Δευτέρα 5 Ιανουαρίου 2015

Kozi's, temple of meat eating!

Kozi's was on my "restaurants to visit" list for a long time now. The distance, i need to drive 50km both ways, and the fact that they dont take reservations was always keeping me back. The place is packed all evenings and arriving late might make you wait for 60-90 minutes to get a table. Things get worse, and dangerous for other customers, when you see those delicious plates arriving and you are hungry.
The party started with a salad named Shambalala which was simply amazing. The mixed greens with beef fillet strips,pamagranate,parmesan and a perfectly balanced sweet orange chilli dressing was mouthwatering, add to that the huge portion that was more then enough for 4 people and the ball was allready on the field ready for kick off.
When the main dishes arrived the table started smelling like heaven. At this point i must tell you that the owner of the restaurant came back to Greece after he worked many years  in South africa and he is using some amazing spices that is the big bonus in all kinds of meat he cooks.
We tried four different main dishes and the winner of the night among equals was kokobongo, 500kg of chicken perfection in a skewer. Juicy meat, perfectly grilled with intensive spices in a huge portion that luckilly for me my wife couldn't eat all. 
My main was chakalaka, a beef rib eye cooked medium in perfection, with herb butter to melt slowly on the delicious crust. I feel the need to thank the south african culture and their spices for this amazing food experience i had. Once we finished the dinner i felt i need to do this review asap and try to spread it to the world. My dear reader you need to visit this grill temple before you die.
Wait a minute was everything that perfect? unfortunately not.
This is not a place you can relax and enjoy the food as it deserves, its more like a fast food experience. First of all the biggest problem is our legs were cold. Its unacceptable a restaurant that warms your heart with such delicious food not to be able to warm your legs. The tables are really close to eachother and small while the decoration was so boring that reminded me of base grill. Maybe thats the explantion why the prices are so good for this quality. People dont spend too much time on the table and he can serve lots of customers per day.
Wine list was really small without any interesting choices so i decided to get a beer for change.
With our stomach making happy noises and our heart full of happy emotions we payed and tried to find a place warm our legs.

Cuisine: 8,5/10
Wine List: 2/10
Service: 9/10
Atmosphere: 3/10

Παρασκευή 2 Ιανουαρίου 2015

Best of wines 2014

Actually this is not a best of but the wines i enjoyed the most in 2014. The joy a bottle of wine can bring is a matter of many factors like the occasion of a dinner or the group of friends you can share it with. So for now this is the list of the wines that impressed me the most in 2014...

1) 2006 Castelgiocondo (Marchesi de' Frescobaldi) Brunello di Montalcino
This was one of the wines we choose for the new years eve dinner and it was actually the last one i tried for 2014. Silky texture with soft tannins and lots of fruit. Sagniovese at its best! 93/100

2) 2003 Dougos Methistanes red
The wine was part of a dinner i had in Paradiso restaurant and it was sugested to me by the good friend and owner of the restaurant Grigoris Michailos. It was love at first smell, certainly on the top 5 of Greek wines i ever tried. 93/100

3) 2009 Markus Molitor Wehlener Klosterberg Riesling Spätlese
If you hear people talking about minerality in wine and you have no clue what they talk about, you need to try this wine or any other riesling from the mosel river. 92/100

4) 2013 Karipidis Sauvignon blanc fume
I love Sauvignon blanc and this was the wine in enjoyed the most from the variety in 2014 91/100

5) 2006 Lykos Syrah
A nicely made Syrah from this family winery from evoia. Spicy, with back pepper and blackberry conquering nose and mouth.  91/100

6) 2013 grevenon ghi kalyvia 
This rose was a huge surprise for me. It comes from an unknown winery from Grevena and delivers a really nice rose from xinomavro-syrah blend. Food pairing wise, it has this crispy acidity that would be ideal for all the olive oil based Greek dishes or pizza. 87/100

7) 2013 Avantis Estate Charisma Ghis Evia
With our country in the middle of the crisis producers need to find a way to make more value for money wines like this one.  A really nicely made malagousia- trebbiano blend with polished texture and perfectly balanced acidity. 86/100