As you can guess, I take my choice of restaurants when I’m on vacation very seriously. Could you imagine if we just randomly walked into a spot on a touristy street and had one less-than-memorable meal? When we’ve travelled so far?
Well, Othonas Taverna was not where I planned to have dinner one night in the beautiful historic Old Town of Rethymno. But, of course, my first two choices were fully booked and instead of wandering around aimlessly with a hungry six-year old, we had to choose somewhere and fast.
Othonas was a little less pushy on the tourist front than some of the other nearby tavernas and the menu looked interesting enough. But it still sat right in the heart of everything with tables full of non-Greek speakers.
Yet, despite all of this, I had one of the best dishes I had on my trip to Greece.
Moussaka is not my usual go-to at Greek restaurants. In fact, I never order it since it is so rich and heavy. But here we were and I needed to have at least one plate of the country’s national dish.
For once, I chose right.
Served in a clay pot with a round shape, this crock almost looked like a bowl of French onion soup. Yet inside, the casserole was perfectly balanced and actually not nearly as heavy as anticipated.
Chunks of eggplants married well with layers of tomatoes, potatoes and some ground meat. The focus here was actually on the fresh vegetables and herbs rather than the meat or béchamel. It was a lighter moussaka that did not sacrifice any flavor whatsoever.
And it felt as rustic and traditional as I would have hoped.
On our way out, we exited the restaurant through the back entrance where we passed some local families dining and there was not a tourist in site on the street just behind the main hubbub.
So did I learn my lesson to not agonize so much about getting the perfect meal and just see where the wind takes me? Yeah, probably not.
| OTHONAS TAVERNA |
| Mavrokordatu Alexanrou 27 Rethymno 741 31, Crete, Greece +30 2831 055500 |
| facebook.com/othonastaverna/ |
