18 October, 2013

Eleni's Oinomageireio @ Nea Smyrni

[Update: This place appears to have been closed]


I have past in front of this place many times with tram and have always been curious. And finally a chance turned up in one Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon is a difficult time to find a nice and quiet place to eat, because good and cozy tavernas are normally crowded. I picked up Eleni's because it looked pretty large.


Just behind this place, there is a famous grill restaurant which was totally packed. Eleni's, on the other hand, was almost empty. I think there were only 2 other tables which were taken except for ours.

However, there was a steady stream of delivery orders and delivery guys were going in and out. I can guess that it does a pretty good business with delivery to small offices around during weekdays.

As it is a mageirio, the system is similar to Oinoberdemata where we go sometimes when we were in Gazi. You go to the food counter and see what cooked food (mageirefta) they have and decide what you eat. Just like Onoberdemata, also Eleni's have grilled meat (tis oras) besides mageirefta.

GH goes creazy when they see all these stuffs and tends to order more than we can possibly eat. But this is a mageirio; anything that you cannot finish, you can ask it to be packed and bring it home.

A beer for GH. I drank tap water from a jag that our nice waitress brought to our table.


I wanted horta, but they did not have it. So this is humble and traditional lettuce salad (romaine lettuce, spring onion and dill).


I ordered a veal stifado, which was mostly onion, but 3 big chunks of veal were OK for one person. Let's say there was generous amount of onions.


It contained whole cloves and cinnamon, and maybe vinegar. I liked it, except that it was lukewarm rather than hot.

This is something called Stuffed Potatoes. One of the two dishes GH ordered.


It is a mixture of potato, cheese, bacon and other stuff. I found it too fat and salty, but GH liked it. We brought one home, not having been able to finish it.

Here is GH's 2nd order, Papoutsaki, which can be translated in Aubergine shoe. Halved large aubergines are filled with meat sauce and baked with besamel sauce (Greek bechamel) on top.


Tasted good and very filling. On the other hand, fried potatoes tasted like stayed under heating light for some time.

At the end of meal, they offered yogurt with honey on the house.


At this point, we were full and I wished the yogurt to be less fat and dense, but now I am just complaining for nothing.

The total bill for this and a large beer came to 26.50 Euro. Although the food wasn't that exceptional, tasted right and I would say that it was good value for money. I won't call it a destination restaurant, but when I happen to be in the area and want traditional Greek food, why not?

Oinomagireio Eleni
Eleftheriou Venizelou 82, 17122 Nea Smyrni

Οινομαγειρίο Ελένη
Ελευθεριού Βενιζέλου 82, 17122 Νέα Σμύρνη
Tel. 210 9323194



No comments: