My Dad's Potatoes

It was a while since I had really good Greek food. When Deena told me that there was a Greek restaurant aptly named Santorini in Itaewon, I was totally game and ready to pig out ever since I landed. But we waited till after the DMZ.

Itaewon is the forienger's district in Seoul, kind of like Roppongi in Tokyo. But Itaewon as mega dirty and I told Deena that compared to Roppongi (I have seen pictures and heard stories, but of course this is a empty opinion since I won't be there till June) this place was worse in terms of the "creepy gaijin/ickiness" factor, and she said that some of her coworkers that just went to Tokyo said the same thing. Guess my opinion wasn't that off. Again, will confirm in June.

Deena has been to Santorini before, and I was eagerly awaiting the yumminess that was Greek food. Oh, taramasalata. After many hills and stairs (Itaewon is actually above Seoul, yikes) we finally reached our destination. When I walked in, I felt like I was in Taverna Kyklades, one of the best Greek restaurants in Astoria. Of all the Greek restaurants in New York City, 80-90% of them are in Astoria. Oh, HEAVEN!

The decor was perfect. Deena said that unlike some other foriegn restuarants that take the foriegn food and "Korean-ize" it and then make it worse, this place was practically untouched. I totally agreed. The menu was not only in Korean and English, but also in Greek. I think the owner must be Greek - how else would it be as good as a place in Astoria? Never asked though.

Have to say it was a wee bit expensive - then again, even when I go to the restaurants back home, I never order the feta cheese or spreads appetizers because it's such a rip off even there. Since we arrived during lunch time, we got the lunch specials - SOUVLAKI! And even better, the potatoes that they had were like the ones that my dad makes. You heat up a pot of olive oil, put the potatoes cut into french-fry size and make them like french fries; when done sprinkle parmesan and basil on top. Yum, yum. I love my dad's potatoes, though these weren't cut french-fry style but rather in small round slices. Still delicious and you can tell that they used olive oil - french fries cooked in olive oil tend to be a wee bit soggier than those in regular cooking oil, but the flavor is great. You just have to be a bit more careful and not keep the french fries in the pot too long.

Since the lunch was pretty cheap, Deena and I split a platter of spreads with warm pieces of bread, from left to right: Tzatziki (cucumber/yogurt), Taramasalata (caviar), Eggplant Spread and Skordalia (garlic):

And to top it off, I had a FRAPPE as a dessert. It was about 6 bucks, but it was big, light and sweet just how I like it and best of all, the straw was sticking straight up in the center of the foamy part of the frappe. That's how you know whether or not a frappe is well made. Totally worth it, as I forgot to bring Nescafe and a frappe shaker back to Japan with me.