Filema

My friends Virginia and Aspa knew the place. I had never heard of it. As we sat down, an old friend from Ikaria who works in the neighborhood and likes his midday meze and ouzo appeared out of nowhere. That was a good sign; he knows all the best meze places in downtown Athens. Following his lead, I decided to while away the afternoon, a beautiful, warm, sunny Halcyon day in January, doing what I hadn't done in a long time: playing hooky with some girlfriends.

First, of course, the wine came, a light white that made the day seem even more like summer than it was. We sat outside. Filema is popular. It occupies two small but separate places on Romvis Street with tables outdoors and inside. The food was traditional and very good. I loved the Armenian kebab, delicious large biftekia grilled wonderfully and very juicy. The kima actually had flavor. It comes with a large dollop of paprika-sprinkled yogurt, raw onions and warm pita. The Keftedes Kozanis weren’t as impressive—the kefte (more like a bifteki) was very good but the thick, white sauce that is spooned over it didn’t add anything except weight to the dish. Everything else was really clean-flavored: the black-eyed pea salad with its raw onion and simple olive oil dressing was lovely and, surprisingly, served warm. The boiled vegetable salad was also brimming with perfectly poached winter vegetables, not to soft, not too toothsome. The grilled hot peppers came with a light sprinkling of vinegar. There were plenty on the plate to satisfy this heat-loving palate. Actually the peppers themselves could have been even spicier. We tried the pastourmadopita, too, which was a big envelope-shaped pan-fried pie filled with pastourma, tomatoes and cheese. It was good but a little on the salty side. Fried atherina seemed to have jumped straight out of the sea, it was so fresh. Filema filled up as the afternoon moved on, the wine flowed, the conversation turned from girlie things to old Athens gems, like Mentis across the road, a virtual museum of tassles and threads and the hat place up the road, also a throwback to the capital’s more glorious past. Our waiter brought out a tray of yogurt-sweet, little squares of gelatinized cream with a biscuit base and a few syruped nuts on top. It was light and inobtrusive—a quiet end to a slightly guilt-ridden afternoon “kopana” (Greek for hookey).

Cuisine: Mezedes

Athens Area: Downtown in old Athens

Decor: Rustic chic and quaint

Service: Good

Wine list: Greek wines, ouzo, tsipouro, beer

Price: 12 -20 euro a person

Address: 16 Romvis str., Syntagma, Tel.: 210-3250222