Varoulko Seaside – The Finest Seafood in Greece

Mikrolimano is a beautifully situated Marina nestling in a bay next to Athens’ bustling port of Piraeus. I was last here about five years ago coming to eat fresh fish at one of the restaurants that overlooked the water.

Since then there has been more development including Varoulko Seaside, a flagship restaurant for one of Greece’s most renown chefs Lefteris Lazarou, the son of a ship’s cook, who has created a “boat” on land, ‘a kitchen that will never get rocked by the waves.’ I was in Greece as the guest of Gastronomos magazine, the foodie magazine that is associated with the respected Kathimerini daily newspaper. I was there to cover their food producer awards and go on an Athens Gastronomos foodie walking tour which I will cover in another post, but this night was all about experiencing the food and atmosphere at Varoulko Seaside.
Lefteris Lazarou, the first Greek chef to receive a Michelin star, has created a suite of buildings that encompass restaurants, a bar, a demonstration kitchen, private dining and event spaces and even an art gallery. But I have come to eat and drink!
Scrambled egg mousse was astonishingly delicious and light and spiked with a salty grey mullet bottarga. The mousse was matched with a Tsipouro based cocktail with geranium liqueur-Tsipouro is a clear Greek spirit similar to an Italian grappa made from pomace, the residue from wine production. The geranium liqueur has a rose flavour and is an acquired taste-one which didn’t work for me as a counterpoint to the salt and egg flavours of the dish.
Much more  successful for me was the Tsipouro cocktail with verbena, lime and ouzo which accompanied the Ionian Sea bream carpaccio with ouzo jelly. The fish was slathered with wilted greens and wonderful olive oil and the aniseed flavour of the ouzo jelly was witty and unexpected. For me the dish was a classic articulation of the healthy aspects of Greek gastronomy.
Another wonderful manifestation of Greek seafood was the Aegean smoked octopus carpaccio with marinated greens. The accompanying wine was a well-balanced Ketchribari Estate Kechris 2015, Resin, 100% Roditis. This is one of the new breed of Retsinas where the resin is used in a much more subtle way than before.
Red mullet fillet was served on deep fried slices of sourdough, with pea purée, smoked aubergine mousse and tomato and carrot jam. Red mullet is one of my favourite fish and can stand up to the robust flavours that accompanied it. Tears of the Pine, Estate Kechris 2015, Resin, 100% Assyrtiko was another retsina but this time with the Assyrtiko grape from Santorini with its mineral, steely and citrus flavour profile.
Aegean grilled grouper with lemon verbena risotto was one of my favourite dishes with the lemon verbena rissoto being something of a revelation. The wine match was again from Santorini, Estate Hatzidakis 2015, 100% Assyrtiko, but this time unresinated.

Valrhona white chocolate mousse, Rosemary, caramelised peaches, chocolate -hazelnut cream and peach sorbet. This was a well-constructed dessert but for me at this point in this great meal just a plate of watermelon would have been perfect! With the dessert we drank Chios mastiha liqueur-mastic (the resin from the mastic tree) is another of those typical Greek flavours. I first tried it a few years ago in an ice-cream and grew to love it.

Greece has an amazing  resource in its natural produce. If you are in the Athens area you should make the trip to Varoulko Seaside to see it showcased in wonderful surroundings and framed by the imagination of a great chef who clearly respects the integrity of the raw materials.