Athens – Mangal

The evening meal choice was Mangal, which I think it’s fair to say I enjoyed a little more than Richard. We chose it as it was relatively near to the hotel, it was well reviewed and seemed to serve some traditional and authentic food. There is an outside dining area but it was a little heavy on smokers, so we went inside and went towards the back to avoid that.

I went for the Fischer Blonde beer which is a French brewer Pilsner and it’s light, smooth and quite nondescript.

My starter of the Greek salad and bread. It was another generous portion of Greek salad and they didn’t hold back with the onion. At this point, the server came over to Richard to tell him that they couldn’t serve his main course although they offered an appropriate alternative.

The Bodrum Meatballs, cooked in a red sauce with butter and herbs, served with French fries and garlic yoghurt. The meatballs had a depth of flavour, the chips were fluffy internally and the coleslaw was creamy. This was the main course that Richard and I got to share. The food is all served from an open kitchen and it remained relatively busy throughout the evening.

This is the Yaglama, which is five layers of handmade flatbread with mixed mince meat and onion on every later, topped with yoghurt, walnuts and parsley. The flatbread soaked up the flavours of the mince and the yoghurt gave it a piquancy. Richard was slightly annoyed, and I’m sure that he won’t mind me mentioning this, that by this point his starter still hadn’t arrived. Fortunately, his angry look soon caught the attention of the staff member and I think it’s fair to say that they won’t be inviting each other to their mutual Christmas parties. I’m not sure that I need to add much more.

I rather enjoyed all the food, although mine seemed to be given a priority on being served, which all had a depth of taste and flavour. The service was polite until Richard upset them and the ambience was warm and comfortable. There were some delays getting the bill, perhaps unnecessary delays to be honest, although it was accurate and the food and drink was reasonably priced. The on-line reviews are very positive and the food was from numerous Mediterranean countries although primarily Turkey, making it quite an interesting menu. I’ve never heard of the Yaglama, which was not dissimilar to lasagne in concept, but this was my favourite dish of the evening. Richard won’t be going back though and there were certainly some service elements that might be described as sub-optimal. However, as it was Richard that received poor service and not me, I will forgive them.