Psomi kai Alati

Something is happening in Halandri! Right there along the pedestrian road just behind the Church, in the center of Halandri, a row of restaurants has opened over the course of the last year or two, packed to the brim with eager diners looking for good food at reasonable prices. Bread and Salt (Psomi kai Alati) is the newest addition to the crowd, and, arguably, the best. Chef Yianis Loukakos takes the classics and reworks them with a sensitive eye to the demands of the times, not too much fanfare but lots of good flavor. Since this review was first written, Loukakos has become a celebrity thanks to his participation on Master Chef. 

The décor is “taverneau”—my new word for the new wave of updated tavernas designed to look like modern renditions of the bakaliko (grocery-store) taverna of yore. Light and airy, with a country look in the middle of an urban setting, Psomi kai Alati is on to something. The name implies the basics, bread and salt, the very foundations of Greek cuisine, and that’s more or less what one finds here, but with a twist.

There are salads, “voutimata”, (nibbles) small mezedes, big mezedes, kalamakia, merides, side dishes and sweets—in other words a menu that stands out because it’s organized a little differently.

We tried a bunch of different things, right down to the beef liver, as a main course, finished with balsamic and garnished with caramelized onions. It was pretty good (for liver!). I liked the beet salad with fresh green beans, pistachios, and basil because it was both Greek but fresh in its approach. A simple dish with something new to say on the taverna beet-salad idea. The chick peas with sun dried tomatoes and feta were good but a little on the heavy side. We liked the roasted eggplants, zucchini and peppers with basil and balsamic. The dressing was made for bread dipping and the vegetables roasted to that sweet caramelized point. The fava with fried capers and caramelized onions was also very good, another simple dish well-prepared, sure of itself. The pita-pitsa with graviera, tomatoes and apaki (Cretan cured pork) was tasty—little pitas stuffed with the above, well-prepared and easy. One thing caught our attention—the zymarodolmades, which were not exactly what we thought they would be. For one, they didn’t look like dolmades, they were fried squares of stuffed dough, not cylinders. The salmon, spinach and feta filling got a little lost around all that dough, too. We devoured the next dish, though, a cost-conscious restaurant owner’s dream: potato skins (otherwise destined for the waste bin) cooked “tavas” style, and garnished with cumin and onions. They were crisp and irresistible. The cheese croquettes with cumin-orange sauce were also a nice change from the norm, a simple twist on an overplayed taverna dish that worked very well. Our favorite by far though were the real dolmades, stuffed with bulgur and tomato and their cousin on the menu, the bulgur salad with the flavor of summer gemista (with zucchini, peppers, grilled tomatoes, feta and lots of mint). Both were common dishes with uncommon touches that made them stand out.

The sweets are not as strong here. The glifitzouri of milk chocolate with caramel sauce is hard to eat and very rich. The panakota with berries and crumbled biscuits had none of the finesse or fun of the mezedes. These still need work.

Over all, though, Psomi kai Alati is a place I would go back to, mainly for the food.

Cuisine: Greek classics with a smart twist
Athens Area: northern suburbs Atmosphere: modern rendition of the bakaliko (grocery of old)-cum-taverna
Service: good Wine List: competent Prices: 35-40 euro a person Address: 8, Eleftheroton Square, Halandri