Mousourlou: Flavours of Smyrna and Constantinople in Athens

Kebabs, tzigerosarmades, dolmades, and even Aegean dishes are served with jazz, rock, soul, and grunge music playing in the background.

The menu of Mousourlou is diverse – Armenian pastourma with an authentic 150-year-old recipe, Pomak wild boar sausage, Constantinople crumbed mussels with a spicy crust, Thessaloniki biftekia and octopus burdeto with macaroni, a Venetian-Cretan dish.

The chef’s grandmother, Chrysi, who raised him and was born in 1903—the date is written on the wall above the restaurant’s name—has roots in Smyrna and Kalymnos, which explains many things.

Of course, the excellent sous chef Efi Stamatiadou from Drama also seems to have the culinary aura of the East at her fingertips.

Beef and lamb Kavourama with cream and eggs was a standout. It’s a sinful dish, heavily delicious, with eggs, just cracked and mixed with the cream.

Immediately after were the tzigerosarmades. The menu descriptively and libidinously describes them as “Popi’s Tzigerosarmades,” a recipe by Popi Nagoulidou from Drama that has lamb’s liver in pilaf wrapped in caul fat.

It is an exuberant concoction with aromas from aromatic herbs, just the right amount of rice, and a delicious caul fat that you can’t get enough of. It is accompanied with yoghurt.

From the kebab section, we tried Smyrna’s Urfa kebab, which the chef describes in the menu as an “authentic mixed beef and mutton kebab recipe that reappears for the first time since 1919.”

During the conversation, he tells us that the recipe has a long history: it was once given to him by a famous Constantinople kebab chef, who received it from a famous Persian kebab chef and which today comes to our plate.

A huge, musky kebab with lavash bread (we’d probably prefer a nice spread) and onion and parsley salad. You can also choose a shish taouk, chicken marinated in Lebanese toum sauce, a pork shashlik with grilled onions or a classic doner kebab yogurtlu.

In the seafood section, we loved the pink tuna confit with garlic aioli and lemon—it had a mild flavour and punchy flesh. The marinated Aegean prawns were also nice.

The restaurant is simple, with large glass windows, an open kitchen, old photos of unforgettable Greek films on the walls, wicker chairs and small tables on the sidewalk.

A few wine labels were from Greek vineyards and several ouzo and tsipouro spirits are available. Finally, wonderful semolina halva with almond and lemon for dessert.

Info: 70 Kypros, Vyronas, tel. 21 0766 3470

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

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