The first pizza cone shop in Greece opened its doors a few days ago, specifically in Lekka Alley in the centre of Athens.
The creator of Fuddy Duddy, Georgios Bouraimis (sports nutritionist and personal trainer by profession), tried this fluffy and filled-to-the-top pizza cone for the first time and completely by accident on a trip to Dubai about three years back.
A lover and keen seeker of the global street food scene (he has travelled extensively and tried many things), he was immediately fascinated by this pizza recreation. Although, as he admits, "I may have found it delicious, but its size discouraged me thinking that something like this would not have a successful response in Greece."
"Too small for the demands of the Greek who is used to being full when they eat something on the street," he added.
His concern, however, turned out to be anything but an obstacle to his initial enthusiasm. So, stepping on completely different specifications, he began to look for how the pizza cones could work in Greece.
So, in search of the ideal mould that would clearly give more generous cones to be filled, he travelled extensively abroad, arriving, despite all that, in a small workshop in Thessaloniki to find the solution he was looking for.
And that's how it all started. What he needed now was to come up with the right dough that would resemble a Neapolitan grandmother's recipe for traditional pizza. His long-standing ties with Italy made this scenario seem entirely possible.
As he said jokingly, perhaps even more possible is that "since I was a small child, I loved pizza and often made it at home for the people I love."
However, the task of searching for the tastiest pizza quickly proved to be anything but an easy task.
"It took six months to find what we like. Along with the endless opinions from friends and acquaintances, we also gained weight, but this was something that was totally worth it since we found exactly what satisfied us," he said.
He uses the plural because, in this venture, Georgios is not alone. His partners and fellow travellers on this trip, his best friend, but also his brother, who has been actively involved in catering for the last 25 years and is the F&B manager at Scorpios Mykonos.
"But Fuddy Duddy is actually me", Giorgos tells me, explaining that the name of the shop perfectly reflects his personality.
"I'm an old-fashioned guy who still loves the golden age of the 80s (in this philosophy from the console to the decor the shop moves), to resist the sweeping necessity of social media and above all, to believe that food is an emotion, it's pure love," he said.
Pizza for all tastes
The short and comprehensive menu gives clear and without much fanfare answers to what our appetite is drawn to:
MARGARITA 4. Tomato sauce, mozzarella, béchamel.
MUSHROOM 5.5. Mushrooms, truffle oil, mozzarella, béchamel.
PEPPERONI 5. Pepperoni, tomato sauce, mozzarella, béchamel.
CARBONARA 5. Smoked pancetta, mozzarella, béchamel.
BEEF RAGOUT 6.5. Beef ragout, herbs, mozzarella, béchamel.
VEGAN 5.
As for sweets, they recommend either the Apple Cone with a crunchy crumble that reminds us of homemade apple pie or the bueno cone for those of us who, no matter how much we've eaten, find it hard to resist chocolate.
Finally, the menu is completed with two healthy salads, three beers, and an iced Sprizz Aperitif with an Italian flair, perfect for after office meetings in the centre of the Greek capital.
Fuddy Duddy is currently open from 18:00 until 02:00 (closed on Sundays) but plans to soon extend its opening hours to morning or midday.
Where can you enjoy the pizza cone? Either take it in hand and continue walking in the shopping centre of Athens or sit on one of the two wooden benches of Lekka, simply looking at the relaxed crowd of Athenians and tourists and watching the action behind the bar.
And all this, listening to Michael Jackson and Duran Duran from the speakers and nostalgically returning to the retro Athens of the future.
32 Lekka Street, Athens, tel. 211 001 3322
Loukia Chrisovitsanou is a columnist for Cantina. Translated by Paul Antonopoulos.
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