Two things are obvious. Firstly, Irini Kakulidou will be on vacation this summer. And secondly, that he will not rest on Tinos. No, the love for her island hasn’t stopped (isn’t that what your island is called after 30 years of relationship?). However, after four years “running” Xotic, a small bistro she opened with her husband in Triantaros, she needs a break. So, having paid all the bills, she removed the praise from customers about the cuisine and service, closed the store and said goodbye to catering. Fatigue is one thing, but futile effort is another.

Something went wrong? What does this small restaurant teach us in its short life? Elf served creative Greek cuisine. Talented chef Krisa Kataki has created dishes based on seasonality and local ingredients, from cherry tomatoes and wild artichokes from the hinterland to fillets of the famous Taenian veal. However, as Ms. Kakulidou says, the restaurant was at the center of the conspiracy. On the one hand, the so-called traditional cuisines with home-cooked dolmada and ignorance of health rules (for example, how often to change frying oil), and on the other, the so-called restaurants for fashion gourmets and influencers.

“We supported a culinary model that could not easily provide liquidity for someone who sells seaweed for silk ribbons. We did not want to reduce the cost, that is, the quality. We wanted to get not imported fillet, but Kurup fillet. Vegetables and cheeses from local producers. It is no coincidence that 80% of our clients were foreigners. The Greeks did not support this place because it did not have elements that attracted the Greeks. Foreigners could recognize Greek cuisine that is as creative as it should be and served the way it should be.”

The characteristic features of this “golden mean” are the locality, freshness and culinary logic. “Serving fillets with artichokes makes sense. You can’t serve sardines with honey sauce. Sardines need acidity to break down their oiliness, not honey. Behind the rules are rules and wisdom. But the absurd prevails.”

According to him, even today tomato salads are served in winter. “People ask for it, they tell you. So you can put honey on sardines, but you can’t put cabbage in the winter?

“When ceviche and carpaccio are served everywhere, you erase the tradition. You won’t find dolma anywhere else, because wrapping dolma costs money.”

The couple had a very strong opinion about Greek gastronomy and the focus on elf adventure. Among other things, they wanted to reach out to people like them. “Because we are middle class ourselves, we wanted to attract people from this category. To have fair prices. Not because the season is 2-3 months, we charge 18 euros for pasta. Prices are a big issue. It is no coincidence that foreigners no longer eat out every day, they cook on airbnb and go to a restaurant 2 days out of 10.” But no one seems to be alarmed by the development of events.

They did not know it, but they were on the surest path to defeat. “This is what happens when you play by the rules, when you play by the rules. To cut, for example, evidence of everything and not only when SDOE appears with a boat. We are big risk takers. We wanted to support our idea.” After all, that was the answer. Clients came leaving great comments on the platforms. “Despite everything, we failed to become a trend. We didn’t have access to liquidity. They did not return the refund to us (i.e. the criterion was a lower turnover in the 20th year than in the 19th, but this did not happen, because in the 19th they worked for 1.5 months), banks do not lend, so money they finished We found that we have no ally, no state, although we were building a business in the midst of a pandemic, no media. One day someone came and told us that they are cool on Instagram, they want to eat without paying. We treated them, what should we do? The funny thing is that they didn’t even know how to eat, and they didn’t understand wine at all. The necessary space between the tavern and the so-called is not maintained in Greece, which ultimately damages Greek gastronomy itself.” That is our personality.

“We have an asset – the kitchen. Important intangible cultural heritage such as dry stone and folk song. You can’t treat her like that for easy money. We have a living tradition. You want to develop it, but not completely remove it. And yet, when ceviche and carpaccio are served everywhere, you write it off. You won’t find dolma anywhere else, because wrapping dolma costs money.”

She remembers how, as a child, she ate with her parents, in their fine clothes, in Gerofinikas, Magemanos Avlos, Ideal. “Later, when I worked for the newspapers, I remember eating Greek food at Kendrickon, in the Old Parliament. We have lost this image and quality, value for money, basic Greek cuisine that you tasted with comfort and pleasure in restaurants without risking bankruptcy. A shame, because it contained a division of the company and an unexpected relevance to Greece’s ability to bring the whole world to one table. This is what we wanted to offer Elf at a time when Instagram, celebrities and influencers are taking over.”

So summer has holidays. Holidays and calls home for dinner. To gnaw and share.

Masking materials and adhesive myconite

Panos Pournaras, food marketing manager, found his new favorite Italian restaurant in Athens a few days ago. “It only takes a try to clearly see the problem with systemic PR that automatically guides our choices,” he wrote on the Greek Food Mood Facebook page he runs of food and restaurant impressions. “A very popular shop in Peristeri, with surprisingly comfortable cuisine, reasonable prices, excellent service, which no one wrote the slightest about,” he explains to “K”. Word of mouth makes the restaurant stand out, but that’s not the norm. According to him, the owner today does not think about opening a restaurant without guaranteed PR, invited influencers and taste critics who will write a couple of good words.

We are discussing the case of a small bistro in Tinos. “This store wanted a lot of communication. In Greece we have small batch production, so we have expensive raw materials, so if you are not on the wave, charging 100 euros a head, you need a very strong narrative to survive. Restaurant in Greece is a very difficult task. You must die standing up, not to earn money, but to be able to live.”

That is why, according to him, behind every resonant entrance to the culinary map of the country there is a silent castle. “In many ways, the same restaurateurs open one store and close another. We read eg. about “so-and-so’s new venture that we met at that restaurant in Schinussa,” as if they were a big group. Why; Why don’t they come out? Because in order to sell good raw materials at a humane price, you will have to do some things that we do not put up with. Such as. establishment of slots (including reservations for a limited period). Some shops have realized that in order to continue to offer good raw materials at reasonable prices and to have enough staff, tables will have to be changed once or twice a night. “However, the Greek does not accept this. He wants to sit down and forget when he leaves. He only takes it in trendy restaurants when he wants to be part of a trend.”

Other restaurateurs resort to other tricks. “Famous stores have turned to cheaper suppliers to be able to go outside. They mask raw materials with recipes.” Perhaps this is where the mystery of the sardine with honey lies. “There are sardines, like sparrows, that only want salt, and there are sardines that cannot be eaten without sauce because they smell like oil. When dealing with customers who are accustomed to perceive goodies only through salt and fat, you will obviously be selling a dish with a passe-partout. Pleasant tasting and possibly masking the raw material. When you see vinaigrette on fish, be suspicious.”
However, they are dimensional beans. To “get out”, you will either put slots, or reduce quality, or raise prices. “You can’t have everything,” says Mr. Pournaras. “How do you open a restaurant on an island with a cross in your hand? Especially if you cut checks and don’t get paid in cash at the checkout. I loved a lot of the shops that closed. I tried a really good drink made from great raw materials that just can’t be sustainable.”

“If you don’t have a good product…”

However, such phenomena do not go unnoticed by those responsible for the branding of the Greek tourism product. “What we do, which is promoting the product, is the easy part. The hardest part is the product itself. Promotion is nothing if you don’t have a product,” Joanna Dretta, CEO of Marketing Greece, tells K. “The catering situation has clearly improved compared to the previous one, it has more variety, variety, better quality, but there are also many failures, mainly on the islands and especially in places with excessive tourism phenomena.”

According to him, there is a lot to tell about Tinos, the main one being Tinos Food Paths, an institution created 5-6 years ago by the professionals of the island with the aim of linking gastronomy with the history of this place. “It started from the bottom, from the center, and only when it grew did the sponsors and politicians come in.” The initiative was developed at a time when Mykonos was beginning to become despicable. “We had an overflow on Tinos. Of course, cottages are the best destination, because these people have every reason to protect their product, and they should. But the problems of Mykonos are sticky.”

What is certain is that the focus, gastronomy, is part of the Greek identity. “That’s what we see. They come for culture, natural beauty and a lifestyle that includes food.”