today we're in Athens, Greece we're gonna be showing you the best local food in
this grungy, vibrant city
the Greeks have a culinary tradition dating back 4000
years so Athens is a city for food lovers this
is our fourth video from Athens and we're going to show you the best local
food watch out for one of the city's most popular street foods, local
favourites and Athenian classics in this four-part series we'll show you the
city's tastiest food from delicious street food to heritage recipes you
don't want to miss this series get ready for some mouth-watering food
I'm Thomas
and I'm Sheena and we're Chasing a Plate
we hope you're hungry, let's eat!
we're starting in the main square of Athens in the heart of the city and it's
time for breakfast now the Greeks don't really sit down to a full-on spread
at breakfast time they normally eat on the run so we're gonna do as the locals
do and grab a koulouri which is a bread ring and then a coffee to go
I've got my koulouri in my hot little hand it's basically a sesame encrusted
bread ring and their are koulouri stands all over the city but we bought ours
from that stand because they come straight from the bakery that services
all the stands in Athens pretty much so it's gonna be super fresh now it's off
to get a local coffee
we've wandered back to Syntagma Square to have our brekki we've got our
coffees with us now the local brew the thing that you'll see everyone clutching as
they walk round the streets of Athens is a Freddo espresso or Freddo cappuccino
we've got both to show you what they look like the first is the Freddo
espresso it's basically just espresso mixed and shaken with ice so it's got this
layer of foam on the top and then that's it
oh it's so refreshing the day can now begin because I've got my hit of
caffeine it's the perfect thing to be drinking because it's summer here in Athens
at the moment and it's super hot
this here is the Freddo
cappuccino so this is for people who like a bit of milk with their coffee
it's the same as the Freddo espresso so just an iced coffee but with a really
chunky thick layer of foam on the top so let's give this one a taste
I do tend to like milk with my coffee so that's the one for me now let's get tucked
into this koulouri so as I said before this is like the breakfast staple this
is how Athenians start their day with a koulouri and it's a bread ring that's
been crusted with sesame and the sesame smell is just incredible it's so
strong let's just tear into this
it's quite crunchy and the overwhelming flavour is that of the sesame it is so
strong a little bit chewy this part of the koulouri the thicker bit is a
little bit softer so let's just get into that oh yeah look at that it's a lot
more sort of chewy in texture
completely different textures so the thicker bit of the koulouri has a lot more chew I love that
texture
I'm buzzing after that espresso it's incredibly strong so they they use a you
know a traditional Italian style coffee machine and it's a massive hit of
espresso that they put in both of those drinks so that's really got us
going but we're off for the next thing now
next up we're gonna grab some street food and this place is pretty
interesting it's a really recent addition to the Athens food scene it popped up
during the financial crisis here when the owner thought there was a real need
for some more healthy alternatives in the street food scene so this place
popped up and it looks pretty damn awesome so we're gonna check it out
that place has a really neat menu so it started serving these when it was like a
street food cart now it's got quite an extensive restaurant style menu but we
went with some of the original stuff they sell which are these cones so we've got a
couple of different type of fish these are sand smelt which is a tiny
little school fish they've just been floured and deep-fried so you can see a
very light flouring on there and deep fried I've never had sand smelt so
looking forward to trying those and this one is some cod strips cod is a
really common fish here in Europe but look how much tartare sauce there is on there
that is crazy crazy amount and I think under the cod
there's actually some some vegetables as well there might be some pickled carrot
or something like that I can't quite see now I need a hand I know I'm gonna try
and slot this no that's not working we're gonna lose the cod can we do that
yes slot that in the camera bag and we'll
get some of this lemon all over these sand smelt
I love how juicy the lemons are here in Greece alright, handful of them
ohhh that is so good
so yum because they're fried whole they've got great different textures so in the head
they're a little bit more crunchy and the body they're really soft flesh and
they're not um they're not as oily or as salty as I expected that lemon is
incredibly strong
hmm really really good snack it's sort of like eating popcorn they're so more-ish
small you can just go one after the the other very very tasty really really
yum and now it's time for the cod strips so I don't show how big these
strips are oh they're not huge pieces of cod
so these are crumbed
and deep fried
that's good that's pretty plain or normal tasty I guess it's sort of very
much what you'd expect whereas the sand smelt feel like something special this
just feels a bit standard not in a bad way it's really well cooked it's not
oily it's nice and crispy on the outside the fish itself is lovely but it's sort
of it is what you expect
but it's yum
I've got right down inside to get some
of this salad so it looks like a pickled cabbage and carrot salad
nice little zing from the vinegar it's pickled in
still a good bit of crunch not gone all soft and
that's quite good to cut through the oiliness and the fattiness from the deep
fried fish this is a really lovely place to sit and eat as well we're right
beside a beautiful old church right in a city square hustle and bustle all
around us it's a really good way to have street food
next we're stopping for a dish which is probably one of the first foods that
comes to mind when you think of Greek cuisine and that is souvlaki now
souvlaki are chunks of meat which are grilled on skewers and it's a really
popular food here in Athens or in Greece you'll find it every
but we've come to a really local popular spot
the souvlaki at this shop smells incredible it's a pretty small shop with
a very big grill which is covered in skewers cooking away so there's that
beautiful smell of caramelised meat and the smoke's filling the air it
is a beautiful smelling shop so we got two sorts of souvlaki we've got the
chicken one so we've got two chicken skewers it comes with chips a little bit
of toasted bread no not toasted bread just fresh bread and some lemon and then
we also got some pork souvlaki so two skewers of those as well comes
with the same format so when you order the souvlaki it comes with the
chips and the bread and it oh I can't tell you how good the smell is
let's get into
this meat so you always get lemon with your meat here in Greece so I'm just
gonna chuck a whole lot of that lemon juice over these chicken souvlaki
you can see the beautiful sort of caramelised bits where
it's been sitting on that grill the meat is just golden
and the meat is so tender and beautifully smoky it's got a superb flavour
there's a little bit of oregano over the top but the overwhelming flavour is
just the flavour of chicken and that smoky grill it's incredible
all right let's give this pork a try so the meat looks a little bit drier that
chicken before was chicken thigh so was very moist dark meat so it'll be
interesting to see if this pork is juicy you can see again it's got all those
beautiful charred bits
the chunks of pork have a beautiful layer of fat in there so it's not just
lean meat
ohhh the flavour of that fat it's beautiful again it's really smoky
caramelised the meat is just so tender and full of flavour
oh man
this is amazing
the meat is just so
delicious it doesn't need much at all just that lemon which gives it a little bit
of tartness cuts through the richness of the meat
this is one of the best souvlaki I have ever
eaten in my life it is so so delicious let's try these chips they look
quite um dry so not oily
mmm really crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside very fluffy and pillowy
we've come to a different part of town for our next snack and it is a custard
pastry I'm so excited about this one we're grabbing it from a bakery that's
been around since 1961 and they're supposed to do a really great version of this pastry
look at all of the desserts in the window mouth-watering
that shop was filled with so many delicious looking Greek pastries and the staff
were super nice but we came away with the galaktoboureko which is this dessert
that is made of semolina custard check out that wobble, baked with phyllo
pastry and then drenched in syrup anything with custard is up my alley so I
think I'm gonna like this let's grab a big ol bite whoa that semolina custard
is just so thick all right
the custard is so creamy, thick, it's very very sweet
and then that pastry the phyllo pastry is quite soft it's just been saturated with
the sweet syrup so it just melts apart in your mouth but the thing here the
hero of the dish is that semolina custard check out that wobble
oh my goodness it is so tasty it's sweet but it's not overpowering it's
just mouth-watering