Athens Food Tour

If you are visiting a city for the first time (or maybe you are even a local) and looking for a great mix of culture and food, a culinary tour is a fantastic choice. My wife and I usually include one for our travel and our visit to Athens Greece was no different. This would end up to be quite the tour. 

Typically these tours are in small groups, maybe 10 or so. Ours was meant for more people but apparently no one else booked it so we ended up with a private tour. We met our guide in a main square which was about a 15 minute walk from the hotel.  The guide was a young woman who has lived in Athens her while life.  After brief introductions, off we went.  

The first stop was at the main bakery for an Athens street food staple.  

These are called koulouris.

You find vendors selling them in street carts all over the city. They are similar to a pretzel but much crisper and denser.  The outside is coated with sesame seeds for even mor crunch. I love a great sesame cracker and that is the flavor and texture they reminded me of - just in larger form.

Also had these amazing Loukoumades.

The best description for them would be to compare to a cronut.  But so much better.  Crispy on the outside like fried dough.  Pillowy and eggy inside like Yorkshire pudding. And it makes sense since the batter is similar to a Yorkshire pudding batter. They deep.fry in very hot oil a for only two minutes. Then dowse them in delicious velvety honey. And then you eat them.  Anyone who thinks hot Krispy Kreme original glazed are the best they have had need to get themselves to Athens to try these.  

Next stop was a place that makes bougatsa.  

When our guide first described these, it sounded to me what is called spanikopita in the United States.  And while it looks similar, I have to say that the bougatsa is far superior.  So many layers of flaky, crispy pastry. And bougatsa are made in a variety of flavors, both sweet and savory.  We tried the spinach and another one with cheese.  

The spinach version has the same great seasoning from the "pie" we had at the seaside town yesterday. A great blend of oregano, garlic and spinach flavors.  And so impressive that they are able to keep the pastry so flaky. 

The cheese version has feta. The feta cheese here is so much different than the salty crumbles you often see in supermarkets in the United States. It was creamy and milder but still had that distinct delicious feta taste.   

Our next stop was to the meat, fish and vegetable markets.  Visiting the meat market is not for anyone who would be easily married by seeing every part of an animal butchered and available for purchase.  And I mean every part from head to hoof, inside and out.  You can buy anything and everything you could want.  I didn't take pictures of some of the more interesting selections.  But let it be known that if you are ever wanting to make a goat's head soup, I can hook you up with several butchers in Athens. Here is a sampling from the meat market.  You see beef tail in the right.  Cow tongue to the far left.   Various hooves, two types of tripe and intestines in the lower bins.  

Brain, liver and kidneys. 

Now it was onto the fish market.  So many types of seafood.  Some of it (such as oysters) are imported.  Most of the fish (salmon being one exception) is locally caught.  Lots of octopus and squid.  

Lots of vendors. 

The vegetables market is just as massive.  Many choices of fresh vegetables, olives and spices.  

These are snails. A couple are trying to escape!!

And I had never seen fresh pistachios before being roasted. 

After all those markets, it was time for some coffee.  

When we were in Turkey, we had tried Turkish coffee - it is just something you need to have.  In Greece, they have something that looks an awful lot like Turkish coffee but it isn't.  Of course it is Greek coffee!!   We had a bit of fun with our guide about this since we had gotten to talking about yogurt - specifically Greek yogurt. As you might imagine, there is no such thing as Greek yogurt in Greece. There is just, well, yogurt.  So, in that same train of thought, could there really be Greek coffee or is it just coffee?   Actually there is a difference.  And here it is. 

In Turkey the coffee is made in a similar vessel that you see, but if done over direct heat. In Greece, the urn is placed in hot sand, stirred a bit and left to brew. Then it is served to you. 

If you are a lover of coffee, you should try either type.  But since the grind is superfine and not strained out with a filter, it is a coffee you carefully and slowly sip, unless you like the taste and texture of coffee grounds.  And I think that need to be patient with the coffee speaks to the culture of Greece.  Coffee is very much a social beverage in Athens.  Starbucks franchises haven't had a lot of success here.  The Greeks aren't wanting to grab a cup, open their laptop and check emails.or Facebook.   They really want to enjoy that coffee and socialize.  And maybe have a cigarette at the same time.  And we had a long chat with our guide as we enjoyed our coffee.  We did find we were drinking it faster than we should.  It was good to just sit back and relax.   

When we were done, our guide asked us to swirl the leftover grounds and then turn our cup upside down.  She would attempt to predict our future.  Much like tea leaves.

She took one look at mine and said it would require someone with more expertise!!

Ths next stop was at a charcuterie store.  All types of pastramis from all types.of animals. 

And we got this amazing charcuterie platter.  

The water buffalo salami was my favorite.  There was also some rich, creamy feta as well as hummus.  And there was what I will describe as cracker bread that was so crunchy and flavorful.  And of courss some briney kalamata olives. 

Next stop was at a local hotel for tasting some local vinegars, olive oils and Greek salad. 

We also we shown a map of all the wine regions and Greece.

  This one as from the pink region in the south.  

It was a dry white wine.  A good table wine that would go well with seafood.  Next were three types of vinegar.  

Thw red bottle was enhanced with cardmon, pepper and ginger.  The lavender bottle had mint, spearmint and verbina. Verbena is a flowing plant so it added a grassy note. The yellow was like Christmas in a bottle. Clove cinnamon and corande.  My favorite was the blue minty vinegar since it was so unusual.  Although I love the red also.  It would be good on vanilla ice cream.  

Next was a tasting of olive oil along with deconstructed Greek salad.  One interesting price if information we found is that Greek salad in many parts of Greece has no lettuce. It is because tomatoes and lettuce were not in season at the same time.   Here we true two oils. This ne was grassier.

And this one had a much milder flavor.   

Then we had a Greek salad on a stick.  We both chose the grassier oil to go with the salad.  The guide added some salt and oregano. 

The we got to try an very interesting bite of food. This was a crispy carob bread with tomato marmalade and a goat cheese topped with arugula. 

I had only known carob as a chocolate substitute. Never in a bread.  So interesting vwith the tomato marmalade and creamy goat cheese.  

Then it was time with some crusty bread with honey.  Becauae, why not?  The honey here has such a clean flavor and combined with the buyer it is magic.  

And could we leave without some ouzo and dessert?  This was yogurt with a drizzle.of.honey and walnuts 

So creamy and fresh tasting. With some nice crunch from the walnuts. 

And then the ouzo.   This is an anise flavored lliquor. Tradition is that you add some water to it which proofs it down a bit.