Honeymoon in Greece - Santorini Eats

Oh Santorini... it's been at the top of my travel list forever. So why not go for our honeymoon. It really is a beautiful place. You can't walk 2 steps without snapping a picture...at least I couldn't. It made our "15 min" walk from Imerovigli (where we stayed) to Fira more like 45 minutes. hahaha.

There was certainly an abundance of food. But it was so hot during the day, I didn't really have much of an appetite. So we usually just ate a big breakfast, snacked throughout the day, then have a light/normal dinner. This is one of the first times where the trip is not all about the food. :P

Most of the places we ate at were recommended by our hotel manager. I have a separate post about our hotel, which is basically paradise. It deserves it's own post.

Aegeon Restaurant - Imerovigli. This was a short walk from our hotel. Imerovigli is a small town between Oia and Fira. We liked it a lot. It was less crowded and much quieter.
Fresh Tagliatelle (from cuttlefish ink with grouper fillet) 19,80E~ Very good but was overshadowed by my salmon. hehe. I love me some squid ink pasta tho!

Grilled Salmon (with steamed vegetables, quinoa, and hollandaise sauce) 18,50E~ One of the best salmon I've ever had. Beautifully presented too. The salmon was cooked to perfection and was crispy on the outside. The entire bottom of the fish was crispy!

 

Lemon Meringue Tart. This was very good. Again, plating is nice. The crust wasn't super hard to cut into as I've experienced a lot with lemon tarts. It was quite large too. 

Cappuccino 4,00E~

These were given to us with the check. Complimentary.

Raki - an unsweetened, anise-flavored distilled spirit. I've become a super duper lightweight since before the wedding since alcohol made me break out, so I could barely handle 2 sips of this. My husband drank it all. He really enjoyed it. haha.
Mosaiko - homemade chocolate/biscuit cake. First time having this. Sooooo good. But they don't sell it. It's homemade. So I had to look up the recipe when we got back to the states. Gotta make it sometime!


Fira:
Gelato. We went to this place twice during our trip. They had some interesting flavors. And also really yummy looking desserts. We didn't try any of those tho.

 

 

 

 

 

#FoodBar. This was snack one day. A cute little shop. The chairs were swings!
Pork Skewer 1,50E~ Basically pork belly on a stick. With a little salt. Deeeelish!

 

Pita with Pork Gyros 2,50E~ Pretty tasty!

Crepe House
Loopino (mix of milk and white chocolate, fresh banana, caramel syrup) 6,00E~ It was ok. The crepe was well made, but needed ice cream for sure!

Oia. We were headed to Ammoudi Bay for some fresh seafood, as recommended by our hotel manager. It's at the farthest end of Oia. So we got there a little earlier to check out the town. It's nice, but sooo packed. Everyone was there waiting to see the famous sunset.
We came by the Crazy Donkey - cute little cafe on the way to Ammoudi Bay. Someone had recommended it to me through FB so we went in to check it out. My husband wanted to get something refreshing to drink anyways. It's hot in Santorini. Very hot!
Watermelon Juice. As fresh as can be. My husband loved it on a hot day. 

Brownie. All their desserts looked amazing. I started perusing the display case when he was looking at the menu and I HAD to get something. Even if I was to take one bite. haha. I've noticed they like to bake their brownies like a round cake and cut slices out of it. I saw it at several bakeries. It was dark, and yummy. 

We also got Kataifi to go since we had the ice cream flavor in Athens. And we've never had it. Were not fans of it...haha. Too much of the hair stuff and needed more filling. The inside is like the inside of a baklava.

Ammoudi Bay. To get to this place, you have to climb down over 200+ steps. And be careful of the donkey doo-doo! People can pay to ride donkey's up the steps. So yay for those of us on foot! Watch your step! Thank goodness it was still light when we climbed down. The way back up however.... eeeeks! hahaha.
Ammoudi Fish Tavern. There was a whole bunch of restaurants along the water serving up fresh seafood. But this is the one our hotel manager recommended and had made a reservation for us.
Agioritiki Eggplant Salad (baked local flasks or white aubergines with garlic, onion, parsley, and extra virgin olive oil) 5,80E~ For someone that doesn't like eggplant, I sure love Greek eggplants. haha. We had it several times in Greece and all of them have been fantastic. This isn't much to look at, but it was so good. 

Sun-dried Octopus (grilled) 14,50E~ Gotta have octopus! Again, delicious!!

Seafood Quartetto (salmon, shrimp, clams, white fish) 25,00E~ This was ok. I loved the white fish and the cream sauce, but the clams were super gritty. The view was nice though.

Lolita's Gelato. Cuz we can never have too much ice cream. This was on the way to the bus stop to head back to our hotel.

We rented an ATV one day and drove down to the Red Beach and Black Beach. It was cheaper than taking a cab or renting a car and more flexible than waiting around for buses. It was an interesting but still fun experience. hehe. My first time on an ATV!
The red beach was first. Beautiful, but super rocky. You have to take a short hike to get to the actual beach. And up close the water was quite dirty. Not a great place to hang out for a long time, so we only stayed for about an hour or so.

Headed to Perissa - Black Beach for some lunch!
Tranquilo - recommended by our hotel manager. HUGE salads for cheap she says.. She wasn't joking!

XL Caesar Salad (fresh green salad, grilled chicken, parmesan, corn, croutons, special Caesar sauce) 11,00E~ This thing is bigger than my head. We made it through 2/3rds and couldn't finish it. Cheapest meal yet! And they seem to put corn in their Caesar salads here, I can dig it. :P Sorry for the photo quality...

 

The black beach is totally my kind of place. A long row of restaurants and bars on one side, the beach and lounge chairs on the other. We parked ourselves in front of one of the restaurants. The waiters come to you on the beach, while you relax and lounge. That's the life!

Pistachio Milkshake

Waffle (butterscotch ice cream, caramel sauce)

We stuck around til dinner time and grabbed some food before heading back.
Pergola Restaurant - we just looked at their menu and walked in. The food prices in Perissa were significantly cheaper than Fira/Oia. The portions were bigger too and just as delicious!
Fried Calamari (with fish roe dip) 6,90E~ One of the best calamaris I've ever had. No breading but crispy and tender and so much flavor. 

Caramelized Octopus (with fresh mashed eggplants) 8,50E~ The octopus was super tender. However, the caramelization made it quite sweet.. other than that it was good.

Sunset Sail with Spiridakos Sailing Cruises:
Our hotel also highly recommended doing a sail. It was a bit pricey but why not! We're in Greece! And I'm so glad we did it, it was a great experience. They provide everything, from transportation to and from hotel, give you towels, tour around the island, visit the caldera, and even cook you a feast! The meal was magnificent and I'm so impressed it was all cooked on a catamaran!
Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce, Grilled Chicken, Grilled Shrimp, Greek Salad, Crispy Fried Shrimp, Bread, and Dips. So delicious and so much food. I was stuffed!

 

 

 

Last day in Fira:
We went souvenir shopping and got some snacks. Randomly walked by this little cafe...and had to stop by their dessert display...

 

 

We had one night in Athens before flying out early the next morning, so we stayed in the airport hotel, Sofitel. Went to one of their restaurants, Mesoghaia, for dinner.
The bread was free here, so we ate ALL of it. hahaha

Traditional Moussaka (slices of potatoes, eggplant, zucchini, and minced beef; finalized with a "mornay" sauce) 16,00E~ I realized I haven't had a single moussaka since I've been here. And it's one of my favorite Greek dishes so I had to get it. It was beautiful. The prettiest presentation of moussaka I've ever seen, and I think one of the tastiest too! So glad I got it. 

Crispy Cod (tempura style garnished with local greens, homemade mashed potato, and aioli sauce with saffron from Kozani) 16,00E~ This was another story... left a lot to be desired. Portion was pretty small too. Luckily the moussaka was huge so I shared.

I think it was a pretty good food overall. But believe me when I say the food wasn't the best part. Everyone should experience Santorini sometime. And splurge to get the nice hotels on the side of the cliff, with the cave like architecture. It's amazing!

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Opa Greek Taverna

My fiance recently told me about a Greek restaurant that was close to Rockwall. We decided to check it out last weekend. It's in Rowlett...only about 15 minutes away from us.

Opa Greek Taverna
3801 Lakeview Parkway, Suite 600
Rowlett, TX 75088
(469) 443-0508
http://oparowlett.com
Price: $$

Once we got there, I realized I had driven past this place many times and didn't think anything of it. It's not a big place. We didn't think to call ahead or reserve on a Friday night so when we got there, they were full. Luckily there were 2 seats open at the bar. We asked them to let us know when something opens up.

The bartender greeted us, he was really friendly. My fiance looked at the cocktail menu and decided to try Poseidon's Punch (served in a 32 oz. mason jar; 1 1/4 oz. shots of Bacardi Silver, Bacardi Gold, and Blue Curacao; mixed with orange juice and another shot of Bacardi 151) $9.99~ 

I wasn't really planning on drinking so I didn't really read the description that closely. So when the bartender started making it... I was like "whoa!!!" It was a massive mason jar. My fiance was in shock too. haha. He said he read the "32 oz." but didn't fully realize how much that is. It was a really pretty and colorful drink with a whole lotta booze in it. He liked it but it was too strong for me so I couldn't help much. We only made it through about half of the jar. Definitely for sharing!

As we were getting ready to order at the bar, the hostess told us there was a table open for us. It was an awkwardly placed table right in front of the entrance, I felt like it was out of place. And it was cold... We sat there looking at the menu some more, even though we were ready to order, and no one ever came to greet us. We didn't even have waters yet. So finally we flagged down a waitress. It didn't seem like it was her table but she was very apologetic and went to get some waters for us. Then she came back and took our orders. The serviced picked up from there. She was really friendly. I noticed that a booth opened up and asked if we could move over there. It was much better, no cold breeze when the front door opened and closed.

Falafel (crushed garbanzo beans, parsley, and spices all rolled together, fried, and served with Tzatziki sauce) $5.49~ 

We got this as an appetizer but somehow it was served last. It was nice and hot though so I guess they were making it from scratch? The falafels had a nice crispy crust. I've had better, but we enjoyed it.

I went with the Moussaka (layers of eggplant, potatoes, seasoned ground beef, topped with a creamy Bechamel and tomato sauce) $11.89~ 

It was highly recommended by the bartender when we were at the bar. This is one of the only dishes where I'll eat eggplant. Usually I hate it. It was fantastic. Lots of flavor, tons of meat and eggplant and the sauce was great. Their pita bread on the side was warm and pillowy. Great dish...and I haven't had Greek food in a long time! Hit the spot.

Original Gyros Platter (layers of lamb and beef thinly sliced off the rotisserie; served with pita bread and Tzatziki sauce; with choice of one side: Greek Roasted Potatoes) $11.99~ 

Initially he was gonna get the gyro pita but changed his mind because this had more food. Again, Greek is the only time I'll eat lamb... I love gyro meat. I can't taste the lamby-ness at all. The meat was super tender. It was so good with the pita bread. I also love Greek potatoes. Nice and soft, lots of flavor. Another great dish.

Galaktoboureko (warm custard wrapped in phyllo, baked until golden, smothered in homemade syrup) $5.99~ 

 

We decided to try this dessert partly because the name was just so hard to pronounce. haha. The description also sounded delicious. It was fresh out of the oven/fryer, whatever they did. Super crispy on the outside, sweet and sticky from the syrup, and soft custard inside. Lots of textures. Yum. And it was big too! We took a third of it to go cuz we got too much food... as usual. :P

What a great find! I absolutely love Greek food and now there's a good one close to us. :) I have a feeling we'll be going back there soon.

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~