Bakalogatos

How is that some restaurants manage to serve very good food in very pleasant surroundings for very good prices, while others, often times serving similar fare just don’t understand that value for money is where it’s at these days. Bakalogatos ("The Grocery Cat"), a quaint little restaurant in multi-ethnic Kypseli, right on the central drag of Fokionos Negri, definitely falls into the first category. One recent visit with a small group of friends left us filled to the core on delicious, Kassos-island-inspired home cooking but hardly empty in the pocket. The bill came to about 20 euro for each of us and we ate very well.

Getting to Fokionos by car and parking in the neighborhood could be a bit of an issue, but an extra 8 or 10 euros handed over to one of the nearby garages still makes this place a great value. Alternatively, you can walk from the Victoria train station.

The place is designed casually and the energy is light and happy. The contemporary country look is filled with whites in various shades. Despite the small room, it seems spacious.

The menu is organized in an unusual way: Apo to Bakaliko (From the Grocer’s), Saganakia, Tiganies, Patates (Potatoes), Kassos specials, mezedakia se piatakia (meze plates), salads and vegetable dishes, pilafs, pasata, and chef’s suggestions are the categories one has to choose from. There is always one traditional Greek savory pie as a daily special.

One of the most memorable dishes were the excellent and surprisingly juicy keftedes (meatballs), a simple dish granted, and maybe one that’s hard to get excited by, especially for us jaded restaurant critics, but these were unique in that they were juicy and crisp all at once. The tiny, bite-sized Kassos dolmades, filled with a ground meat and rice mixture, were delicious. We liked the grilled, mild Chios mastelo cheese, a simple meze nicely presented and generously portioned. Some dishes were more artful than others, among them a napoleon-like fried eggplant dish in which layers of crisp-skinned eggplant were interspersed with a dollop of katiki cheese. The eggplants with yogurt lacked that Anatolian excessiveness, but they were good. A plate of roasted oregano-flavored potatoes were tasty but a little cold; The fries, though, were excellent. I loved the good-quality sausages on the grill, too. One of the night’s real winners, by far, though, was the giouvetsi with shrimp. The flavor was rich and round, the shrimp fresh and deliciously briny with a waft of the sea still evident. I have to contrast this dish with one for which I had high expectations but was somewhat let down: the Kassiotikes makarounes. This is a local dish that, when made well, is an irresistible play of opposites: sweet caramelized onions, sour sitaka yogurt-like cheese, and sating homemade pasta. Here the dish was dull. It was the only thing I found wanting on the menu.

There is a lot more to choose from at Bakalogatos, from classic Greek regional pasta dishes and pilafs, to a large array of starters and the chef’s suggestions, of course, which include pork with thyme and limes (moscholemona), pork loin with porcinis and red wine, and another pork loin on the grill, cooked with tomato, manouri cheese and arugula.

These sound like definite reasons to return to this cute little place that gets the recipe right: very good food, nice environs, affordable prices.

Cuisine: Very good Greek regional classics, with an emphasis on Kassos cuisine

Athens Area: Kypseli 

Decor-Atmosphere: Cozy and casual

Service: Friendly

Wine List: Limited but acceptable

Prices: Just right for these dire times – about 15-20 euro per person

Address: 72, Fokionos Negri str., Kypseli, tel. 210 821 6598