A French Love Affair with...Polly Maggoo!

Ok, it's been way too long since my last post and I have a million things to tell you!

Let me start by the French restaurant "Polly Maggoo" in Athens-what a smart name for such an awesome restaurant! Located in the downtown, upcoming area of Metaxourgio it gives out a more animated & easy-going vibe than the traditionally expensive and classic French restaurants in Athens (L'Aubrevoir, etc.).

Neither the food nor the decor is too sophisticated but they're still extremely pleasant- especially because they don't pretend to be something they're not. I loved everything I ate, especially the lentils with the poached egg (as an hors-d'oeuvre)! My only complaint: NO FRENCH WINE LIST! What a disappointment :-( I hope this has changed since the last time I went.

Prices are reasonable (around 30 euro/person with the wine) and the crowd alternative, mainly in their 30s and 40s.

Bon appétit!

A French Love Affair...with all things French in Athens!

The French love Greece. It's a fact. They know all about our culture, they visit our islands, some of them even speak our language...! Αnd I'd say Greeks love France as well. Many of Greece's great artists and intellectuals self-exiled to Paris during the years of the coup back in the 1970s.

To make a long story short, this special relationship between the two countries has left its mark on current everyday life in Athens. Let's take for example the French mark on food: French restaurants, French delis, French bakeries... and the list goes on and on.

Here I'd like to share with you some of my favorite French spots in Athens, for a home-away-from-home feeling for those French people visiting Athens, or for Greeks wishing to get a true taste of France in their own capital!

A French Love Affair with...Provence cooking (and how similar it is to Greek cuisine!)

La Provence is one of the regions I love the most in France...after spending a year studying there, I had the opportunity to discover many of its secrets: the tranquility of its villages, the romanticism of its lavender fields, the wild beauty of its Calanques, the charming picture of old men playing pétanque...and of course its CUISINE!

Quite similar to the Greek one, the Provencal cuisine is amazing-especially in the summer. Using fresh, local ingredients, lots of seasonal vegetables and fresh herbs, it would probably be very easy for someone to become a vegetarian there!!

One of the products we come across in many recipes, and which we also use in Greece, is courgettes. You can cook all kinds of things with a courgette but one of my favorite recipes is "beignets de fleurs de courgette"; in Greek "kolokithoanthi". It's ideal as a summer hors d'oeuvre and oh-so-easy to make (ok, not necessarily healthy because it's fried and a tad messy to make, but believe me, it's worth it!).

A French Love Affair with...Pastis! (or "how to prolong the summer"!)

Pastis, that pale yellow, oh-so-summery aromatic drink, will take you straight to the south of France...Just take a long sip, close your eyes, and soon you will hear the sound of the cigales, and you will just drift away to a small port near Marseille, or to a village in Provence...

We've been drinking this anise-flavored liqueur all summer long, with friends, on the veranda (Greeks love it by the way as it is very familiar to ouzo, but has a different color and a more aromatic smell), and we'll keep on drinking it, hoping that the summer will last a little more...!

It's no wonder that the symbol of Ricard, probably the most famous producer of pastis, is the SUN...

Drink it as an apéritif in a tall glass with water and plenty of ice (serve about 3 measures of pastis and top it off with water; the color should be light yellow). Experiment with the doses depending on whether you like it lighter or stronger. Since the French, especially in the South, drink it almost all day long, they make it rather light...!