(Visited in September 2010)
There is a street full of biftekia (Greek style grilled burgers) restaurant. Its official name is Konstantinoupoleos and at the same time it is commonly known as Biftekoupoli. Biftekaaatsi (the number of 'a' in the name is correct) is situated on this street and I think it is relatively new, maybe a few years old.
It is a bifteki restaurant (I am guessing so from its name) with Cretan theme. They serve grills including biftekia as well as various Cretan regional dishes, which is a welcome addition to Biftekoupoli.
Just in front, there is a Constantinopolitan themed restaurant Kiliza (actually, we wanted to visit this restaurant, but it was full-reserved for a birthday party).
On being seated, we were given a bottle of Cretan water, bread, olives and tsikoudia.
Small green olives had a sort of smokiness and were interesting.
We ordered smoky melizanosalata, winter salad (rocket, paximadia dried bread, tomato and white soft cheese similar to kopanisti), and fried potato with staka.
Melizanosalata tasted like fermented and I did not like it so much. Salad was fine, although there was nothing to enthused about. Fried potetoes were covered with 'staka' which was a sort of white sauce.
The biftekia (€8.30) appeared at the end, when we had almost finished the other plates.
They might look burnt, but it is normal; apart from that in Greece they cooked the meat to death, it takes quite a while to get the heat through such a big ball of mince and consequently the surface gets somehow burnt.
This is a section photo.
As you see, the heat went through the meat and and it is completely cooked, but you should be able to see also that it remained juicy and moist.
Personally I am not a huge fan of bifteki, but this one tasted pretty decent.
With a bottle of coke, the total bill for the meal came to €26.50 which is very good for the food we had.
Honestly speaking, I don't find strong reason why I have to go back to this restaurant, but I don't have mind doing it if I am in a right mood. If you like Cretan themed restaurant and need an affordable meal in the area, this place is a valid choice.
Return to the Athens Restaurant Index.
