"38° Celsius and I sneak after cooling. Place of (expected act: the outdoor swimming pool of the spa town of Bad Bergzabern (not to be confused with the southern Palatinate bath, which are visited for the purpose of the sauna more at colder temperatures... Once there I notice that the now almost 30° warm “brown” has no very cool effect. Anyway, then at least after the warm bathing still somewhere in mountain trenches. Hunger comes at such temperatures in my place until evening. The restaurant Athos in Kneippstraße has existed since last year August. It borders the Residence Kurpfalz Residence. After my rather sober experience in the central German Greek(? Hotel Restaurant “Rössel” last year, the visit of the swimming pool came very close to me today. I associate the term "athos" primarily with height and holiness. The over 2000m high mountain, located at the easternmost finger of the Greek peninsula Chalkidiki, is also called “Heiliger Berg”. The entire area with all its monasteries is considered autonomous monk republic. And the monks knew something good in the Middle Ages. To "Athos"! It smells like thunderstorms when I parked the car in the restaurant at 8:00. A table on the terrace was simply free and the man of the service greeted me cordially. I drank the first ouzo despite great heat and empty stomach as an Apéro – hospitality that you like to take. I ordered the Athenian plate with a Souvlaki Speer, a Suzuki Hacksteak and Gyros for 12.50 Euro. On the way forward came the usually included extra salad, which was somewhat too oily for me from dressing. The first thick drops found the way from the ever darker sky to my salad plate, which is why I began to escape into the local interior. This proved to be the right decision in the hail shower, which was shortly after. Inside I was the very tasteful guest room. The white chair covers look noble, just like the white red tablecloth. The large-format images on the walls (one of them as eye-catcher in the XXL long format!) provide a certain vitality. Visitors to the monasteries of Athos or convinced Chalkidiki horses expect acquaintance in the picture frame. A certain location can be found in many Greek locals. Here, however, by no means kitschig or overfolklorislich decorated. Only a few statues and sound vessels of the Hellenistic embossing decorate the spacious interior. During my last visit to these premises (about two and a half years ago), the restaurant still heard the name “The Merry Toe” and impressed little with the ambience. This “Zecher” then probably also lost its complete comfort due to the lack of guests, which is why the Athos has a much fresher Mediterranean wind for almost a year. The menu contains the complete Greek standard repertoire. A rather opulent selection at first glance. Approx. 20 different appetizers (e.g. grilled peperoni with cartilage for 4.50 euros, a handful of salads, about 10 fish and seafood variants (Lachs, Seezunge, Swordfish, Scampi Co. and otherwise a lot of meat dishes in all conceivable classical combinations: with metaxa sauce, with rag and mushrooms, with pepper or cheese sauce. Lamb enthusiasts can choose between lamb spear, crown, fillet or haxe. The latter comes from the oven and is available in various “overback finishes” with eggplants, beans, sheep cheese or bamies (Okraschoten). The vegetarian is boring with so much meat lust and hopes that one of the two vegetarian dishes will tell him. Also discovered on the map: the traditional “Moussaka” dish with potatoes, eggplants, zucchini and minced meat (11.50 euros). With the desserts, you come to about 100 dishes on the map that seems to me to be very suspicious in grocery stores, as in most cases the amount at the expense of quality. Even more pleasant, which was served as an “Athen Teller” after a pleasant waiting period. In addition to the already mentioned "fleeting", the plate already contained three hemispheres of tomato rice, which was not only very well seasoned, but also slightly grainy consistency. Certainly with the best supplement I have eaten at the Greeks so far! The Landauer “Olympia” doesn’t get it so well. To do this, there is a stick made by yourself Zaziki and the grill plate is ready. Excellent was the juicy Chiff Steak, whose fine parsley note gave the “Flachs Bulle” neat freshness. The Gyros was perfectly seasoned and not so dry to thank God. The sprinkled pig pieces were cut very thin and required a rapid consumption, otherwise they would have fallen by post-baking the dry victims. The Zaziki had a pleasant garlic note. Without exaggeration, but for 12.50 euros I have rarely eaten a better grill plate on the Greeks. What is still rounded off is the very good value for money in Athos is the fact that you can not only enjoy a second ouzo after eating at home costs, but also be surprised with a small house Dessert. These were cut apples and peach pieces with chocolate sauce and some cream on top. A fruity sweet, totally nice gesture of operators whose efforts for the good of the guest were felt at any time. Finally, I was so surprised by this new “Greek Discovery” that I brought a person skilled in the Hellenistic culture into the boat, and two days later (i.e. yesterday evening... with only the “Slip Dog for convenience of any kind” there. That was there, of course. About a year ago, only two weeks after the local opening, it already pulled it. However, his enthusiasm was limited at that time, but a second chance, as we know, deserves every place, which is why he was willing to accept my proposal. The staff knew me now from seeing and after a friendly handshake, we were greeting a table inside as everything was occupied on the terrace and yesterday the sky was full of rain clouds. We ordered the Aphrodite plate for 2 persons (38 euros and got smaller extra requests (2 of the 4 lambcocks on it were exchanged for 2 pigcocks, as my colleague is not happy to meet a lamb fan. An additionally ordered Metaxa sauce did not even appear on the invoice. As little as my digestive tract, a sweet Samos wine, where the first swallow is always the best. On the plate there were no unnecessary vegetable supplements from the freezer. Only the meat (Gyros, Souvlaki, pork steaks, Suzuki and lamb dogs, flanked by tomato rice to the right and the crispy fried pommes to the left. The Zaziki came on a small plate. The view of the plate an eyewitness. The taste of the individual components is really very delicate. That was really great. Not overwhelmed or salty, as this can sometimes be the case with the defy Greek meat kitchen. Especially the Hacksteak experienced the homage of my colleague. I found the lamb dogs yesterday (drilled by the lamb crown almost perfect. And from the meat taste I think that it is somewhat better in the Greek than this species “finger food with thyme notes”. As dessert I tried the Galaktoburiko (5.20 euros). The leafy “grass cuts” were warm between a vanilla iceball and some cream cookies and were decorated with dark chocolate sauce. However, it would not have taken a distraction from the main product on the plate – so tasty tasty tasted this pastry in cake form. My colleague drank a cup of coffee for free. I had a second ouzo. Why not? My district Retsina (3,90 Euro was already – due to the weather – “Dunstet”..."
Alfred
