Zefkin

A down and dirty, fun, very local Greek place where tourists can see firsthand how Greeks have fun, on weeknights, but especially on weekends and at Sunday lunch.


Where do a carload full of nostalgic islanders head when one of the clan is leaving to go back to New York for the winter? In the case of a family of Ikarians, only one place in Athens would be appropriate for a family farewell on a wintry Sunday afternoon. Zefkin.

The menu promises: fagopoti, glenti, parea, kaloperasi, and that’s exactly what we got, in addition to a pretty wide range of well-executed mezedes, enough to keep Tsantiris’ wine flowing without worry. The chef-owner, Nikos Politis, just left his secure hotel job to invest more time in his young restaurant and also to work on opening a place in the tourisy town of Armenisti, on the island.

The place itself is extremely simple, with minimum décor, a few paintings depicting characteristic views of Gialiskari, and not much more. But the atmosphere is lively even mid week, when the customer base is not necessarily related to the island. The crowd is a mix of young and old.

Politis’ menu offers a wide range of mezedes, many classics and a fare amount of dishes with his own touch. His chef’s skills at the skillet are especially noticeable—everything we tried that was fried was light, crisp and very well executed.

The basics, like melitzanosalata, fava and tzatziki all have their little twists: a handful of walnuts goes into the eggplant sald; carrots and orange flavor the fava; carrots go into the tzatziki as well. The flogeres zefkin were a delicious combination of pumpkin (tamboura to islanders), spinach, leek, marathon and the island’s kopanisti. Kolokythakia come fried as “maridakia” after the way they’re cut, long and thin. The pan-fried feta is seasoned for tsipouro not wine—with olive paste and tomato. The tigania, an easy dish to make but a hard one to make well, to get the meat at just the right point of tenderness without overcooking it and all the while keeping the whole thing juicy, is here a simple, tasty, succulent dish made for bread dipping.

Not everything is Greek. We liked the chili shrimp tempura, with a spicy Asian sauce. The chicken tortillas got a little lost on me-there was a lot going on inside a small wrap filled, of course, with chicken, but also with feta, tomatoes and eggplants. Some of Zefkin’s dishes, such as mushrooms a la crème, hark back to another era and seem a little out of place, but from a quick look around the room I could see that people had ordered it. It’s a tough call for any chef to take things off the menu that sell! The biftekia with cream sauce, another one of those dishes that recall another era, were good!

Zefkin

Cuisine: Taverna and meze fare

Athens Area: Alimos, southern suburb

Decor: Simple, rustic

Wine list: Greek, house wine, Ikarian wine

Service: Friendly

Prices: 15-20 euro a person

Address: 46 Eleftherias Ave., Alimos, Tel. 210 98 55 795