At Sweet Basil you eat a plate with the Acropolis
On the 9th floor of the Stanley Hotel in Metaxourgeio, chef Konstantinos Filippopoulos is creating a fusion menu with Greek ingredients.
By Iro Kounadis
The Acropolis has been there for two and a half thousand years, and it can still surprise us – because we haven’t seen it from all possible angles yet. Here’s the one at Metaxourgeio, for example: Metaxourgeio doesn’t have many rooftops, nor particularly tall buildings, and that’s why going up to the 9th floor of The Stanley Hotel, where Sweet Basil is located, you need a few minutes to catch your breath. It’s not a gasp, you took the elevator up anyway. The illuminated Acropolis is.
From the large windows and balconies that hug the perimeter of the floor (and which we will duly honor as soon as the weather starts to warm up) the view is magical , and not just because of the Acropolis. The city lights, Lycabettus Hill, Karaiskaki Square, which you will notice for the first time how interesting it is, everything looks different from up here.
The atmosphere at Sweet Basil has something of New York, New York: The large marble bar with its impressive lighting, the wooden deck, the tables illuminated by street lamps, the stylish sofas, the raised levels, and of course the aforementioned glass windows that blur the boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces, create a setting of discreet, cozy luxury. This is also helped by the impeccable service, balanced, friendly and attentive without ever becoming pretentious.
The masterful menu signed by chef Konstantinos Filippopoulos is, as he describes it, “an international fusion with Greek ingredients” and the result seems at the same time familiar and unexpected. Original ideas, passion for execution and attention to every detail are his strong points, reinforced by a rare nutritional perspective for Greek standards. With parallel studies in nutrition, the chef avoids, as he says, butter and cream – without this in any way meaning that his dishes seem to be missing something; quite the opposite. If we didn’t tell you, you wouldn’t understand, we bet.
The start is a basket of incredible, warm breads made on site (multigrain, baguette, pain au lait and bread with cherry tomato confit) and a generous trilogy of dips: Red bean hummus with vanilla oil, herb yogurt with parsley oil and our own favorite tzatziki with avocado and basil oil.
Continue with the crispy chicharon (€9) bites of pork belly with garlic salt and lime and the mini Aji Panka skewers (€16) of flank steak and Peruvian pepper. The duck rolls (€8) with onion, carrot, zucchini, mushroom and handmade koi su mayonnaise, which is also made here (“soon I hope we will make the spring roll sheet too” the chef tells us) are a serious contender for the top of the appetizers, but the competition gets serious when the Milwaukee ( €16) fried sushi rolls with beef fillet , cilantro, kimchi mayonnaise, jalapeno pickles and cheese dip appear on the table. They are shocking, and not just because none of us have ever had sushi with meat before. Next to them, the more traditional Crispy Shrimp rolls (15€) with crispy shrimp and asparagus seem like a second name on the marquee, even though they are equally well-made.
The zucchini loukoumades (8€) with lemon pearls, served on a herb yogurt, were also nice , but they were stolen by one of our two favorite dishes of the evening – and the grande suèce of the menu – the calamari (15€) with a chicken-oil sauce, fried in polenta and semolina and served on a stunning guacamole. Also interesting was the gruyere saganaki (9€) breaded in corn flakes and served with tomato-thyme jam and feta caviar.
The menu changes once a year, but two dishes remain constant values: On the one hand, the calamari, and on the other hand, what we unanimously declared the second best dish of our evening: The sensational spinach pie risotto (16€) served with flakes of phyllo crust and pearls of feta cheese, and is simultaneously risotto and spinach pie, giving off aromas of those that made the twisted taste critic at the end of Ratatouille cry.
All these beauties are accompanied by an interesting variety of wines from Greek and international vineyards , from which we tasted and recommend two rosés, the Whispering Angel from Chateau d’ Esclans in Provence, and the A.Muse from Ktima Muson in Evia. Prices for bottles start at 30€, while some options are also available by the glass (from 8€).
The closing, as you can probably guess, was equally dreamy, with two white chocolate-based desserts : Namelaka (10€) with Greek coffee crumble and apple confit, and the oven-baked cheesecake (10€) with wild blueberry sauce, a New York recipe that is not particularly popular in Greece.
