Reviews
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La Pasteria
Kifisia
9 Kassaveti Street
Tel: 2108085607
Open: Afternoon / Evening
Type: Italian
Price Range: € 18.00 - 23.00 |
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Eating out on Saturday at lunchtime in town is crowded and fraught
with frustration but can be a lot of fun as long as you are not in a
rush and are happy to do some serious people watching.
Sunday lunch can mean a ‘brunch’ style buffet at the
Intercontinental or Marriott hotels, a crowded taverna, practically
no where at all in the Kolonaki area except for the Tops which never
dies and always produces reasonable, simple home cooked Greek dishes
for its faithful clientele.
I was dragged, kicking and screaming, to Kifissia shopping center
without a hope of finding somewhere to park; we had planned to take
a walk and that’s what we did as the only space we found was about
10minutes away from the Italian Restaurant, Pasteria. There were a
few people waiting for tables and the, very polite, maitre took our
names and we sat outside. There was no queue barging and within 10
minutes we were seated in the non-smoking area of this busy
restaurant. Immediately we were brought a bottle of water some fresh
Italian buns, a little bowl of olive oil and balsamic and some huge
green olives and the menu. It’s a bright, lively place full of
families with children on Sunday and waiters rushing around,
parmesan in hand ready to grate the nutty, delicious cheese on
anything and everything! Sadly the ravioli had finished (it was
nearly 4pm!) so I chose a spinach and gorgonzola salad followed by
pennes with mushrooms and walnuts. The menu is flexible in as much
as if you want farfalle instead of spaghetti no one minds and extra
anything can usually be accommodated. I had the impression that the
menu is more a ‘guide’ as they seem unphazed by customers’
combinations.
The salad was enormous – good thing we had ordered 1 between 2
people and had plenty of soft, runny and delicious gorgonzola; it
was a little dry but that was easily remedied by the appearance of
oil and balsamic. The pasta was al dente, also delicious and far too
big for me to finish (but not so big as to be off–putting on first
being placed in front of me – actually, if I hadn’t sworn off total
greed, I could probably have finished it!).
Although full, the tables were not crowded together and we were able
to chat easily. The service was fine and I would definitely go
again. When we emerged on to the street the glorious morning sun had
vanished and it had been raining and we took our ‘exercise’ walking
the 10 minutes back to the car.
BC
