The baby goat is finished… Greek culinary adventures

The baby goat is finished… Greek culinary adventures.

Food in Greece is a mixed bag. We had some wonderful meals of the usual Greek fare: spanikopita (spinach pie), fresh grilled fish and endless Greek salads and gyros. Most of the meals at the Handakas hotel were very good and satisfying; however, the breakfasts quickly became monotonous as they consisted of white bread, boiled eggs, yogurt, corn flakes and undrinkable coffee. Peter had wisely brought our REI thermos mugs with a built-in coffee filter, which we would fill with coffee and then ask for “nero zestra”, hot water, to make our own coffee each morning. I am willing to do anything in the name of global peace and understanding but I must have a decent cup of coffee in the morning…and that’s NOT Nescafe.

Our breakfast at Hotel Doge...wonderful coffee there!

Coffee is puzzle: everyone in Greece drinks Nescafe, either “freddo”—cold— and whipped in a blender or hot with milk…and it’s not cheap…about 3 euros (close to $5) at coffee shops. I am usually adverse to frequenting American franchises while abroad but the Starbucks in Athens and in Chania were a welcome respite…and the baristas were so happy and friendly at each one. Maybe because they had work and they had finally discovered that good, brewed coffee makes life so much better. Tea doesn’t fare much better and all you can really find in the stores are Lipton tea bags.

Although there are vineyards everywhere the eye can see on Crete and around Athens, I never found an exceptional bottle of Greek wine. The closest was their version of a cabernet sauvignon, which we could read on the bottle because they don’t translate it into Greek. For the most part, the wine is sweet –even if it says dry – thin, and really very uninteresting. I even saw a waiter at a restaurant in Athens add water to our carafe of wine before bringing it to us. That didn’t stop us from drinking it, however, or from imbibing in Raki, the traditional Cretan liquor made of the wine stems. Some of it was really quite good –especially at the convent next to St. Spiros, where the nuns graciously serve it to you with a welcoming smile.

Which brings me to bread, another important staple of the good life. Most of the bread we had in Crete was white or seminola flour with a soft crust –again not very interesting. But that could be because I had just come from Italy where the bread (along with the wine and the coffee) was wonderful.

Our best meal of the trip was at a hole in the wall taverna called Tamam, in the old town of Chania, which was just around the corner from our hotel there. We cooled our heals in our room until 9 p.m. which is still early but a respectable time to head out for dinner. We wandered the harbor and ignored the restaurant hawkers along the waterfront and headed into the rabbit warren of streets to find a restaurant that had a lot of people in it. When we came across Tamam and saw people lining up outside, we knew we found our place… and we weren’t disappointed.

The pony-tailed server sat us down at a cozy table and announced: “the baby goat is finished but we have everything else on the menu tonight”. When we asked what is good, he responded: “Everything! This is Tamam!” as if we needed any other proof. I had a wonderful grilled chicken kabob and Peter had a cheese and meat pie that was so good and rich that we saved some for our picnic lunch the next day. And we had a superb carafe of house wine (cab) for only 5 euros. The place was packed with locals and a smattering of tourists who were all happily enjoying their meals, which included complimentary raki and cake for dessert! Who could ask for anything more??