The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
May 16 - Road Food
We were all stunned at how high the prices got when we found ourselves in predominantly tourist areas. We are not above spending a little extra, but when things are twice the price they were anywhere else on the island, it was a little over the top!
We first planned to stop for lunch on the beach in the resort area of Perissa. There were some very attractive looking places but they wanted 5-9 euros ($7-12) for a bottle of beer! So we drove back toward Thira and stopped at Senor Zorba.
It never fails. If you provide a backdrop for a picture, people will stand in front of it, sit on it or whatever. Just be sure the name of your restaurant is also in the picture. Remember the power of name recognition ...
You can also cause a picture to be taken if the name of your place is so much fun that people want to share it with their friends. What would you call a Mexican restaurant in Greece except Senor Zorba? It will be memorable (we all commented on it and had a chuckle when we saw it) and can be an attraction in itself. We had to stop to see what they had for lunch. They, too, had prices themselves so far out of reason ($15 for nachos? I don't think so!) that we handed back the menus and drove on.
Finally, on the lowlands just below Ia we discovered a hole-in-the-wall taverna ... with a pool! Nice gimmick! Very friendly people who were glad to see us and treated us extremely well. Unfortunately the food was only adequate. (However the prices were much more reasonable and the beer was ice cold. Those carried more weight at the time!)
© 2007 Restaurant Doctor
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