In Bizarre Foods Athens, part of the Delicious Destinations series featuring Andrew Zimmern, the host and his crew visited numerous restaurants in the city, showcasing a variety of unique and delicious dishes. Here is a convenient list of all the addresses and dishes highlighted in this exciting exploration of Athens’s food scene.
READ MORE: FOR A REAL ART HOTEL, ART IS MORE THAN A DECORATION
DISH – Gyros and Souvlaki
WHAT IS IT?
Gyros and souvlaki are dishes of hand-selected roasted or grilled pork, beef or lamb stuffed in fresh, warm, chewy and tasty flatbread. Vegetables, and tangy herb and garlic spiked yogurt sauce are stuffed into the bread, along with the meat. The difference between gyros and souvlaki is the manner of cooking meat. Souvlaki is prepared through grilling skewered cubes of meat over an open flame. To make gyros, long strips of meat are stacked on a vertical rotisserie that turns slowly in front of the heat.
WHERE IS IT?
Bairaktaris
Kirikiou 6
Athens, Greece
NOTES – Delicious Destinations Athens
Bairaktaris Taverna is known for its gyros and souvlaki all over Athens. It serves gyros and souvlaki dressed with tangy tzatziki, onions, grilled peppers and blistered tomatoes.
DISH – Loukoumades
WHAT IS IT?
Loukoumades are traditional Greek balls of dough generally served warm, soaked in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon. The dough is made of flour, water and yeast. It is then cooked in oil to be served as dessert.
WHERE IS IT?
Krinos
Aiolou 87
Athens, Greece
NOTES – Delicious Destinations Athens
Krinos Bakery offers loukoumades with a twist – theirs are ring shaped. The ring shape allows the dough to cook more evenly than the balls. They allow customers to choose their own toppings: anything from honey, nuts, ice cream, caramel, chocolate – whatever their customers prefer.
ANDREW ZIMMERN ATHENS DISH – Spanakopita
WHAT IS IT?
Spanakopita is a savory Greek pie, made with tangy spinach and feta filling, and sheets of flaky phyllo dough. To make the phyllo, flour is mixed with water, salt, olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice. It is then rolled and stretched repeatedly to make the dough “alive”. Phyllo, spinach, salt, olive oil and feta cheese are then layered. It takes 5 sheets of phyllo to make a serving of spanakopita: 3 at the bottom and 2 on top. It is typically served as a side dish or appetizer.
WHERE IS IT?
Bougatsa Thessaloniki
Pl. Iroon 1
Athens, Greece
NOTES – Delicious Destinations Athens
Thessaloniki Bougatsa in Psirri is one of the few bakeries in Athens that still make phyllo by hand.
ANDREW ZIMMERN ATHENS DISH – Koulouri
WHAT IS IT?
Koulouri is a popular on-the-go breakfast in Athens. These bread rings are made through mixing flour, yeast, fresh butter, salt, anise, olive oil, and sugar. The resulting dough is twisted and dipped in lemon water. The rings are then coated with sesame seeds before they go into the oven.
WHERE IS IT?
Pnyka
Petraki 24
Athens, Greece
NOTES – Delicious Destinations Athens
Pnyka is one of the bakeries in Athens that supply koulouri to transient vendors found on street corners in Athens. The bakery was founded over 40 years ago and still uses equipment from the 19th century to mill its own flour. Its mill houses stones from the island of Naxos and is used up to this day to grind whole wheat grains into flour. Pnyka uses sweet, natural honey instead of sugar in its koulouri.
DELICIOUS DESTINATIONS ATHENS DISH – Dolmades
WHAT IS IT?
Dolmades are bundles of grape leaves stuffed with rice, herbs, onion and minced meat. The leaves are traditionally hand-rolled, but these days, it is not uncommon to see canned dolmades being served in Greek restaurants.
READ MORE: BROOKLYN: ALL OF THE RESTAURANTS PICKED BY ANTHONY BOURDAIN ON NO RESERVATIONS
WHERE IS IT?
Louizidis
Vouliagmeni
Ermou 2
Vouliagmeni, Greece
NOTES – Delicious Destinations Athens
Taverna Louizidis continues to serve hand-rolled dolmades. Mama Athena, its 85-year old founder, can be seen in the middle of the restaurant, singing, laughing and rolling up to a thousand dolmades a week.
BIZARRE FOODS DELICIOUS DESTINATIONS ATHENS DISH – Yogurt
WHAT IS IT?
The world famous Greek yogurt is simply yogurt in Athens. It is made through filtering milk and warming it to 194⁰F then allowing it to cool for about an hour. Live cultures are then added. The live cultures convert milk sugars into lactic acid, thickening the yogurt and giving it its characteristic sour flavor.
WHERE IS IT?
Stani
Marikas Kotopouli 10
Athens, Greece
NOTES – Bizarre Foods Delicious Destinations Athens
Stani, opened in 1931, is the only dairy bar left in Athens. It makes its yogurt from 95% sheep’s milk and uses live cultures derived from the first batch from 1949. It serves generous portions of yogurt to its customers the traditional way, topped with honey and walnuts.
READ MORE: ANTHONY BOURDAIN CRETE AND ZAKYNTHOS : ALL OF THE RESTAURANTS PICKED ON NO RESERVATIONS
Comments are closed.