h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Eating Out in Greece - A3817442
Author: Gnomon - U151503

Some of this information was already in the Corfu entry, but there's enough here to make a complete entry in its own right.

>>Greek wine is mediocre in quality but adequate

The good people at Oddbins would disagree with this. They now sell a number of quite decent Greek wines from traditional grape varieties - including some from Santorini, where the flinty soil is especially conducive to white wines.

(Admittedly, though, I've never seen these in Greek restaurants)

On Metaxa - it may be worth ading that you will sometimes be asked how many stars you want. 3 stars is rough. Five stars is acceptable - pungently fruity, in fact. Seven stars isn't worth the expense - overly floral.

Do they still have separate menu prices for with/without service? It used to be that you would hear ignorant, parsimonious Brits moaning that they had a tourist price and a local price - as if any (non-existent) rip-off would be so blatant!

Ya Mas!

Hi Gnomon, glad you had a good holiday

I've just had a skim through but a couple of things jumped out, you tell us twice that you are never far from the sea in greece so can expect lots of fresh fish - once would be sufficient

Are there any tips or niceties about ordering/tipping etc? The entry's focus seems to be on greek food rather than eating out as an experience. I know you tell us what time the greeks tend to eat, but I think from the title I expected more about greek food culture rather than greek food. but feel free to ignore me here, don't think I'm expressing myself very clearly...

Well written as usual

k

Good points.

Eating out is very casual in Greece and very popular. Families go out to eat together. I'll try and work some of it into the first part.

The double prices seem to have gone from the menus. I'll add a note about Metaxa stars.

I remember offering some brandy to a friend - she was reluctant because it wasn't the usual type she drank. I pointed out that this was Remy Martin 3-star Cognac. She was not impressed. She said she'd tried 5-star Metaxa and didn't think much of it.

I once asked a French friend if there is a generic French word for 'Brandy'. I know you can order a Cognac or (even better, to my mind) an Armagnac - but what if you wanted, say, a Spanish or German or Greek brandy.

His typically Gallic response was 'Why?'

You might like to add something about the Greek attitude to service. Things - especially the bringing of the bill - will not happen quickly. This is not inefficiency. You're there for the night, so why would the waiters want to hurry you?

(Interestingly, in Turkey it is considered undesirable to have to sit with dirty crockery. Waiters will keep an eagle eye out and will pounce as soon as you put your fork down on an empty plate).

I'm made some changes to the first section, giving more on the experience. I've also added about 3-star, 5-star and 7-star brandies.

Fantastic Entry Gnomon!

HELL

This is interesting for me, because our younger son and his wife and her family go to Greece fairly frequently. 'Dad', he says, 'you and mum should really go to Greece for a holiday, it's great, and the food's very good'.
So we might try it sometime soon. This entry is likely to be printed off and taken with us!
I like the information about the Greek restaurant culture, which is invaluable in preventing embarrassment when 'mixing it' with the local people.
It also made me feel very hungry!
A very comprehensive entry in every way, and deserves its place in the Review.

I'm working on lots of other entries on Greece at the moment, Ron, so keep an eye on my Personal Space.

Nice entry Gnomon

The one thing that stood out to me was in the starters and main dishes - I recognised having seen 'souvlaki' and 'stifado', but not 'spinach pie' - I recall from Greek menus that this was described as 'spanakopita', which does translate as Spinach pie. Cheese Pie I am also unfamiliar with - could it be tyropita?

Similar to moussaka, pastitso (a Greek pasta dish like lasagna) could also be mentioned.

Pimms

Thanks, Pimms. I've added the Greek names of Spinach Pie and CHeese Pie, putting the English names in brackets after them. I've also added Pastitso, although I can't remember the normal European name for the type of pasta used. Americans call it "elbow macaroni".

The correct name appears to be just "macaroni". I've changed it to that.

Hi Gnomon,

Its a great entry, bringing lots of memories of eating out in little Greek Tavernas!

Have you thought of adding a little bit about mezes in there and some of the more common things that you get in them, like fried courgette and aubergine slices and octupus slices in lemon and vinegar? Oooh and prawn saganaki, not just the plain cheese one!!

Can you tell that all of these are personal favouites of mine!!!

Deakie

Brilliant entry!

My only request ( if you will) is a pronounciation for Gyros. Here in the states I often hear it with a hard-G, but every once in a while I'll hear it sound closer to 'hero'. Any enlightenment?


- Jimi X

Very appetizing and probably useful entry, as ever Gnomon.

The swordfish and tuna under seafood both need full stop/periods at the end.

Personally, I think that since the Starters through Sweets and Biscuits sections are all after a header called 'The Food', they should be subheaders. But that's what makes sense to me - don't let me infringe upon your style if you like it better your way.

Also, I'd second the request for a pronounciation of Gyros. In the states, there actually tends to be regional variance on how it's said (for instance, in eastern places such as New York I believe the hard G is more common, but I'm more used to the other way and have heard it that way consistently in Ohio). I'd like to know how the Greeks speak it to put an end to this business once and for all

Ooh...food Entries always make me hungry.

Nicely done, and appropriately cynical about raki and Greek wine.

On Crete, we regularly had something similar to Kleftiko that was air-baked and therefore much crisper - very tender and good with a bit of tzatziki to dip it in. By the by, you should probably add 'mint' to the list of ingredients for tzatziki.

I would also add a footnote or whatever to the Saganaki explaining that Greek Halloumi, and similar cheeses don't melt and deform when fried - I suspect some of your readership will be a bit surprised when you tell them that cheese can be fried, even on this site of gastronomes.

Otherwise, splendid reading, and has given me a few good recipe ideas for Bank Holiday.

B

On the query of how to pronounce gyros, i lived on Skiathos, one of the Sporades islands for a couple of years. The locals there used to pronounce it with a hard G but there are a few places on the mainland where i've heard it pronounced with a G as in G-force!

That's not to mention many a British tourist I've heard pronounce it as in gyroscope! Or as in the giro they get from Social Security

Gyros? The Greek community in my home town mostly called it Yiros. *shrug* Delicious, whatever it's called. How about including both names?

By the normal rules of pronunciation of Greek, a 'g' before a 'y' is pronounced as the 'y' in 'yellow'. So it is 'yee-roes'. If I include a pronunciation at allm that's the only one I'll use, whatever way they pronounce it in the Sporadhes islands.

I don't know much about mezzes. I think the best is if I leave them out, and someone else can update this entry later with stuff like that.