The Michelin Guide coming to Vancouver was a positive thing for the most part. However, there are a few additions and omissions from the guide that make me scratch my head. Many of these are in the Asian categories. Anyway, Nammos Estiatorio is a place I probably would not of heard about without the guide. I decided to check out this place last night for dinner. It is recommended in the guide. As you can probably tell from the name, its a Greek place. The restaurant has a modern casual vibe and the music does make me feel a tiny little bit like I am in Mykonos. We started with some dips – taramosalata (fish roe) and fava (bean):
One thing I like is that they give you a generous portion of pita bread. The fish roe was delicious. Full of umami and a really smooth and creamy consistency. The fava I did not enjoy as much as I thought it lacked flavor. We also had fried cheese which was ok, and calamari which was delicious. The batter was delicate, yet crispy. The only thing is that I wish it came with tzatziki instead of, or in addition to, the beet dip. The beet dip was very interesting and I had not seen this before. It was still good, I just prefer it with tzatziki (although this would be resolved very soon).
Another thing we ate were the sardines. House cured on a carob bread. Absolutely delicious.
For our mains, we had chicken and pork souvlaki. The pork is pictured below and I did not photograph the chicken though it looked the same as below.
Finally, I had some tzatziki to go with my calamari! As for the souvlaki, it was ok though a bit dry and I wanted more of a grilled flavor. Overall not bad although I can visualize diners who are accustomed to places in Vancouver that serve souvlaki as huge platters with rice, potato etc feeling that this would not be worth the money. For me, quality is more important than quantity. To end, we had the loukoumades.
The dessert was good but I wish they came with some ice cream or at least the option to add it. Its ironic because Earnest is just next door ;).
Overall, this was a good meal and nice presentation. Service was friendly though the dessert took a long time to arrive. I would go back and try other items on the menu, but not the souvlaki…, and yes, we went to Earnest after…
thank god they rep the Greek Isles well so ocean items meet expectations, and land items did not meet. you probably found the bean dip lacking because you just travelled to Jordan where hummus dip is tops and you ate it everyday