BREAKING BREAD
THESSALONIKI FAVOURITES
Bougatsa Wander around Thessaloniki in the morning and you’ll spot people sitting in the sun enjoying bougasta pastries with coffee. Stuffed with sweet or savoury fillings, they’re a Northern Greece speciality. Thessalonians most commonly go for thick vanilla custard cream, dusting their bougatsa at the cafe counter with icing sugar and cinnamon. Common savoury fillings include minced meat, and spinach and feta.
Gyros The ultimate Thessaloniki street food, gyros is the city’s answer to Turkish doner kebab. Like ‘doner’, ‘gyros’ means ‘to turn’, and the dish is thought to have originated in Anatolia. Slices of pork, beef or chicken are cooked on a rotating spit and then typically combined with tomatoes, lettuce and tzatziki and served in a fluffy pitta bread stuffed with chips. It’s cheap, messy and very satisfying.
Trigona panoramatos No visit to the city is complete without trying these crunchy cones. They’re made by folding filo pastry into layers and cooking until golden, then dunking in syrup and filling with custard cream. Trigona are found in many bakeries around the city, but they were first made by the Elenidis family in 1960. Back then, the family shop was located in a suburb known as Panoramatos, which gave the trigona its name. The bakery still uses the same recipe but is now found in the city centre.
Soutzoukakia Thomas and his family visit restaurant Diavasi once a week to eat soutzoukakia — handmade sausages served with red and yellow chill flakes. They’re traditionally made with cumin and cinnamon and cooked in tomato sauce. Beef is the typical meat, but Thomas tells me that some people add lamb, too.
Lunch is served at Thomas’ apartment
feta, garlic and parsley to make the smoky melitzanosalata — a Greek version of baba ghanoush, traditionally served as a mezze with pitta bread and a dollop of yoghurt. I notice the olive oil is glugged around
liberally — this particular is one from Crete, and it’s the oil that started Thomas’s business. “I love it,” he says, drizzling some over a salad. “I remember going to meet the farmer — he’s a very good friend now.” Gradually, dishes are brought to the table,
pitta toasted, pink taramasalata retrieved from the fridge, children gathered and plates set. Thomas pokes seriously at the gemista, the tops of the peppers and tomatoes suitably puckered. He carries it to the table and sets it in pride of place. There’s silence for a few minutes as everyone digs in, our lunch having by now turned into dinner. I ask about their memories of eating
together and eyebrows are raised amid murmurs of laughter. “It’s a constant memory — we eat constantly” says Thomas. “I’m with these guys all day. Our life is food; we talk about it, we cook, we eat.” Evris nods in agreement. “We even have a
phone group where we share pictures of what we’re eating!”
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NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.CO.UK/FOOD-TRAVEL
The light is turning pink outside when
the galaktoboureko pie finally makes its entrance. “It’s mostly butter,” I’m told, as Evris cuts me a huge, syrupy slab. “Butter, sugar and love.” Alexandra pushes the plate of trigona
panoramatos towards me and tells me not to be shy. I take a bite; the pastry is deliciously crunchy yet sticky, the custard cream cool. Thomas watches me, his own cone in hand. “Now look me in the eye,” he says. “And tell me this isn’t the best dessert you’ve ever had.” Stuffed, we lean back in our chairs as Sofia
swipes the last trigona. Eventually, the guests begin to leave in a blur of kisses and waves of thanks. The galaktoboureko is boxed up and pushed into Lefteris’s hands. “I must go to the gym tonight,” sighs Thomas. “It’s too much.” I bid him and Alexandra farewell, with
promises to have dinner together again sometime — then it’s back into the tiny lift, and down into a city alive with the clinking noises of dinner.
HOW TO DO IT Aegean Airlines flies to Thessaloniki from several UK airports, via Athens. City Hotel has double rooms from £72 a night, B&B.
aegeanair.com
cityhotel.gr visitgreece.gr
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