Barbounaki

Barbounaki is a fish taverna you almost have to go...fishing for…to find. Despite its central location literally across the street from the Kallimarmaron Stadium, Athens first Olympic Stadium, it’s small and slightly hidden from both pedestrians and cars. A friend and Pangrati native who walks past there all the time, had never seen it.

Barbounaki, Greek for red mullet, tries to evoke the timeless, casual, friendly atmosphere of a quintessential island taverna. White straw-seated chairs and tables, and simple island themes make up the décor. The tables are a small problem, even for our group of women all of medium height. Our legs hardly fit under the table because of a panel beneath the surface that makes sitting uncomfortable.

The menu is small and fairly ordinary. A bread basket comes with an accompanying raw salad of fresh tomatoes and onions. There is a classic selection of various fried fish, grilled octopus, fried and grilled squid, the standard array of dips and salads. We sampled the more “exotic” offerings, such the octopus Stifado, which is perfectly competent but lacking in anything that makes it memorable. That’s more or less the summation of all that we ate. The fried shrimp were limp and greasy, with nothing of the salty crunch that makes this simple dish so great when it’s done well. The same holds true for the grape leaves stuffed with seafood. If you’ve ever had this dish done well, it’s delicious. Here it was served cold and unattractively as just a handful of rolled grape leaves placed on a plate with a little yogurt. What sounded like the most interesting dish, karavidosoupa (crayfish soup), was a watery tomato-based broth with crayfish still in the shells sitting in the middle of the bowl. It’s not an easy thing to clean the shells off dripping crayfish claws; this is something the kitchen should do before the soup is served. The best thing on the menu that night was a squid salad, tossed with vegetables and simply dressed. We enjoyed a few plates of horta (greens), sipped a carafe of wine, but opted out of the spoon sweets for dessert.

Barbounaki is not this city’s most inspired fish taverna, that’s for sure, but it’s too bad. Obscured by the Stadium and nestled in an area better known for its bars, I hope this small place stays afloat. It would help, too, if the owners were more sensitive to the onslaught of cigar smoke from surrounding tables in a room not much bigger than the average living room. After 16 years of writing restaurant reviews in this town, I have still not been able to figure out why people are allowed to smoke cigars while other, equally good paying customers eat, even if they are seated in the smoking section.

Cuisine: Classic but uninspired seafood
Athens Area: Kallimarmaron Stadium, Pagkrati, close to Kolonaki 
Decor-Atmosphere: Tries to look like an island fish taverna 
Service: Friendly
Wine List: OK
Prices: 25-30 euro a person
Address: Barbounaki Vas. Konstantinou 2, Kallimarmaron Stadium, Tel. 6948 759119