Normally when we
travel to another country for holidays, we make sure to eat in a local
restaurant or local cafe. We avoid
tourist spots because they are artificially expensive, but most of the
time these dishes are mass produced and have no taste whatsoever. We dined in a
nice local restaurant which our hotel owner recommended while holidaying in
Venice, Italy. It was an amazing culinary experience.
Well, we found a similar place in Crete. It's called Rhinoceros in Greek.
It’s Greek to me why they chose that name though. They pronounce it Rhinokeros. Our hosts were George Clooni lookalike (that's what he says)
Georgios Zervakis and his kind and always happy mother Fifika. Georgios reminded me Alexis Zorba - the main character of ksazanzakis novella- , in his opinions and general outlook on life.
Ines and I were just
going for a stroll and we thought to check the menu. It was already late and
they were about to close. Georgios offered to do a simple meal just on the spot
and I agreed. I ate risotto with mushrooms and Greek pasta. It was an excellent
dish. He also gave us some home made wine too.
The following day, we took our daughter Shakyra as well. The four days we
were in Crete we always went there to eat in the evening.
Fifika is always happy and smiling. She was making our tables and food
ready while Georgios was cooking. We had nice Greek folk songs in the
background. The Cafe is a small one, not grandiose. But food is amazing. He is very
good at doing grilled meat. But there is a good selection of vegetarian food. HGeorgios would cook anything, even if it is not on the menu. Well, I asked him to do some spaghetty bolognese. It was amazing too.
I gobbled down my food with homemade excellent raki, and Ouzo.
If you really want not very higly expensive but quality cooking, then this is
the place for you.
Ajith Dharmakeerhi