Aleria

Besides being the name of an ancient Greek colony and, when spelled with two Ls, one of the strangest games on the internet, Aleria is the name of a relatively new restaurant in the coarse but chic neighborhood of Metaxourgio. The restaurant is a testimony to the transition this once poor industrial neighborhood is in the midst of. As we got out of the car, a drunk appeared begging for a little money. Across the road an old house sparkled new, recently renovated and obviously inhabited by cool, urban adventurers. Arab men clustered outside a cafeneion on another corner. Aleria, all sparkling, newly refurbished stone, shone from a distance.

The restaurant is housed in an old building that must have been in dire shape before the owners undertook the task of refurbishing it. It’s spacious and inviting and surprisingly ornate. One wall is covered with big flowered wallpaper. A meter-wide strip of glass borders the bar covering a kind of indoor, sub-ground “garden” with knick-knacks and gravel. One room is a lounge, with white leather couches. The floors are a mish m ash of wood, tiles and cracked marble. The light fixtures vary, from the main one, from which dangle forks and spoons, to others, hanging from baskets and little metal flower pots. There is nothing lean or minimalistic about this place, and the same holds true for its menu.

We sat in the spacious garden, waiting for about 15 minutes before our pleasant waiter had organized himself enough to bring us the basics: napkins, a menu, etc. Once he got started, the service was fine. That’s the thing about this place—the intentions are good, and they win points for trying!

The menu is impressive because it’s obviously the work of someone trying hard to be original. (It’s also very hard to read, because the print quality is poor.) The dishes all seem filled with good intentions, unusual ideas, but unrefined execution. The chef likes fruit, which he uses in a handful of starters, like the sesame-crusted feta Saganaki with vyssino and the cannelloni stuffed with bulgur and served with mango and pineapple sauce. We tried the latter: four upright cylinders of cannellini housed a filling of bulgur, shrimp and mussels. There is too much starch in the dish, the filling was loose and fell apart, the pasta was undercooked, even for this al-dente tongue, and the sauce light years away in terms of sweetness and overall compatibility. The plate, all black and shiny, looked pretty. We tried a stuffed mozzarella, which sounded unique but somehow got lost in translation: a beer-batter, fried ball of fresh mozzarella, stuffed with artichoke and sun-dried tomato. The filling was hardly noticeable and the cheese was unevenly heated, with one bite cold, almost frozen and the other warm. There is a technique issue that needs to be resolved! I liked the fruit and lettuce salad with smoked eel, although the mangos came unpeeled and the strawberries unhulled, making it a hassle to eat.

There is a host of pasta, risotto, meat, chicken and more. We settled on two fish dishes, the first a sfyrida fillet with ouzo sauce and spicy kritharaki and the second a fillet of sole cooked in a cheese crust. The sfyrida didn’t really work, mainly because the alcohol in the ouzo had not cooked off and the kritharaki added a heavy-handed component to a dish that could have been light and summery. I liked the sole and thought it came closest to bridging intentions with execution: crusted in parmesan and fried, it had nice texture, at once crunchy and tender; the fresh tomato sauce worked and the lime that seasoned it added just the right amount of spark.
Dessert was an unusual look at the old idea of halva ice cream: thin slices of frozen semolina halva stuffed with ice cream. It was, like so much else here, a really interesting idea but one that needed refinement in presentation, portion size, and flavor balance (way too much cinnamon).

Alleria was interesting because the menu is unlike anything I have seen in Athens recently. But the cook needs to step back and subtract, not add, to his repertoire of unusual, original dishes. The lesson here without a doubt, good intentions and all, is that less is more.

Cuisine: Modern Greek/Hip neighbourhood

Athens Area: Downtown

Decor: modern baroque with a lot of different design elements competing for attention

Service: Friendly

Wine list: Greek & good beers

Prices: 40-45 euros per person

Address: 57 Megalou Alexandrou str., Metaxourgeio,Tel. 210 52 22 633