16. October 2011: Restaurant Alia Brasserie @Arion, A Luxury Collection Resort & Spa

Lunching at the Alia Brasserie starts with a selection of freshly baked bread served together with some butter, some yogurt and cucumber dip, and finally some dip made of chick peas. While the yogurt and cucumber dip was good, it was lacking a bit in taste and was pretty neutral. The chick peas dip on the other hand was very smooth and, therefore, perfectly fit the bread.

There is a huge selection of meze available and as we were not able to decide, we decided to have the meze platter which allows you to choose and combine four different meze on one plate (EUR 15.00). We decided to have fried calamari rings with lemon, chick peas paste, tzatziki, and finally some kind of eggplant salad. The calamari rings were okay as they were not chewy but also they had more “fried” than “calamari” part. Still, they tasted pretty good. The second meze was the chick peas paste which again was pretty good and refined with onions and olives, was definitely tasty. The tzatziki was refined with olive oil, and it was fresh and refreshing. The eggplant salad had a slight hint of vinaigrette and was, therefore, truly refreshing and tasteful. In my opinion there is no better choice to start a lunch at the Alia Brassiere than with the meze platter.

As a main dish, I decided to have a Moussaka (EUR 15.50) which is a traditional Greek dish with eggplants, mince meat, bechamele sauce baked in the oven. It is somehow like lasagna looking at the consistency but it is not as heavy as lasagna and it tastes absolutely great.

The waiter who served us was very friendly and helpful, not perfectly attentive as our glasses have not always been refilled right away but overall, pretty good.

What makes the Alia Brassiere, once more as every restaurant there, absolutely the place to go to is the fact that you have an absolutely amazing view all over the sea. It is absolutely fabulous! The interior is nice, nothing to complain about there but not perfectly appealing as the carpet looks (from the pattern, not the way it actually looks) like it stems from the 80ies.

The prices, I consider pretty fair too – especially for a resort like the Arion Resort & Spa which is usually way more expensive.

So, I can definitely recommend the Alia Brasserie as the dishes are good, the prices are fair, the view is absolutely amazing, the interior is okay and the service is good.

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Contact Details:

Alia Brasserie

Arion, A Luxury Collection Resort & Spa

Astir Palace Resort

Apollonos Street 40

16671 Vouliagmeni Athens (GR)

Tel.: +30 21 08 90 20 00

E-Mail: arion.concierge@starwoodhotels.com

Homepage: http://www.arionresortathens.com/en/alia_brasserie

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.