Over the weekend Raoul and I had one of my favorite meals ever. We visited local restaurant, Gymnopedie. Gymnopedie is Athens tiniest restaurant, but good things come in small packages, no?
The first thing you will notice is how cozy this space is, complete with handmade quilty curtains on the wall, fresh flowers, and adorable artwork. The quilt makes me think of miniature doors at the top of a mountain peak.
The menu changes each month, and you can keep up with the changing menus via their menu page and by signing up for their email list. So what did we eat that was so amazing?
First, we tried some pickled veggies. Here we had some pickled garlic, chard stems, cauliflower, and some beets. My favorite were the beets and chard. So good!
We also had some homemade bread and olive oil for dipping. The bread was so soft and yummy. I think it was baked with love.
We decided to order one of each entree, so we could try each other's dishes. Mine was the summer squash casserole - it was so light and fluffy and summery - it was perfect. The side salad with my meal was made from local celery and had some dates on top, too. The dates were especially yummy. I do not know if I ever had dates before, but I for sure would like to have these again! Even Raoul said they were delicious.
Raoul had the veggie lasagna. It was made from zucchini, tomatoes, pesto, and cashew ricotta cheese. This lasagna was purely raw, and was very good, too. Raoul said it was cold, but had the same savory feel as a cooked lasagna. The zucchini was noodle replacement, and Raoul also mentioned that he did not even miss the noodles that are in a regular lasagna.
I had some tea, too - this one had a lemon flavor to it. And look at the cute little teapot!
As dessert I tried the pineapple crumble. Pineapple is one of my favorite fruits, and this was excellent. I also liked the mini ice cream scoop on top, too. Raoul liked this dessert as well.
Raoul had the cocoa cola, which is not really cola, but it is carbonated foam. I love chocolate, and I really liked tasting the real cocoa-ness of this, so it was not overly sweet, but more dark chocolatey and fluffy. Raoul described it as having an Areo Bar in liquid form.
The bubbles really did not collapse when we ate this dessert! It was magical!
We had such a lovely meal at Gymnopedie, I can't wait to go back!
