O! Thoukas
Fortunately, tomorrow was another day, and with it came a particular highlight of this trip. Early on, Spiros the car-hire guy (as opposed to Spiros the handyman who lives in the house up the hill) had recommended a taverna in Doukades, one O Thoukash, opposite Elizabeth’s in the main square.
It has only been a taverna for a couple of years, but the food, he assured us, is extremely good. So on what was meant to be our last day on the island, how fitting that we should find a taverna that really did live up to the hype. Our order is by now established – tsatsike, Greek salad, sofrito and the special of the day. In this instance, Pork in the Oven, a dish we saw being fetched by the taverna owner while we sat contemplating lunch. It later transpired that he still does things the traditional way, preparing his roast at breakfast time, then taking it to be cooked in the baker’s oven, over the slowly cooling embers remaining from his night’s work. This particular joint had been stuffed with pounded sage and pepper, and roasted in the smoke from the dying embers of the baker’s fire for several hours. It was meltingly tender, rich, sticky and unctuous, and tasted wonderful – smokey, herby, spicy and hot, everything you could wish for on a plate.
Well, perhaps apart from my sofrito, which is roast beef cooked with a sauce of garlic, parsley and white wine. The best we have had to date was that served by Smurfs, and his veal-based version was divinely tender. O Dukas got very nearly as close, with Castelinno’s version a distant third. Here it was beef rather than veal, almost as tender, richly sauced and served with sublime, hand-cut chips. Simple, honest, and created with deep understanding.
Preceding this had been another couple of triumphs, the aforementioned tsatsiki and greek salad. Tsatsiki is a simple mix of grated cucumber, garlic, greek yoghurt and olive oil, so both the quality and balance of the ingredients are critical to its success. Here the garlic was so abundant and forceful that the result was actually hot, and whilst such a robust approach might not appeal to all, I enjoyed it immensely.
The greek salad is also a staple, traditionally consisting of tomatoes, cucumber, sliced onions, sometimes sliced green pepper, all chopped and surmounted by a generous slice of good feta. Here, the vegetables were all present and correct, if underpinned by the now ubiquitous mound of shredded lettuce (makes for a bigger pile in your serving dish). But it was the feta which triumphed, still bearing the tell-tale imprint of the cloth in which it was wrung out. Feta is normally stored in brine, and only squeezed dry in a muslin before it is to be sold or used. Here it was just that, firm, crumbly, quite dry and light in flavour, but unmistakably local. Our host confirmed that it was “feta from the house here in the village”, meaning that it was home-made and utterly local. Simply fabulous.
It has only been a taverna for a couple of years, but the food, he assured us, is extremely good. So on what was meant to be our last day on the island, how fitting that we should find a taverna that really did live up to the hype. Our order is by now established – tsatsike, Greek salad, sofrito and the special of the day. In this instance, Pork in the Oven, a dish we saw being fetched by the taverna owner while we sat contemplating lunch. It later transpired that he still does things the traditional way, preparing his roast at breakfast time, then taking it to be cooked in the baker’s oven, over the slowly cooling embers remaining from his night’s work. This particular joint had been stuffed with pounded sage and pepper, and roasted in the smoke from the dying embers of the baker’s fire for several hours. It was meltingly tender, rich, sticky and unctuous, and tasted wonderful – smokey, herby, spicy and hot, everything you could wish for on a plate.Well, perhaps apart from my sofrito, which is roast beef cooked with a sauce of garlic, parsley and white wine. The best we have had to date was that served by Smurfs, and his veal-based version was divinely tender. O Dukas got very nearly as close, with Castelinno’s version a distant third. Here it was beef rather than veal, almost as tender, richly sauced and served with sublime, hand-cut chips. Simple, honest, and created with deep understanding.
Preceding this had been another couple of triumphs, the aforementioned tsatsiki and greek salad. Tsatsiki is a simple mix of grated cucumber, garlic, greek yoghurt and olive oil, so both the quality and balance of the ingredients are critical to its success. Here the garlic was so abundant and forceful that the result was actually hot, and whilst such a robust approach might not appeal to all, I enjoyed it immensely.
The greek salad is also a staple, traditionally consisting of tomatoes, cucumber, sliced onions, sometimes sliced green pepper, all chopped and surmounted by a generous slice of good feta. Here, the vegetables were all present and correct, if underpinned by the now ubiquitous mound of shredded lettuce (makes for a bigger pile in your serving dish). But it was the feta which triumphed, still bearing the tell-tale imprint of the cloth in which it was wrung out. Feta is normally stored in brine, and only squeezed dry in a muslin before it is to be sold or used. Here it was just that, firm, crumbly, quite dry and light in flavour, but unmistakably local. Our host confirmed that it was “feta from the house here in the village”, meaning that it was home-made and utterly local. Simply fabulous.
posted by EyeOnDubai at 4:30 am
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