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We stumbled into this darling little place for lunch, before our afternoon exploration of Hora on Kythnos island. Kythnos was not originally on our itinerary but fortunately we had wifi strong enough to find this super shabby chic place for a midday snack. I had found the restaurant’s name in English, Psipsína, but when we were walking down a side street from the center to find it, we had some difficulty as none of the sinage was in legible for us. Eventually, the few people working midday confirmed we were at the right place and sat us in a dually shaded and sun drenched spot. We were the only customers, which was not surprising given the tendency for Greek residents and tourists to stay home or at the beach until dinnertime.
After settling in and ordering my complicated vodka soda (Arthur calls is complicated but it’s just a vodka soda with cucumbers, lime, and mint if they have it, served in a wine glass) we dived into the bread basket and took a good look at the menu. I loved how consistent the decor was, a little shabby chic vibe with real cats roaming around drawings of cats on the menu and signs. The theme totally translated because I could envision several women who own multiple cats living here, collecting anything with floral prints. I actually have a friend in mind who would fit in perfectly, her two cats and teacup collection ready to make roots, husband, not so much.
Despite us being the only customers, the food was absolutely delicious, a more modern take on Mediterranean cuisine, with everything you would expect on a menu but updated a bit. The waiter really understood where everything was coming from and was very patient and helpful. As expected, our first order was a greek salad, given my new husband’s ambitious attempt to rob the Greeks of their feta, tomato and cucumber supply during this entire trip.
Fortunately for us the salad we ordered was a slight variation on the Greek salad, and included a giant crouton-like base that I had a lot of fun breaking into. We have now decided the best salad addition is a creamy, spreadable variation of feta. This was one of the few, more nuanced restaurants, that served their salads this way and it’s one idea that will easily score me points the next time I have too cook for people.
SHOP THE POST
In addition to our lovely, less than basic, salad, we ordered a mushroom flatbread that sang to me it was so delicious. Another great recommendation from our waiter was the shrimp, which I loved, even though I am usually not a big fan. And of course, we had to order the cheese pie because when we see things like that on a menu there really isn’t any other option. It was delicious, nothing incredibly spectacular but I do remember being very happy to continue to my cheese love affair with something other than saganki.
I have to say this was one of my favorite lunches. I had first envisioned most of our meals in a beach club environment with loud music, a consistent flow of cocktails and some great people watching. That is most certainly not how this vacation turned out given our extremely short visits to the touristy islands and spending most of our time in sleepy villages. But I will say that became the most satisfying part of the trip, especially considering how many rocky, adventurous, sailing days we had that did really allow for sleeping in late, or at all.
It’s safe to say that we weren’t completely able to let loose very much, but the relaxation came I suppose in these nice afternoons just like this one. Sitting and talking about everything, with not much to do but enjoy ourselves and over-indulge before the next sail. Which was perfectly fine, given that we’ve had many a party already. We do live in Los Angeles, after all.
-MGN
Authentically,
