Greece: Pidalio Mezedopoleio
I made sure to set aside time for a day trip from Athens while we were there. I would like to say that I gave my family a choice in where we went...but I didn't. I made an executive decision and picked Nafplio because it's a freakin' seaside town with a freakin' castle on a hill. How freakin' picturesque is that?!:
I may have also picked Nafplio because I wanted seafood. Heh.
It took a two-hour bus ride to get from Athens to Nafplio. At first, every time we approached a castle on a hill, I thought that meant we were nearing our destination. But I quickly realized that's just Greece. A castle on every hill, ancient ruins around every corner.
We arrived in Nafplio a bit too early for lunch and a bit too late to tackle the hike up to Palamidi Castle (and get back down for a timely lunch). Because Pidalio Mezedopoleio wasn't yet open for business, we made a quick detour to say hi to The Lion of Bavaria:
By the time we'd finished paying our respects, Pidalio Mezedopoleio was open:
The meal started innocuously enough with some really dense bread:
Things took a sudden turn for the AMAZING as the rest of our food came. There was the taramosalata (3€):
Made with white tarama, this smoked fish roe dip was smoky and salty and delicious.
My father is all about fresh fish. Our server presented the catch of the day to us on a platter. We thought my father would just select one type of fish, but before we could process the words coming out of his mouth, he had already asked for the red mullets fried (market price not listed on the menu):
And some kind of white fish grilled:
The white fish came with a lemony butter sauce on the side:
Personally, I liked the texture of the red mullets more.
Everywhere we went in Greece, my mother wanted fried calamari (7.50€). We decided to indulge her this time:
Lightly breaded, crisp on the outside, and tender on the inside, that was some of the best calamari I've had in a long while.
The other thing that knocked our socks off was the octopus on aubergine puree (10€):
Holy freakin' moly. That was awesome. Our server told us we'd made a good choice and I would have to agree. We did good.
After we'd placed our order but before our food arrived, we noticed that my mother was pouting. When we asked her what was wrong, she muttered that she didn't like fish and wouldn't have anything to eat besides bread and calamari. We offered to add on a risotto with prawns and her entire face brightened.
Our server, however, gave us an incredulous look when we flagged him down. He went to the kitchen to get our order receipt and read through it one by one to us. He no-so-subtly hinted to us that we'd ordered enough for four people. That cracked my sister and me up. We deferred to our server's expertise and my mother went back to pouting.
Toward the end of the meal, we again offered to order the risotto, thinking that my mother would be too full for more. Except she nodded vigorously, which set my sister and me off once again. Our server was busy elsewhere, so we called over another wait staff member to make my mother's dreams come true.
When our server came over to clear our plates, he jokingly asked whether we still wanted the risotto. We had to sheepishly tell him that we'd already ordered it (8€):
Instead of rice, Pidalio's risotto is made with small pasta bits. (I'm guessing it's orzo.) We told my mother it was her responsibility to finish the plate on her own. Yet somehow all of our forks kept moving and we polished off the whole thing with our powers combined.
Even though we were stuffed to the gills, we couldn't turn down complimentary dessert. There were two options. The mocha cake:
And the most awesomest chocolate and biscuit cake ever known as mosaiko:
I'm going to just come out and say that the mosaiko at Pidalio was the best dessert I had in Greece. Yea, I said it. I loved the texture of the soaked biscuits and the richness of the chocolate. Guh. So good.
We enjoyed our experience at Pidalio Mezedopoleio so much that we even toyed with the idea of going back for dinner. Unfortunately that didn't happen, but Pidalio is definitely a restaurant that you can go back to again and again without tiring of it.
Pidalio Mezedopoleio
25th March 5, Nafplio 211 00, Greece
+30 2752 022603
http://pidalio.gr/
I may have also picked Nafplio because I wanted seafood. Heh.
It took a two-hour bus ride to get from Athens to Nafplio. At first, every time we approached a castle on a hill, I thought that meant we were nearing our destination. But I quickly realized that's just Greece. A castle on every hill, ancient ruins around every corner.
We arrived in Nafplio a bit too early for lunch and a bit too late to tackle the hike up to Palamidi Castle (and get back down for a timely lunch). Because Pidalio Mezedopoleio wasn't yet open for business, we made a quick detour to say hi to The Lion of Bavaria:
By the time we'd finished paying our respects, Pidalio Mezedopoleio was open:
The meal started innocuously enough with some really dense bread:
Things took a sudden turn for the AMAZING as the rest of our food came. There was the taramosalata (3€):
Made with white tarama, this smoked fish roe dip was smoky and salty and delicious.
My father is all about fresh fish. Our server presented the catch of the day to us on a platter. We thought my father would just select one type of fish, but before we could process the words coming out of his mouth, he had already asked for the red mullets fried (market price not listed on the menu):
And some kind of white fish grilled:
The white fish came with a lemony butter sauce on the side:
Personally, I liked the texture of the red mullets more.
Everywhere we went in Greece, my mother wanted fried calamari (7.50€). We decided to indulge her this time:
Lightly breaded, crisp on the outside, and tender on the inside, that was some of the best calamari I've had in a long while.
The other thing that knocked our socks off was the octopus on aubergine puree (10€):
Holy freakin' moly. That was awesome. Our server told us we'd made a good choice and I would have to agree. We did good.
After we'd placed our order but before our food arrived, we noticed that my mother was pouting. When we asked her what was wrong, she muttered that she didn't like fish and wouldn't have anything to eat besides bread and calamari. We offered to add on a risotto with prawns and her entire face brightened.
Our server, however, gave us an incredulous look when we flagged him down. He went to the kitchen to get our order receipt and read through it one by one to us. He no-so-subtly hinted to us that we'd ordered enough for four people. That cracked my sister and me up. We deferred to our server's expertise and my mother went back to pouting.
Toward the end of the meal, we again offered to order the risotto, thinking that my mother would be too full for more. Except she nodded vigorously, which set my sister and me off once again. Our server was busy elsewhere, so we called over another wait staff member to make my mother's dreams come true.
When our server came over to clear our plates, he jokingly asked whether we still wanted the risotto. We had to sheepishly tell him that we'd already ordered it (8€):
Instead of rice, Pidalio's risotto is made with small pasta bits. (I'm guessing it's orzo.) We told my mother it was her responsibility to finish the plate on her own. Yet somehow all of our forks kept moving and we polished off the whole thing with our powers combined.
Even though we were stuffed to the gills, we couldn't turn down complimentary dessert. There were two options. The mocha cake:
And the most awesomest chocolate and biscuit cake ever known as mosaiko:
I'm going to just come out and say that the mosaiko at Pidalio was the best dessert I had in Greece. Yea, I said it. I loved the texture of the soaked biscuits and the richness of the chocolate. Guh. So good.
We enjoyed our experience at Pidalio Mezedopoleio so much that we even toyed with the idea of going back for dinner. Unfortunately that didn't happen, but Pidalio is definitely a restaurant that you can go back to again and again without tiring of it.
Pidalio Mezedopoleio
25th March 5, Nafplio 211 00, Greece
+30 2752 022603
http://pidalio.gr/
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