Greece: food review

Kitron (from Naxos) : distilled from the leaves of the kitron tree (not sure exactly what that is but presumably some form of citrus tree) comes in: sweet, strong and medium (the best - most lemony and still strong!) sip to sunsets. best kept in freezer ~30%

Vinsanto (from Santorini) : dessert wine from Santo wines - sweet, raisin tastes. very nice. ~11%

Retsina: white wine with pine resin added as a preservative (introduced circa 1950s?) cheap but tasty - locals don’t seem to drink much (or at least some say ‘what the fuck?’) but it is a Greek drink, with many varieties about 3 euro a bottle (500-1L) ~11%

Ouzo: Greek ‘fire water’ (white spirit) flavoured with aniseed - shot (unusual) or over ice with water (turns cloudy). between mezes is meant to cleanse the pallet (& apparently cuts through the oilyness of some mezes). ~30%

Honey (from Nisyros) : honey is big all over Greece, and from what I’ve tried is very nice and much better than black & gold or squeezy bottle varieties. Bought some from Nisyros and it is very nice, interesting flavour not sure how to describe.
a very popular Greek dessert is natural Greek yogurht (very thick - we have Greek style in Perth shops) and over that they drizzle honey, and sometimes add walnuts or fruit. I’ve had yoghurt with honey a number of times and it is very tasty.

Soumada (from Nisyros) : A ‘bitter almond syrup’ which is in fact very sweet - drink with water mixed from 1:1 to 1:4, can also add to a milkshake. OK but gets sickening.

Greek yogurt: Like the style we get in Perth, very thick and very tasty. Haven’t found a vanilla variety (my favourite) but the natural is still very nice. Did not try the fruit flavoured varieties. Some varieties are so thick it's like philly cream cheese.

Dolmades: great everywhere (except one LP recommended restaurant) usually served with a lemon/oil kind of sauce over the top and lemon slice - extremely tasty.

Lamb Kleftiko: Unforuantely the only tasty kleftiko I had was at Niko’s which then made me ill. Probably should have tried it at a more expensive place but didn’t get around to it. Seems when I did try to eat at nicer places they never had the dish I was after at the time.

Yiros: Not small, though not as large as donor kebabs in Perth. Different to Perth - pita bread is thicker and there is less salads added (though they do add chips instead). Also the sauce is not well distributed which usually makes the last few mouthfuls not overly tasty. Technically a ‘yiros pitta’ as you can have the yiros meat served on a plate w/ salad and chips but it’s usually 3 or 4 times the price of the pitta, and I can’t imagine ordering that meat to each on it’s own.

Frappes and freddos:
I’ve always wondered if there is a way to have a nice, cold caffeinated drink other than Coke (which is way too sweet and I’m allergic to diet, besides which diet will give you cancer) and iced coffee, which can be too filling because of all the milk. Well in Greece they have found a way, or rather they have found MULTIPLE ways to enjoy a cold coffee and I’m very impressed with them all.
Firstly - frappes. Now first you have to know that somehow Nescafe has its foot in the door in Greece and is the official instant coffee of just about everywhere (it’s reached everyday status like Kleenex for tissues). Secondly, I hate Nescafe - I think it is the shittiest most disgusting instant coffee you can get (and I mean ALL the Nescafes, the ‘Gold’ tastes as horrible as Blend 43). Personally I like International Roast, if it must be instant. Anyway, I digress. They have invested a drink called the frappe - now it is usually listed as a Nescafe frappe and even when it’s not listed as such I’m sure it still is but actually is ISN’T THAT BAD, surprisingly.
Here’s how you make one: take a glass and add a touch of water, a spoonful of instant coffee and some sugar (the sweetness is up to you, and while I don’t like sugar in my regular (hot) coffee, a little is nice in a cold variety). You then put this under the milkshake maker and froth it up - it actually froths up really well! Intriguing I know. You can then add a little milk if you like (they tend to add condensed milk here) but actually, again, SURPRISINGLY, you don’t really need it. Then add ice cubes, then top up with cold water. If you’ve made it correctly you will have a coffee/water/ice blend at the bottom and a head of frothyness.
Now, they also have cold coffee drinks based on proper coffee as in from beans in an espresso machine - and these they call freddo (I assume it means cold). So you can order an espresso freddo, where they take an espresso shot and pour it over ice (adding some water I guess) and if it’s good coffee it tastes great (usually they have it ‘metrico’ which means medium amount of sugar, but I prefer just a little bit of sugar). A freddo cappucino is even better - it’s like an espresso freddo, but they add the milk foam to the top (they don’t usually put any milk in the coffee part). So it looks like a frappe - it’s icey coffee at the bottom, with a foamy head (only this time it’s the steamed milk rather than frothed Nescafe).
I have to say these drinks are a Greek invention I am rather impressed with (though they still seem overpriced to my backpacker budget, but they are usual coffee prices ~3 €).



Starbucks: new favourite - Dark Mocha Frappucino.