- Hey everyone, hope you're having an amazing day,
it's Mark Wiens, I'm in Chania,
on the island of Crete in Greece.
And I think one of the best reasons that you can come
to Crete is to experience the authentic Mediterranean
food culture, and so I'm on my way this morning
to go eat at a restaurant which is known
for preserving authentic Cretan food,
we're gonna jump in a taxi, it's a little ways
outside of town within the mountains,
and I'm looking forward to eating
and to sharing with you some authentic Cretan food.
(soothing atmospheric music)
This restaurant?
It is at Charamia?
(speaking in foreign language)
Okay, thank you.
Yeah, I think it's about 20 kilometers
just straight up in towards the mountain.
(upbeat electronic music)
We're driving further and further into the mountain range,
the rugged mountain range, we've passed
by just an endless sea of olive trees,
you can see vineyards, you can see all of,
just the lush Mediterranean herbs,
we passed by sheep, flocks of sheep and goats.
You can just sense how rich the land is here,
and how fertile it is.
When I thought of coming to Crete,
this is the dreamy landscape and environment
that I had literally dreamt about
and what I wanted to experience when I came to Crete.
It was really quite a journey to get here,
we wound around the mountain roads, and,
oh, I'm standing kind of in the middle
of the road right now, but the owner
was here to greet us at the restaurant,
you can smell, he still cooks over fire,
the restaurant is over here, we're gonna
definitely get a look at all the food he's preparing,
but the dining room is up here.
Wow, this is an absolutely beautiful place.
Oh, I am already thrilled
that we made the journey here.
Oh.
Amazing!
- Where are you from, USA?
- [Mark] From USA, my wife is from Thailand.
- Thailand? - Thailand, yes.
- You, you?
- [Mark] Thailand also, America, from Arizona.
- Arizona.
Mountain goat.
Why you here?
- [Mark] Because I love to eat.
(chuckles)
Wow, this is amazing.
Wow.
- Creta food.
- [Mark] Creta food.
(man speaking in foreign language)
- Come here, sir, come. - Okay.
Wow.
(speaking in foreign language)
Wow.
Dolma? - Dolma.
(speaking foreign language)
- [Mark] Amazing.
All wood, all traditional stuff.
Everything is cooked in traditional Cretan ceramic pots,
this is an amazing, an amazing place.
And outside is where he's doing most of the cooking
over fire, the traditional way.
You can smell the aromas of the meat,
the lamb, and the goat.
- Maybe you like to look garden?
- [Mark] Sure!
Everything is from your garden.
And from your, and the meat, also?
- Here, it's no restaurant. - Yes.
- Here is farm. - Okay!
- Different. - Okay.
- Restaurant, from supermarket,
farm, we want people, garden, and animal.
- He's such a nice, friendly, passionate guy,
you can tell how he has, he pours his love into his cooking,
and he cooks over fire, he has all these stews going
over the coals, and he has everything cooking
in traditional Cretan clay, ceramic pots,
and he made sure to tell me that this is not a restaurant,
this is a farm, so all of the ingredients
are from right here on their farm,
the vegetables, they have animals,
they have the livestock, they have all the herbs
and all the ingredients, I know for sure
they get their own olive oil,
this being in the mountains of Crete.
This is a spectacular food place.
Wow, thank you.
- You're welcome. - This is peaches?
Peaches, or?
Okay, because we get started eating
some of those meaty stews, I'm gonna walk around
with Adam around the garden, but first,
he just picked some, I think these are
either peaches or nectarines,
no, they're fuzzy, I think they're peaches,
he picked them right off the tree there.
Oh, it's like crisp like an apple,
but then it has the flavor of a peach!
Oh, it's really good.
Oh, cows, okay.
- We have a family of cows.
- [Mark] Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.
- We have family on the mountains--
(loud insect chirping drowns out dialogue)
And they take their (mumbles) every day.
- Wow.
We're taking a walk down to the farm
to see some of the produce and some of the,
are there are more animals also?
- Yes, of course! - Okay.
And these are all olives.
Oh, lots and lots of olives.
- [Adam] Every vegetable you can eat at the restaurant
is from here.
- Everything that's cooked is all from within the garden,
and from within the farm, it's a farm!
Wow, this is straight farm-to-table,
and when I talk about straight farm-to-table,
this is like straight from their backyard to the table,
that we're gonna eat.
Look at this land!
Thank you. - You're welcome.
Okay, mama and big father.
- [Mark] Okay!
This is absolutely a Mediterranean oasis,
a Mediterranean paradise.
(Adam bleats)
(sheep bleating)
(sheep bell tolling)
You wanna try? - Okay.
This is amazing!
Amazing.
Amazing. - Soft, eh?
- Yeah, really, really soft.
Hey, guy!
One of the things that fascinates me about Cretan culture
is that, traditionally, people are known
for living very, very long lives,
because of the way they eat,
and they always eat off the land,
they eat seasonal, the traditional Cretan diet,
and this is a throwback to the past,
this is the way people ate in the past,
this is the way they would raise their animals,
eat from the land, and eat seasonally.
And this is the best way to eat.
- You can taste. - Okay.
- It's very sweet.
Superfood.
- Oh, yeah.
Mm. - It's good, right?
- Really good, thank you.
- Take it all.
If you want-- - No, they're really,
really good.
Are they blackberry, maybe blackberries, or?
Mm.
Really sweet and juicy.
That was actually a completely unplanned
trip to the farm, I just started talking with Adam,
who runs the farm, and runs the livestock,
and we just ended up walking further
and seeing all the livestock,
but now we're sitting down to eat.
That just increases my hunger and my excitement.
And this is some of the house wine.
'Kay, gotta try some of that.
Wow.
That is spectacular.
Oh, and I'm sure,
oh, actually, we're sitting right under some grapevines.
I know the wine is made right here as well.
I gotta try some of this bread.
Oh, and it's very, very crispy.
You can feel it's crunchy in your fingers,
and then it looks like there is definitely
some oregano on it.
It's really crispy, it's really dense,
it tastes like Crete!
And also, as we're sitting down to eat,
they're about to play some live Cretan music
right in front of us too.
The view is spectacular, (speaks in foreign language)
can't get better either.
And with live music as we're hanging out here,
this is relaxing Mediterranean Crete paradise.
- Mountain goat. - Oh, mountain goat.
Yes.
The chef, he's just gonna bring us
five different dishes, I'm not sure all the dishes,
but he's just gonna bring his personal favorites.
And the first dish that he brought out,
I was gonna wait for all the dishes to come out,
but I absolutely cannot.
The first is stewed Cretan mountain goat.
Look at those chunks of all-natural meat.
Look at, okay, I'm just gonna pick up
one of these guys right here, look at that.
(serene guitar music)
Oh, it's tender,
but it has an amazing almost herb flavor to it.
Whoa, that's spectacular.
That's about as meaty and wonderful as you can get.
Oh, that is flavor meat overload right there.
It's really, really good.
And it is stewed and cooked very, very tender.
But you can, it's a natural free-range, grazing goat,
so it has that natural texture to it,
but it's very, very tender.
Their white wine here is absolutely fantastic too,
and they just brought us one more dish.
I'm still blown away by that wild goat, that mountain goat.
Next dish is aubergine, eggplant,
this is a dish that looks like it needs to be
eaten with bread.
Gonna break some of this bread, scoop on some of this,
it's really nice and saucy.
Mm!
You can taste the fire in that eggplant!
It's been cooked over the fire in that ceramic pot,
the eggplant is melt-in-your-mouth tender.
And then it's just kind of a mellow flavor,
but what I love about it is it just tastes so natural,
and also just the fact that the eggplant
is just melt-in-your-mouth.
Another dish has arrived, and the chef brought it
to our table himself.
This is chunks of veal, and he said this is from their farm,
this is Cretan veal, this is a traditional dish,
it's been stewed again, you can see the chunks of meat,
you can see the herbs in here, I can see some rosemary,
I can see some, mostly braised rosemary,
and I can smell the rosemary.
Okay, this looks like I'm gonna go in with my knife here,
cut a piece of this, just let it soak up
some of that sauce on the bottom there,
and get a closeup look at that,
that looks extremely tender,
and that rosemary in there, oh!
Wow.
Oh, you can taste the rosemary,
and I think I can taste the white wine in there.
Follow that.
(traditional Cretan music)
Wow.
This is the Cretan life right here.
This is awesome, this is absolutely outstanding,
I'm loving it!
Oh, some veal juices!
A little bread.
Next up for some dolma, and this is a plate that we got.
I think these are actually wrapped in,
I think zucchini flowers,
and then there's rice and the spices in here,
and then this is a zucchini, and then with yogurt.
Let's cut this open so we can see what's inside,
oh yeah, you've got that rice,
I think there's dill in there,
and maybe some other herbs,
and then I'm gonna dip it with the side here.
Oh.
Oh, that dill!
Comes in so nicely, and then that rice
is nice and gooey and gummy, almost like a pudding.
And then, yeah, I think that is the zucchini flower.
That's fantastic.
It's really refreshing.
Oh.
The zucchini just melts in your mouth too.
The owner just brought us a cup of tea,
and I think this is some kind of Cretan mountain tea.
Mm!
Rosemary tea!
Yeah, that's what it tastes like to me,
rosemary and probably some other Cretan herbs as well.
You probably need this to wash down that mountain goat.
(traditional Cretan music)
And the final dish we got is a Cretan salad,
and just like the rest of the dishes,
they do not take the salad lightly here.
This is absolutely gorgeous, this is one of the most
beautiful salads I think I've ever seen in my life!
And you can be for sure certain, 100% guaranteed
that all of the ingredients in this salad,
all the vegetables that you see here,
everything that you see here,
is from right here on this farm.
I know the owner would not have it any other way.
Some of the vegetables appear to be roasted,
there's some eggplant and potatoes that are roasted,
and some peppers, but then there's also
an abundance of other vegetables, there are cucumbers,
there's some type of grain, there're raisins in here,
and beets, and tomatoes.
This is insane.
Oh.
That's just bursting with natural flavor.
Oh, that tomato is ridiculous.
It's so juicy, and so refreshing,
and then I got some corn in that bite,
I got some raisins.
This is definitely a roasted pepper here.
Oh.
I think it's just olive oil on top.
Oh, and as you dig deeper into the salad,
you can see, there are chunks of the rusk,
which are the crunchy bread down here as well.
Dig deeper, there're more and more fresh herbs as well,
and vegetables.
That just tastes like pure health.
And some fresh watermelon for dessert.
That is just the ultimate way to end this Cretan food meal.
(vibrant guitar music)
(clapping)
- [Agust] We see you next time, four people.
One, two, three, and then one more.
(chuckling)
One, nothing, madame. - I hope so.
- Is me, three. - I hope so.
This has been by far the best meal
that I've ever had in Crete, and I think,
and I haven't eaten at that many places,
but I think this is a place, if you love to eat,
this is a place you should make an effort to come to,
when you visit Crete, no matter where you are in Crete.
He's doing an exceptional job, and again, he said,
the owner says it's not a restaurant, but it's a farm,
and he cooks traditional Cretan food recipes,
he's an amazing guy, and,
thank you very much, thank you, thank you, you are awesome.
- See you next time. - And he is the man
right here, he is the man, I love this experience.
Okay, so I wanna say a big thank you
for watching this video, please remember
to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it,
I'd love to hear from you in the comment section below,
I'll have all the details about this restaurant
in the comment section below, oh wow!
The snails, he's cooking the snails right now.
But you can check out all the details below,
and thank you very much for watching
this authentic Cretan food video,
and this is the place to come,
this is definitely the place to come,
you've gotta come here.
Thank you again for watching, I am feeling amazing,
and I'll see you on the next video.