Turn the corner and heaven awaits.
Maybe a bit melodramatic, but this was my first impression as I drove around a bend on a countryside road and set my eyes on the seaside village of Panormos on the northern coast of Tinos island in the Greek Cyclades.
It was a picture postcard setting.
A horseshoe bay embraced by a mountain range on one side with a tree-lined beach below and on the other boats bobbing up and down moored to a low curved seawall lined with pretty whitewashed, blue-doored homes and restaurants offering perfect views across the bay and beyond to a mountain peak known as Profitis Ilias (Prophet Elias).
Accommodating about 100 people inside and on the terrace, my companion and I sat where we could almost reach out and touch the ebbing waters a mere meter or two away. Enhancing the serenity of the ambience, near our table stood a blossoming paper flower tree, a member of the bougainvillea family, beside an old fashioned lamp-post.
Brother and sister team, Sandrino and Eva, welcomed us with a warm smile and provided friendly and efficient service as they described the various dishes to us.
The menu at ‘To Limanaki’ is divided into three main categories – seafood, meat and ‘Mom’s selection,’ the latter being homemade dishes based on recipes by Lili, the mother in the family, who started the restaurant with her husband, Andreas. These dishes ranged from octopus in a clay pot to moussaka, stuffed vegetables, goat in lemon sauce and rooster in a tomato sauce.
Appetisers and mains offer a wide choice in both seafood and meat including marinated anchovy, roasted sardines and octopus with vinegar, as well as veal steak, chicken patty, tenderloin and Tinos sausage. Fresh fish of the day here tends to be red mullet, scorpion fish or sea bream.
With the Aegean Sea almost table-side, we both opted for seafood. My starter, crab dip in mayonnaise, arrived on a white, fish-shaped bowl.
Soft, smooth and creamy with chunks of crab and crunchy slices of peppers and pickles, it was easy to spread on the brioche bread that was delivered in a brown package, with local olive oil for extra taste.
Having never tried it before, my companion chose zucchini pie with cheese, a generous packed square-shaped portion packed in delicate layers of mille-feuille pastry. She described it as “warm and fluffy, with a tempting aroma of dill and cheese, a blend of carrot and zucchini.”
My main was a complete squid stuffed with cheese, tomato and peppers accompanied by a miniature carafe of zesty lemon and olive oil sauce while my companion chose the classic dish, saganaki, half a dozen large whole shrimp presented side by side on a large plate in a blended sauce of cheese and tomato.
It being a warm evening, we chose a chilled half carafe of the house rosé to accompany our food. There are other varieties on the menu including the traditional retsina. Five or six beer choices included the Greek varieties Nissos and Mythos, while liquors ranged from six kinds of ouzo including the blue or green Varvagianni brand to the local digestive tsipouro, with or without anise.
We watched the sun going down and agreed that this is as close to heaven as one can get in this realm.
