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This isn’t a post about the demonstrations that were taking place in Athens, instead next on the list of bars to visit was Demo, a rather on-trend little arrangement which had something of a positive and vibrant feel to it. This is quite a lively area of the city, but it’s hard to keep Richard away from these hubs of nightlife.

I went for the Grimbergen Blanche which was light, sweet and smooth. Richard discovered rakomelo which is served hot, often during the colder months of the year, containing raki, cinnamon and cloves. Sweet and warming, it’s a traditional Greek drink and I think Richard was so surprised and delighted by it that he’ll be making it at home. Also praise for the rather delicious crisps which were provided free of charge, we definitely need that concept extending into the UK.

The back bar which all felt modern, with the service being timely, friendly and engaging. I’m not really one for music, but they had a pleasant and upbeat arrangement being played which added to the atmosphere rather than annoying me. Everything felt clean and organised as well, with surfaces being dry and not sticky. The customers seemed to be generally younger, other than Richard, with the drinks served quickly even though the preparation of the rakomelo looked like a right faff to me.

The Double Ambree from Grimbergen, which was dark and deep with a taste of caramel and some fruit that has fallen off a tree.

This was a rather lovely bar with a reasonable amount of space internally and externally. Richard was delighted with his new drink and I got t0 try a Grimbergen beer that I haven’t had before. The prices were reasonable and it felt warm and cosy. It’s also open for long hours, from 11.00 until 02.00 every day of the week.

The evening meal choice was Mangal, which I think it’s fair to say I enjoyed a little more than Richard. We chose it as it was relatively near to the hotel, it was well reviewed and seemed to serve some traditional and authentic food. There is an outside dining area but it was a little heavy on smokers, so we went inside and went towards the back to avoid that.

I went for the Fischer Blonde beer which is a French brewer Pilsner and it’s light, smooth and quite nondescript.

My starter of the Greek salad and bread. It was another generous portion of Greek salad and they didn’t hold back with the onion. At this point, the server came over to Richard to tell him that they couldn’t serve his main course although they offered an appropriate alternative.

The Bodrum Meatballs, cooked in a red sauce with butter and herbs, served with French fries and garlic yoghurt. The meatballs had a depth of flavour, the chips were fluffy internally and the coleslaw was creamy. This was the main course that Richard and I got to share. The food is all served from an open kitchen and it remained relatively busy throughout the evening.

This is the Yaglama, which is five layers of handmade flatbread with mixed mince meat and onion on every later, topped with yoghurt, walnuts and parsley. The flatbread soaked up the flavours of the mince and the yoghurt gave it a piquancy. Richard was slightly annoyed, and I’m sure that he won’t mind me mentioning this, that by this point his starter still hadn’t arrived. Fortunately, his angry look soon caught the attention of the staff member and I think it’s fair to say that they won’t be inviting each other to their mutual Christmas parties. I’m not sure that I need to add much more.

I rather enjoyed all the food, although mine seemed to be given a priority on being served, which all had a depth of taste and flavour. The service was polite until Richard upset them and the ambience was warm and comfortable. There were some delays getting the bill, perhaps unnecessary delays to be honest, although it was accurate and the food and drink was reasonably priced. The on-line reviews are very positive and the food was from numerous Mediterranean countries although primarily Turkey, making it quite an interesting menu. I’ve never heard of the Yaglama, which was not dissimilar to lasagne in concept, but this was my favourite dish of the evening. Richard won’t be going back though and there were certainly some service elements that might be described as sub-optimal. However, as it was Richard that received poor service and not me, I will forgive them.

Located at 17 Stournari Street in Athens, this Untappd verified craft beer bar is cosy inside, although there’s extra seating outside. There was a friendly welcome from the barman (who I assume is the owner) who explained what beers were available, although the list is also available on Untappd. There’s a bicycle used as decoration, something that my friend older Julian is always nervous about as he doesn’t like them being removed from the road, but I’m less concerned personally.

I made a mistake here and ordered the Coconut Sky CocoStout, forgetting that I’d already had it at Tapfield a couple of days before. However, it’s a rather lovely beer, slightly thin but rich in Bounty chocolate coconut flavour.

Richard went for the Voreia Wit from Siris Microbrewery and it was certainly lively. I tried some and it was a solid wheat beer, the flavour of banana lingers and it was quite sweet and agreeable.

It’s a welcoming little venue and it’s evident how much the barman is passionate about what he is selling (I mean he’s knowledgeable about craft beer, not that he’s some form of alcoholic) and willing to engage about it. There was some music playing that Richard was singing along to, so it’s reasonable to say that it was very old school. The surroundings were clean and comfortable, with plenty of additional bottles and cans to investigate in the fridges. There’s a very strong focus on stocking Greek beers, which is a handy way of being able to try new beers. Well, new beers if you don’t forget that you had them two days before anyway. The whole arrangement feels like one for beer enthusiasts rather than just another bar, so I was of course surprised and delighted with that.

And the second in the series of driving about in Athens. Here’s part one.

This is the cat on a car that I was excited about. Don’t forget, I don’t get out much….

We returned to Athens, after puncturegate, and it was still slightly simmering (the city, not the tyre) after the protests that had taken place during the day. There had been a little rioting and a lot of restaurants had closed, with parts of the city having something of an edgy feel to them so it wasn’t the usual pleasant evening atmosphere in Athens.

Fortunately, the Golden Indian Haveli was open and it is impeccably well reviewed on-line, so they’re evidently doing a lot right. It looked closed at first from one side, but there was signage indicating where to go. We were welcomed promptly and they checked if we had a reservation, but they had plenty of space available to accommodate us. The restaurant is on the left in the above photo, but the staff were standing outside and I didn’t want it to look like I was taking photos of them.

The poppadoms were crunchy and rich in flavour, although the two sauces with them weren’t of any great note. The beer was the Kingfisher lager and it is what it is, it went well with the food so that was handy. As an irrelevant aside, I’m the only person ever to have checked a beer into this venue on Untappd, there’s always usually someone before me, but not here.

The main event was though much better. I went for a chicken madras, lemon rice and a Peshwari naan. I have a common issue in finding that curries are lacking in more spice in some European countries, especially northern European countries. However, this arrangement was much better with the sauce having some spice and heat to it, which is what I would expect from a madras. The chicken was tender, the sauce was rice and the coconut cooled matters down a little. The ginger added taste, the onion added texture and the flavours worked well together. The lemon rice had a full flavour of lemon, which is something not always delivered, with pieces of lemon visible throughout. The naan was crispy and had the expected almond taste to it, with everything at the appropriate hot temperature. I did finish everything, but it was only at a push and the portions sizes were generous.

The prices here were reasonable, the service was attentive and the surroundings were clean and comfortable. There was a bottle of water placed on the table that we hadn’t asked for, but they checked at the end of the meal if we’d had any of it and they pro-actively removed it from the bill. I’d merrily come back here, it’s centrally located, there’s a friendly welcome and the food is above average.

One handy thing about travelling with Richard anywhere is that there’s always drama. And I was delivered drama once again on this trip, which was all rather exciting. As we were driving along the motorway, or more specifically as Richard was driving, there was a little bangy noise which I correctly identified as something was broken. We were just before a toll booth and so we stopped off to investigate the matter, with the timing being quite fortunate.

The rather helpful guy at the reception desk at the toll station, which I don’t think is a generally onerous role and so needs extra excitement, came over to help. He we are with two experts looking at the tyre, which I had already identified as broken so I didn’t see what more work needed doing on the investigation.

Richard remembered that there was a spare tyre in the boot. It seemed that we might be able to put this on and manage the situation ourselves. Richard is a man of action and his engineering background, specialising in keyboards, would inevitably come in handy.

And here he is athletically putting the tyre into the right place, rolling it like a professional. This plan didn’t work as we couldn’t get the existing tyre off (I say we, but I was basically just the photographer) and so Richard phoned the car hire company. The lady spoke English, but the toll guy (as I’m now calling him) dealt with the entire conversation in rapid-fire Greek and we had no clue what was going on. Richard had been hoping to speak to the lady at the end of the call to gain a better understanding of the situation, but I imagine that the toll guy was trying to make life easier. I wanted to sit in the car, but Richard reminded me it was jacked up and he hadn’t remembered to bring any chairs to sit on which I thought was poor planning on his part. If he is to be a true traveller, he needs to bring a mobile lounge with him.

I think this next photo tells something of a story, as it’s now dark. The toll gates looked rather lovely as the sun set over the broken car. The toll guy, who really was doing a marvellous job at helping us, came over to say that the repair man was around fifteen minutes away. At least we had a solution coming now.

There was some thinking about the situation whilst we waited. The toll guy spoke sufficient English to let us know what was going on and helpfully queried if I was cold as I didn’t have a coat on. He also asked Richard why we’d come to Greece when it was cold, although I think the toll guy and I have a different understanding of what the word hot means.

Then the repair man turned up with a proper jack. No selection of canapes or anything though for us to nibble on. I had expected Richard to have some sort of lounge option for car hire so that we received some treats, but it transpired that he hadn’t. But, here is the car all successfully repaired and we were ready to roll with the temporary tyre in place, with the whole arrangement taking 90 minutes to have got sorted out.

Thanks mostly to me for recording the incident for posterity, the toll man for being so helpful, the repair guy for fixing it and to Richard for the excitement. After investigating the broken tyre, it seems that there had been a nail in it which must have fallen out, hence the quick deflation. Richard noted, after the event, that he did think there was the sound of something as we had been driving around all day, but as it was a hire car a random noise would have been hard to investigate. And with Richard at the helm, what could possibly go wrong? He remains very fortunate that I’m often around to take photos and be the voice of calm reason. As for the good news, Richard had taken out insurance to cover this sort of incident, so the €400 he would have been charged was reduced to €0.