Latest news with #Zorba's
Times
26-04-2025
- Times
The Greek island that's crowd-free, affordable and hot in June
The Greek islands are glorious in June. In Cephalonia, the largest of the Ionian islands, restaurants and bars have all reopened after winter, the sea is warm enough for a dip and temperatures hover in the high 20s for lazy days sunbathing. Yet you'll avoid the school holiday crowds and scorching hot days of August so can still enjoy time away from the lounger, exploring the island's pastel-painted villages, 16th-century fort and the only national park on a Greek island. Seven nights' room only at Kekatos Studios on the island's southwestern coast, including flights from London Stansted with Ryanair, costs £386pp with Thomas Cook, departing on June 11. A small underseat cabin bag is included, but you can check in a 20kg suitcase for an extra £72 return. A private car transfer can be added at the time of booking for £46 return. The serviced apartments are in a three-floor property in Lassi, two miles from the island's capital, Argostoli. You'll stay in a sea-view room with its own small kitchenette, complete with toaster, fridge and hob, though be aware that optional air conditioning costs an extra £6 per day. Rooms are simply decorated with whitewashed walls, pine furniture and tiled floors and all have a private balcony or veranda for sunset drinks. There's no on-site restaurant but there are two supermarkets and a bakery in strolling distance for rustling up snacks. Several tavernas and restaurants are close by, including Zorba's, which serves traditional Greek dishes to live music (mains from £8; and Nefeli taverna for fresh seafood and wood-fired lamb kleftiko (mains from £8; @nefeli_restaurant_lassi). The apartments have a large garden and sunbed-lined swimming pool, while the long sweep of golden sand at the blue flag-rated Makris Gialos beach is five minutes' walk away. The idyllic White Rocks Beach, known for its turquoise water and white limestone cliffs, is under a mile. Hop on the local bus for the five-minute trip to Argostoli to wander the waterfront and spot loggerhead sea turtles (£2; A range of boat trips leave from the city's harbour including sunset cruises and all-day sailings with lunch to the uninhabited Vardiani island for swimming and snorkelling (from £39; • Read our full guide to Cephalonia Just under an hour's drive north is the sorbet-coloured village of Assos, with its postcard-perfect bay, cobbled streets and 16th-century Venetian castle built to protect the island from approaching pirates. See it from the water by joining a sea kayaking trip from Agia Kiriaki that also visits the cliff-backed Myrtos Beach, often named one of the most beautiful beaches in Greece (£73; For the best views, head inland to the fir tree-blanketed Mount Ainos National Park, with its scenic hiking trails, wild horses and the island's highest peak, Megas Soros. Reward your efforts afterwards by calling to the Orealios vineyard to try wine made from Cephalonia's native robola grape and stock up on a few to take home (tastings from £10; • Return Stansted-Cephalonia flights, departing on June 11• Seven nights' room only at Kekatos Studios ( This article contains affiliate links, which can earn us revenue Feeling flush? If you're inspired by Cephalonia and have more to spend, try one of these… On the waterfront in the centre of Argostoli, the contemporary Alley Boutique is steps away from the capital's shops and restaurants. It was opened by a father and daughter duo inspired by the cool Cali chic of hotels in LA. Twenty-nine rooms across four floors are tasteful in all-white, with dusky pink or teal velvet furnishings, statement chandeliers and brass bathroom fittings. There are free bikes to borrow, a small spa with gym and hammam, a restaurant serving a buffet breakfast and a sugar-pink lobby bar offering cocktails and superfood smoothies. The nearest beach, Makris Gialos, is a ten-minute Seven nights' B&B from £806pp, including flights ( • 18 of the best hotels in Cephalonia The five-star adults-only Casaly Hotel & Spa is Argostoli's newest and most stylish property. Opened in summer 2024, it has entirely monochrome interiors with Italian-designed furniture and Petra marble bathrooms stocked with Bulgari products. Some suites have their own private hammams or Jacuzzis with sea views. The hotel also has an outdoor freshwater pool, indoor heated pool, gym and spa with Turkish bath, chromotherapy sauna and Himalayan salt therapy room. An all-day restaurant serves modern Mediterranean dishes and has a terrace by the pool for sunny days. Restaurants, bars and the city's main Vallianou Square are all within walking Seven nights' B&B from £1,482pp, including flights and private transfers (
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Avgolemono: It's all Greek for National Soup Month
When Ioannis Bougiouris was a boy in Athens, he split his time between the city he called home and the village where his mother grew up, Vresthena. 'For the holidays, for the weekends and every summer, we used to go,' says Bougiouris, chef/owner of Zorba's Kitchen in Orlando. There, his grandmother, Olga, lived among the villagers, 'maybe 200 people,' he says (a recent Greek census puts the number at 333). 'She was the one who taught my mom to cook. And she was always cooking for everybody, all the kids, all the grandkids.' And among the things he has remembered for so long that he cannot remember when he started remembering them was avgolemono. 'It is like medicine!' he says. 'When somebody was getting sick, you wouldn't hear anybody say, 'I need a doctor. My grandmother would say, 'I got you. I make you the avgolemono soup.'' Zorba's Kitchen is mini, but mighty in its Med-based fare | Review At its foundation, not surprisingly, avgolemono is what every other culture in the world employs during flu season: chicken broth. But this steaming cauldron of penicillin has its own unique twist that the name gives away up front, eggs and lemon, the former of which imparts a silky, creamy texture, the latter a wonderful burst of tartness. In Greece, and perhaps even more so in the States, avgolemono is considered a staple, something you'll find on virtually all Greek menus or at least, as is the case at Zorba's, a regularly rotating special, but many people — including those I spoke to for this piece — are unaware that its roots, which date back as far as the 10th Century, lie in Spain, and its Sephardic Jewish community. I didn't know, either. But the quest for knowledge took me down a warm and wonderful rabbit hole for this, the last in our National Soup Month series for 2025 (and on a day that began with 40 degree temps, yikes!). Born of a dressing called agristada, which combined lemon with egg to make a creamy, zesty accompaniment that adhered to kosher dietary laws, the Jewish people took with it them when they were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition, wrote Nosher's Emily Paster, and introduced it to the Mediterranean cultures where they settled, including Turkey, Italy and Greece. 'Ottoman diners already had a penchant for sour flavors…' Paster wrote. 'So it is not surprising that agristada, with its lemony bite, became part of the larger Greek and Turkish cuisine.' Over time, agristada morphed into a variety of dishes and condiments still used today in these countries, avgolemono perhaps the most famous of all. 'It is so unique and most important, it's so healthy,' says Vassilis Coumbaros, chef/owner of festive I-Drive favorite Taverna Opa, where every day you'll find the same version of the soup the Coumbaros family eats at home. Like Bougiouris, his personal history with the soup begins with his yia yia. 'She always would boil the chickens, make some rice … and the egg you put in just to thicken it up.' Timing and temperature, says Coumbaros, are the secret ingredients. 'After the beginning — you make the mirepoix (carrots, onions, celery) — and you put it in the hot water with the chicken and let it boil for about an hour. Then, when you take the ingredients out, in order to succeed, you have to drop the temperature of the broth down to about 90 degrees.' At the restaurant, a thermometer is employed. At home, a finger. 'Like my grandma used to do it,' he says. 'She'd say if her finger could tolerate the temperature, then it's good to mix.' This is because soup that's too hot will cook the eggs rather than temper them. Some chefs, and both chefs' grandmothers, would beat yolks and white separately before combining them with a few ladles full of cooler broth. Leaving the eggs out of the fridge for a spell helps, too, bringing them a little closer to room temperature. Steady stirring helps blend the eggs and broth together before a similar, slow and steady technique allows for combining with the larger pot of cooled-off soup. Lemon is at the chefs' discretion. 'I make it quite lemony here at the restaurant, which is how the people like it,' says Bougiouris, whose version skips the mirepoix. Fall-apart soup chicken and rice are added later, though, in later years, some regions of Greece began using orzo instead. 'In the restaurant, I like to add some dill and a little green onions for extra flavor,' says Coumbaros, chuckling. Meaty Beany Chili is a one-pot, plant-based super stew Green is always an appetizing touch on any plate (he doesn't do it at home; the kids don't like it), but grandma's recipe is something everyone loves when the weather gets cold, he says. Or if you happen to catch one. 'If we were sick or had a light flu or fever, she would always give us chicken-lemon soup,' he says. 'It's free medicine!' Open up and say ahhhhh. Find me on Facebook, X or Instagram (@amydroo) or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @ Email: amthompson@ For more fun, join the Let's Eat, Orlando Facebook group. Taverna Opa Orlando: 9101 International Drive in Orlando, 407-351-8660; Zorba's Kitchen: 7325 Lake Underhill Road in Orlando, 407-270-6505;
