A newly opened restaurant at Shangri La Hotel, Santorini, as the name suggests is all set to take you through a culinary journey to Greece. So there we headed for a weekend dinner, with two little ones in tow looking forward to some good Mediterranean fare.
At the entrance you see the white and blue that is very much reminiscent of the place it bears the name of. Inside it’s a little different vibe, sleek and and a bit dark but quite cosy. The aquarium where we were seated was a treat for the kids.
Part of the menu (soups, salads, Mezedes and the dessert) is displayed on the table coasters – a good idea as I could read through all the descriptions throughout the dinner. The main course and beverage menu were handed to us separately. The menu cards could do with more clarity. However, the staff is very friendly and happy to explain all the options they have and give suggestions.
As we placed our orders, first we were served with some fresh bread with olives and a delicious dip. I could just eat that for dinner. In fact, that’s what my son did!
For the starters we ordered the Kakavia soup, but I was highly disappointed by that. It just tasted like a very salty broth with a seafood smell!
Up next were the Mezedes in which they fared quite well. They have a lot of options served cold as well as hot. You can choose from 1-7 of them which are served in small plates. We loved the Greek style corn on the cob, the Pantzani dip made from roasted sweet beets and the Katai prawns. (These are highlighted as their signature dishes in the menu so they do those quite well.) The tomato keftedes and the lamb keftedes were not as good as expected.
The real treat was the main course. We chose greek size prawn and the catch of the day Seabream fish. You can order as many pieces of whole prawn or whole fish as you want (displayed at their grilling section) and pay by the weight. Once you have chosen your sea food, you can have it baked or grilled and choose from a wide variety of sauces and sides. We loved all of it. The fish and prawns were so flavorful, the mashed potatoes were a buttery heaven, the fennel and summac salad was paired well and the sauces (roasted garlic and the tomato-capers-dill) were mouthwatering. There was a slight mix up with the order but they were very nice about it and apologized profusely. Overall, we loved the whole main course experience. The portions were quite big and very filling too.
For dessert we tried their popular ‘smashing plate’ ice cream (too bad they ran out of the edible smashing plates which the kids were looking forward to) but we had the ice creams anyways. The pistachio and sour cherry, grapefruit and pomegranate were very creamy and delicious. the honey yogurt sorbet was just average. But my favorite dessert was the Loukomedes ( greek cousin of the Qatari Luqimat). It was not overly sweet, full bodied, great texture with a lovely coffee ganache and served with a thick, creamy and delicious almond milkshake which was a great end to a meal.
The service is good, could do with a little speed (one of our starter arrived after the main course) They were great with the kids so a kid friendly place. The prices are on the higher side but overall i would say its worth it. We had a voucher to use on our total bill which came up to 600 but then it was quite a lot of food for two adults and two kids. (Reduce wastage, pack and take away just like we did.)
Do visit if you fancy some good sea food, greek style!