Freud Oriental: Japanese fusion cuisine in northern Athens

One night, go to the restaurant for a casual chic outing to enjoy the food and be seen.

Highly experienced chef Dimitris Reno's extensive menu at Freud Oriental includes classic and more creative approaches to Japanese cuisine.

The ingredients are of first quality and the mini-dictionary at the beginning of the menu is informative (and necessary) for newcomers to Japanese cuisine.

There is a huge "collection" of uramaki rolls (with rice on the outside), all delicious.

We singled out the Wagyu truffle with the famous Japanese meat, truffle, cucumber, avocado, and chives and the Kurodai spicy rolls (with sea bream) with hot jalapeno sauce and dried bonito and cucumber. The nigiri with salmon, Kobe beef, and tuna are also very good.

The trilogy of tacos (with beef, shrimp and fresh salmon tartare) pleasantly accompanies a cool and appetising fresh tomato and jalapeno pepper salad.

For starters you can have the mayatiko with jalapeno pepper sauce, the excellent tuna tataki with wasabi & miso sauce or the salmon tartare with pine nuts, coriander, avocado, spring onion and ginger sesame sauce.

Nice harmonies with each material are heard without confusing its flavour with the others.

Freud Yaki Soba teppanyaki noodles (soba noodles are mainly made from buckwheat flour) with vegetables, shrimp, chicken, spring onion, and soba sauce is a complete, robust, and very tasty dish.

You could stop here unless the mains have caught your eye: the classic black cod miso and a wonderful Australian Wagyu teppanyaki with shiitake mushrooms. There are also two amazing sauces—a sauce made from the meat juices and a sauce with wasabi.

The pastry chef of the S/One Hospitality group, Thanasis Stamoudis, creates a series of delicious desserts that match the menu's style. Mochi come frozen and filled with chocolate, coconut, or mango sorbet.

The impressive sphere-shaped pavlova filled with passion fruit cream, lemon, and ginger sorbet, resting on grated white chocolate, is the Western, more complex but equally light choice for the end.

Info: Char. Trikoupi 96 & Gortynias, Kefalari, tel. 2106231181

Photos: Gavriel Papadiotis for Freud Oriental Kifissia

Artemis Tzitzi is a columnist for Cantina. Translated by Paul Antonopoulos. 

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