä tosiaan tulee tarpeeseen. Hyvää, mutta ensi kerralla öljyä tulee vähemmän. Herkullisuudestaan huolimatta siis vain oishikatta 3/5.

sunnuntai 17. tammikuuta 2016

Vintage Wine Bar & Bistro, Athens, Greece

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

Vintage Wine Bar & Bistro could be seen from the balcony of our room.

On Saturday, 8th of January we left the Sfakiotes Residency with heavy hearts, already missing the residency cats. After a six hour bus ride we arrived in Athens and took a taxi to our hotel, Plaka Hotel. The hotel was new to us and – this time we wanted to stay in Plaka area which is full of restaurants and cafés. Heidi had searched for restaurants near the hotel and had spotted Vintage Wine Bar & Bistro just around the corner. We reserved a table for two, which was a good idea, because the restaurant turned out to be immensely popular and fully booked.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

The second floor is darker and more intimate. However, it does not open before 8 PM.

When we travel we want to eat and drink local products. We really wanted to try out good Greek red wines, deep, full-bodied and robust unlike the light table wine which the tourists usually drink.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

We ended up tasting four different red wines from different parts of Greece. The lightest is on the left and the most robust is on the right.

We ordered half a glasses of wine so we were able to taste more wines.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

For appetizer we shared a plate of excellent carpaccio.

The carpaccio was very good, and my favourite of the portions we ate.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

Espresso glazed meat balls. Main courses are served with salad at Vintage, with meat balls the salad is potato salad.

I don't like coffee at all, but this time I wanted to try and I'm happy I gave coffee a chance. The portion was very good.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

Heidi had chicken's thigh.

The chicken was also very tasty.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

Potatoes with truffel and parmesan.

The Wine Cellar


From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

The restaurant has a wide selection of wines from every corner of the World.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

Château Latour is the most expensive wine in the restaurant and costs well over 1600 euros.

The restaurant does have Château Latour for those with wallets deep enough, but Vintage have also a lot to offer for everyone. We got to taste five very good wines and an excellent dinner for a reasonable amount of money.

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

The Dessert Wines


From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

Heidi selected the red wine from the big bottle. The name of the wine literally means black and crispy and it is from Santorini. I chose a sweed red wine, which is partly made of same grape variety. It turned out to be portish.


Final Words


From Christmas at Lefkada 2015

Please do reserve a table as the restaurant is very popular.

We had high hopes for Vintage Wine Bar & Bistro, but it surpassed our expectations. Food, especially the carpaccio, was delicious, and the wines removed our last reservations about Greek wine. Try them, give them a chance. They are excellent and quite affordable. The staff knows wines well and is friendly. We heartily recommend Vintage.

On the Internet


The Facebook page of the Vintage Wine Bar & Bistro
The Instagram page of the Vintage Wine Bar & Bistro
TripAdvisor