Greek food is a challenge as it is prepared from relatively simple, limited ingredients and has a lot of “staple” dishes to be found on every menu. Case in point: the so-called Greek salad = a combination of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, feta cheese and olives with a dressing based on olive oil & vinegar.
It is clear that the quality of the salad depends almost entirely on the quality of the ingredients and how they are cut & balanced. Bad, watery tomatoes 🍅 = disaster. Too much onion 🧅= nightmare. Plastic olives = no thank you. Just a big slab of uncut, low-quality feta cheese 🧀 = why??
The same applies to the dips typically served for starters – as for the mixed grills with gyros being a popular main course. Quality of ingredients, seasoning and the art of preparation make all the difference.
Nonetheless the undiscerning often say: “Greek food is all the same!” That is far from the truth.
Last week we visited two Greek restaurants on two opposite ends of the spectrum: @santorinibygeorgios and @Kikiontheriver.
The former is a relatively simple beach restaurant with outstanding food. The latter is a very fashionable venue on the Miami River with pretty good, obviously much pricier food.
We recommend both venues if only to compare the nuances & small differences of e.g. the mixed dip platters, a salad or a simple Chicken souvlaki.
We will shortly post individual reviews of both – stay tuned for some surprising results ;-))
BTW: started the weekend with another very mixed shisha experience in Miami Beach today. It is about time someone opened a quality, stylish hookah lounge. But we heard something may come up before Art Basel.
