Greece trip, Jun 2007 - A Michelin-starred restaurant?

Varoulko, according to our research, is one of the best restaurants in Athens. It has (or supposedly has) 1 Michelin-star.

We booked weeks before our trip, and we waited patiently. We thought it was going to be a unforgettable experience.

First impressions:

1. Uneven table (top and edges)
2. Table next to a block, which cuts into dining space
3. Not-so-shiny cutlery
4. Smokers right next to us, while we've asked for a non-smoking table (they moved us to another table later on but they transferred the food and drinks across wrongly)
5. Slow service (the drinks and menu arrived after a whole 15 minutes)

I must say, the service was really poor. Perhaps I am expecting too much.

We ordered the degustation menu:

Veloute of soup with cuttlefish ink. It tastes like lobster bisque, served with a few BBQ prawn pieces. It went well with bread.

We asked for a replacement for the stuffed red mullet. The waiter offered us scallops. However, when he bought out the dish, it was sardines instead. We were both very upset because the waiter never come around to ask us whether sardines are alright (SP doesn't like sardines).

Shrimps in wine sauce. These were actually good-size prawns. The sauce was very tasty and I absolutely love this dish! They overcooked SP's prawns. Again, he wasn't very happy.

Bay prawns moussaka. I swapped the red mullet dish because I said I don't like aubergine. The waiter didn't pick that up and this dish has a fair few slices of aubergine in it. I only had very little of this dish. SP didn't do much better.

White grouper in truffle sauce. The sauce is great, not as truffly as I want, but still great. Oddly, the sommelier recommended a red wine to go with the fish. I find the wine acceptable, because it brings out the woody/earthy taste of the sauce. SP didn't like this at all.

At this point, the manager came around and asked SP how was the meal. SP replied, "Interesting." I think he got the point.

The waiter came around with two desserts: both have cinnamon in it:

Fruity soup and ice cream. Nothing special.

Cheese cake with a cinnamon biscuit base. This is actually quite good.

Towards the end of the meal, the waiter came and clear the table. He knocked over the water bottle and it fell onto my leg and then crashed on the floor. I didn't get hurt, but I got rather wet!

As you may be able to tell, the restaurant has managed to upset SP a lot. The service was that bad. The food is only so-so. The food itself is at Lindsey House's level, but the wine-matching and service are very poor

The meal was expensive, and we are definitely not going back.