Dinner at Yiantes (Γιάντες)

I’m in Athens, and last Sunday I went out to dinner with some friends. Because of COVID-19 concerns, and because I’m vulnerable despite being vaccinated, we opted for an establishment that would accept reservations (not all Greek establishments do), and preferably with excellent ventilation. And Yiantes (the ‘Y’ is read as the Greek letter ‘Γ’) fits the bill. They accept reservations and—in the summer—they’ve got an open roof. Perfect!

For some reason we couldn’t get a cab by calling the taxiservice. Too busy. So we tried our luck by going to a nearby busy street instead. There we also had quite some difficulty hailing a cab. Apparently it’s a Sunday thing. So for anyone traveling to Athens, make sure to arrange a cab well in advance on Sundays. Anyway, we finally found a cab and it dropped us off near Valtetsiou, the street where Yiantes is located. We sit down and order.

We have a quick glance at the menu, but need more time to order. First some drinks. The ladies get a carafe of house white wine. It was decent, no more, no less. I ordered some beer. They have a fairly extensive selection for Greek standards, even offering Belgian beers like Duvel and Chimay. They were out of Duvel, so I ordered a Chimay Blue trappist beer. It was brought to me quite strongly chilled, which is not the correct temperature for this type of beer. But this is a Greek thing: beers are typically served at freezing point. And it all comes from the same fridge after all. It’s no big deal, I just let it warm up a bit.

We have a brief discussion about what everyone wants. Greeks share food, so this is a necessary ritual. One in our company is vegetarian, but this is no problem: many of the dishes in this establishment are vegetarian or vegan. A plus, in my opinion. Time to order.

Cheese croquettes

First item we order: Spinach-rocket salad with sesame oil, pickled pear, raisins, dried tomatoes and “manouri” cream cheese. This place is known for serving dishes with a ‘twist’, so we still didn’t feel like getting the “standard” Greek salad (Xoriatiki). And truth be told, no regrets. This salad was very nice.

Spinach-rocket salad

Then we continue ordering. The fava (φάβα in Greek), made with yellow split peas, is always a good choice and the only vegan dish we tried. Here it was decent, certainly tasty but not the best I’ve had. Somehow a bit bland, and not quite creamy enough. Maybe not enough onions? Fava without onions is nothing, after all.

Organic fava

We order two more dishes. The wonderful cheese croquettes with sweet caramelized onions (see first image), that ended up being my favorite that evening, and the eggplants with fresh coriander, some caramelized cherry tomatoes and buttered feta cheese. It’s always a bit risky changing a tried-and-true recipe, but the dishes that featured ‘twists’ on classic Greek cuisine did work quite well.

Eggplants

While I don’t have a picture of it, I also had the marinated pork chops with potatoes and beef sauce. The pork chops (basically grilled ‘pancetta’) were very nice: thin slices with a light crunch and tasty Maillard reaction. But the sauce was too sweet to my liking. Trying the French style a bit I suspect, part of the whole ‘traditional Greek food with a twist’ theme, but I think in this case it requires a more ‘gamey’ meat. I would have preferred something lighter, to balance the rich sweetness of the fatty charred pork, and also a bit more garlic, but this is my personal preference. So don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it was bad and I would also understand if many people liked it just as it is now.

I loved the open roof and the ambiance, and the food was decent enough. Not too expensive, prices ranged from around 5 euros to just shy of 8 euros for the vegetarian dishes. Pork chops were around 10 euros. Would definitely recommend and come again!

Open roof, graffiti, ambiance impression