(Visited in September 2010)
Visited the Syntagma branch of Fasoli for dinner.
Fasoli has at least 3 shops in central Athens, one in Exarhia, one in Panepistimio, and this one. There might be others, but these are the ones I have seen myself.
This branch seems to be most busy during the day, collecting people who work in the area, and when we visited it looked a bit "off" in the sense that it was about to close for the day.
All the 'Dishes of the Day' were already gone, so we ordered from the normal menu, which was printed on the paper table cloth (I don't know how to explain, but you can see it in the photos, under the dishes).
The menu consists in starters, pasta dishes, salads, main dishes and sweets; clearly 'restaurant' sort of menu, not 'taverna' kind of one.
Husband ordered fried potatoes, which tasted of old oil. We figured that the oil has been used during the day and started to be stale.
But it was only major disappointment.
This salad served in cheese nest was fresh and had a surprise effect. I liked particularly the half-dried tomatoes. As the cheese was very filling, this dish alone can be one person's lunch.
We ordered something called Aubergine Mille feilles vaguely expecting something like aubergine and cheese cooked with tomato sauce in oven. So when we saw this dish, we did not what to say.
As I like grilled vegetable and warm cheese in general, of course I liked this dish as well. I appreciated it as a warm salad.
And another 'Mille feuilles', this time with pork.
Thinly sliced pork chops were grilled and piled up with feta cream in between. The pork was tender and well cooked. The feta cream worked well too.
Unfortunately the rice (the black ones are black rice) was not properly cooked and some grains were still raw and some were dehydrated.
We ordered also a bottle of beer, and together with bread charge, the total bill came to €28.60. The meal was satisfying and offered pleasant surprises; the bill looked cheap for what we got. The food was not perfect as I mentioned above, but for this price, it was forgivable.
At the end of meal, we were offered mastiha liqeur, while the other tables were getting grapes. We were lucky not to have brought our car with us.
FASOLI
Perikleous 32, Athens
Tel. 210-323 7361
The other outlets
Em. Benaki 45, Exarchia
Tel. 210-330 0010
Ippokratous 22, Panepistimiou
Tel. 210-360 3626
Return to the Athens Restaurant Index.
