High-end dining in central Athens: Aleria Restaurant (18. July 2016)

If you are in Athens, you should definitely pay the “Aleria” a visit. I was escorted to my table which was – admittedly – not the nicest table in the restaurant but given I was the only person dining alone that night, it was kind of understandable. I was introduced to Aleksandra and shortly after to Dimitri, the head waiter. What I liked a lot was the fact that he introduced himself shortly after and said that he would be serving me together with Aleksandra – so you can see it is a team effort which works very well.

Before starting with the dinner, I went for a “Mint Julep (Four Rouses, Sugar Syrup, Mint)” (EUR 10.00) which was strong and okay but for me, the tin cup was missing – pity.

I decided to go for the seven course “Tasting Menu II” (EUR 58.00) which was kicked off with an amuse bouche I liked quite a lot. It basically consisted of three elements, introduced in the following order: “Nigiri with slow cooked tomato and a feta and basil sphere”, “string beans with anchovies and sesame oil powder” and “a Greek cheese sphere with juicy spicy pepper and an onion filling”. I absolutely loved the “nigiri” but where I definitely see room for improvement is the order of the introduction – as a customer I would always follow the order in eating how the dish is introduced to me. However, the “fake tomato” was the weakest dish of the three and to end it this way was a bit disappointing after the nigiri stat.

In addition to the menu, I went for the “wine pairing” (EUR 32.00) which makes it quite a bargain to get seven courses and six wines for a total of EUR 90.00. But before the first course was served, I got some bread and spread. More precisely, three different breads, i.e. “walnut and olives”, “levent”, and “milk and goat cheese” served with two types of butter, “butter with onion and chives” plus “porcini butter”. And OMG! The porcini butter was absolutely mouth-watering creating an immediate feeling of happiness.

The first course was “Mixed Greens Pie (Wild Greens, feta cream, crispy fyllo)” served with “Amalia Brut” and due to the happiness of the porcini butter, I completely forgot to take a picture of the actual course and only managed to do so of the empty plate: as you can see, a mess but it was a very tasty mess!

The next course was a “Chub Mackerel (black garlic cream, fresh grapes, fennel, rosemary vinaigrette)” served with “Malagasis”. While the dish sounded interesting due to the rosemary vinaigrette and the black garlic cream, there was one adding to the dish which made it an absolutely outstanding dish – there was some lemon added to it and it just made the dish perfect, smooth, aromatic, delicious!

Somehow you would think a dessert is a bit early after two courses (for a seven course menu), but while it looks like a dessert, the dish was actually a dessert-like non-dessert called “feta – watermelon (feta cheese créme brûlée, watermelon with fennel, pickled watermelon, rocket cream)” served with “Akakies”. The feta cheese créme brûlée was absolutely heavenly!

The first main dish, if you want, was a “Croaker (cauliflower cream, caramelized carrots, beetroot sauce, hibiscus)” served with “Athina” from Santorini. Something I experienced as a bit unusual to get a wine from Santorini which is called Athens.

After this course, Dimitri came up to my table asking me, if I am a food blogger. Admitting it, as I did not see any point in deception, I figured that the service became, thereafter, a bit more attentive with the exception of towards the end when I asked for the bill, it kinda took ages. That is though a problem I genuinely do not understand and it happens in soooooo many restaurants. Why would you not make sure that the guests can leave as soon as possible when he asks for the bill?

The “Roasted Lamb (tomato-butter beans cream, celeriac, caper berries) served with “Pamnsista” (or something like that) was like pulled lamb, nicely dissembled, and then put together once again into one piece – overall very smooth and aromatic.

The “Pastitsio (thick pasta, braised oxtail, shiitake, foamy bechamel)” served with “Thema” was at first looking very unspectacular but turned out to be absolutely great in its simplicity. The pasta was perfectly cooked and the oxtail and shiitake gave it the right flavour and consistency.

To finish the seven course tasting menu, a “rice pudding (pistachio cream, sour cherry sorbet, crispy rice with cinnamon)” was served. And while I was a bit skeptical at first, I must admit that the dish was actually great. They made it a perfect combination of flavours and textures.

As mentioned before, the garden area is absolutely lovely and when you book your table, make sure to ask for a table in the garden!

Despite the fact that I was dining alone, I spent five hours at the Aleria restaurant without getting bored or annoyed. The dishes were very good, the service did an excellent job and the price is absolutely fair.

In the very end, I got to talk a bit with the owner Nikiforos who is about the same age and it was a very interesting exchange. When I’m back in Athens, I will definitely visit again.

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Contact Details:

Restaurant Aleria

Meg. Alexandrou Street 57

Metaxourgeio

10435 Athens (GR)

Tel.: +30 21 05 22 26 33

Fax: +30 21 05 23 51 92

E-Mail: info@aleria.gr

Homepage: http://www.aleria.gr

About the Author: Sven

I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org. Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City.