Athens and Santorini, 2015

I've got to import a bunch of photos from my phone, but I hate typing on my phone, so I'm starting with a bit of a summary of food in Greece. We just got back from 10 days in Athens and Santorini, and had a great time.

• Greek food I encountered is almost entirely underseasoned - Not just unspicy, it needs salt. I got several greek salads (which typically don't have lettuce, a disappointment to SueF, who isn't fond of tomatoes or cucumbers, meaning she ate all the onions, green peppers, olives and feta out of the salads) that appeared to be completely unsalted. You got a grilled fish? It needs salt.
• Despite a depressed economy, dining out is expensive - I didn't get out of areas where tourists go (I tried once, and got thoroughly lost). Entrees of 12-25 Euros were typical, a few bargains places (The Psirri district) ran 8-15. Expect to pay through the nose for a view (sunset views on Santorini, Acropolis views in Athens), without necessarily seeing an increase in food quality
• Souvlaki & Gyros are the bargain - Even on Santorini in touristy areas, you can get a pork or chicken souvlaki on pita for 2 Euros (usually with a half-dozen french fries wrapped in it). in Athens, a "pork stick" could be as cheap as 1E. But that's only carry-out. The same exact souvlaki on pita that's 2E carryout is 9E if you sit down. Oh, and gyros are chicken or pork. If you want beef/lamb, it's going to be called doner (spelled ντονερ - the D sound is made with an NT, since the Delta is pronounced like th in "the").
• Street Vendors - We didn't eat from street vendors, but what was for sale is one of two things: grilled ears of sweet corn (live charcoal, no mayo and parmesan). or koulouri (ring breads, like a cross between a bagel and a pretzel, usually sesame seed-coated). The latter vendors sometimes had doughnuts too. I think I saw some ice cream carts too.

I'd normally just blame where you ate but I'm guessing you ate at a number of places and found this to be a consistent thing. However, I didn't experience any of this under-seasoned food when I was there:

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Did you go to any of the same places? In any event, I look forward to your pictures. Though I was not enamored with Athens (enjoyed the main tourist sites and my hotel), I adored Mykonos, Delphi and especially Santorini.

It looks like the only place in common is souvlaki at Thanassis, and ours was very good, and the gyros from there even better.
Reading back on my general notes they sound somewhat negative. Far be it, we really ate well.

One of the posts in your thread mentioned smoking: it was probably the biggest problem while eating there, and we found the reverse of that post: eat inside, and fewer will be smoking. Outside, people feel free to light up before, during and after the meal. Bleah.

OK, here's one pic from Hytra, a Michellin-starred restaurant atop the Onassis Cultural Center. Only the menu (I didn't want to be That Guy with the flash... it turned out That Guy was the Japanese tourists next to us, but at least instead of using the flash, they just turned on their phone's light for illumination.

It was a 14-course-tasting menu, stealing a lot of 10-year-old notes from El Bulli and others -- I mean 3 foams? Really, the food was astounding, as was the service.
Jerusalem artichoke spiral - The first amuse was a spiral tube of fried j-choke with drops of mayo and bacony bits. Crunchy and tasty.
Olive Oil - Another small amuse, this was an olive-oil ice cream between lime and olive oil crackers. Very tasty. If these were served at a party, I'd be grabbing handsful.
Spanakorizo - Sort of a deconstructed dolma: freeze-dried spinach, with lemony dilled rice. Crunch and hominess.
Herb-Infused Cocktail - a light, herby cocktail serving as a nice palate cleanser
Chef's Garden - Constructed salad, lots of colorful bits
Squid - Squid Ink mayo is cool stuff. Itty bitty baked potato and perfectly cooked squid. Fennel with squid is something I wouldn't have anticipated, but it works.
Bread - a yeast bread, but with the texture of a biscuit, very nice
Quail - I remember liking this a lot, but not sure why. Very good poultry flavor is all I recall.
Rooster - ... which continued in this dish, with great mushroom and liver flavors kicking up the umami
Bergamot, Yogurt, Chocolate, Loukoumi None of the desserts were that special, except for the mignardises, which included a chocolate-covered crisp chicken skin.

JoelF wrote:[*]Street Vendors - We didn't eat from street vendors, but what was for sale is one of two things: grilled ears of sweet corn (live charcoal, no mayo and parmesan). or koulouri (ring breads, like a cross between a bagel and a pretzel, usually sesame seed-coated). The latter vendors sometimes had doughnuts too. I think I saw some ice cream carts too.[/list]

Exact same selection as I found in Istanbul, which is sort of interesting.