Okra: A restaurant – surprise with Acropolis view

At first, when I saw the place where it has been opened and has been operating for about two months okra, I was wary.

It may be that the end of Mitropoleos Street in Monastiraki is one of the most beautiful parts of the center, but it does not cease to be perennially touristic, with its focus and the old kebab shops that have been grilling there for years consistently (mainly) to tourists, even in times when Athens as a “product” was not like it is today, that is, since it was a short-day stop on someone’s journey and not the destination.

This is still how it is for most Athenians some streets in Monastiraki, a passage on their weekend walk in the center but not a stop, we fear those places that attract visitors to the city and it is not that we are wrong, that we are the mysterious ones, as we are felt by the inhabitants of the metropolises of the world for everything that is very downtown; in ours, of which I can speak with confidence, there is hardly anything that draws us thither. So I visited Okra with second thoughts. And already from the welcome that arrived at the table he denied me.

Inspired by tradition, using ingredients that are not found every day on restaurant menus, Giorgos Zacheilas develops classic dishes and brings them to today.

I had met him for the first time George Zaheila about three years ago, when he was a member of the subversive kitchen Lost Athens, and I’ve kept his name ever since. He is a young cook who does not prefer complicated dishes but passable flavors, who works carefully and without much flourish with the good raw material that reaches his hands. Admittedly, learning he’s at the helm of Okra’s kitchen drew me there. And everything went well, and very tasty.

Okra, therefore, is a new age bistro with an emphasis on all the elements that make Greek cuisine unique. The view to the Acropolis and to the old city of Plaka is uninterrupted and no matter how much we get used to it, it always remains enjoyable, while the hall is elegant, with a retro decorative mood, but also modern, warm.

Inspired by tradition, using ingredients that are not found every day on restaurant menus, Giorgos Zacheilas develops classic dishes and brings them to today.

The goal is to highlight the ingredients that each season brings to the menu, which is why it changes often. The brioche potato bread with tomato glaze has a pleasantly intense flavor, its sourdough sourdough bread is just right as is the breadcrumbs that came as a welcome with their own tomato paste.

Instead of being divided into appetizers, salads and mains, its packed menu is divided into dishes that are eaten with the hand and those that require cutlery and are shared. In the fingerfoods, be sure to try the oysters with pomegranate and lemon thyme, the broad beans that the chef makes into a light tempura and serves them with his own basil mayonnaise with tomato powder.

Among Okra’s main dishes, the yellowfin tuna with pear and celery broth, the must-try calamari kontosouvli with lard and spring onion, the juicy chicken leg marinated in sour cream and accompanied by amazing mantis stuffed with bird livers are dishes worth trying.

The team that has shaped the easy going experience of this new bistro have other new and very strong names to show. He puts his signature on the sweets Alexandros Koniaristhe confectioner with the enviable resume and his own, new-generation pastry shop Fillings of Pagratios, who also frequently changes the dessert suggestions, following the philosophy of the kitchen. If you get his dessert with salted caramel and sour cream, go for it.

As for his wine list, it is edited by George Karabinis that will offer you local wines and special jobs from foreign vineyards, worked natural vinifications, labels that reflect the microclimate of the region they come from – it will definitely put wines with character in your glasses.

Mitropoleos 82, 210 3217700, 25-45 euros per person without wine