Life moves on (whether we like it or not...)

Some time ago I wrote about my friend Ivan and his wonderful Italian restaurant in Athens, which was closing down after something like twenty years in operation; my sadness at this was made clear to you, my reader, in order to share the sense of loss and to say goodbye to a favourite place.

For many years he has kept another establishment going during the tourist season on one of the Greek islands that has never been a favourite of mine, Mykonos, with some success. This has now become his main base of operations and, while the food and the wine list were always far less ambitious than his Athens place, it is still a haven of decent Italian grub and proper wine. My problem was that I had little intention of visiting an island that offends me in many different ways, even though its beaches are wonderful.

Until this year, that is, when he issued an invitation to visit and try the place out at last - and chose a quiet period to do so (so I could not refuse) - I had always found a way of avoiding what I assumed to be, for me, an ordeal. So, with a bit of apprehension, I boarded a morning ferry to island-hop and reach Mykonos with my friend M. (who was kindly hosting me throughout on a different island) - through me she is also a fan of Ivan and his hospitality.


Dear reader, I was right and wrong at the same time: Ivan's place (Sale e Pepe) is delightful but the island is definitely not to my taste! In fact, I may even expand on its perceived (by me, natch!) awfulness in a separate post at another juncture.

The wine that Ivan served (to me, M. had a lighter, more contemporary glass of something) was a curiosity, an experimental local wine of the island made in the 'orange' style, barrel-fermented and lightly aged, full of taste, round and chunky, miles away from the prevailing fresh style of most white wines today; exactly the sort of wine I would expect to share with a fellow enthusiast, interesting, unusual, rare! My first reaction was 'ouch, this looks oxidised'  but looks were deceiving as there was barely a hint of oxidation. There was a restrained white fruit richness (white peach?) but it was clearly dry overall, excellent for cheese (some ripe parmesan, perhaps?) and light meats, good with my pizza, slipping down very well indeed and gone before it warmed up fully. I may have failed to jot down the grape varieties for your information - ooops -but I enjoyed it greatly!

The food at Sale e Pepe Mykonos is largely simple, good, casual bistro food with a twist. As a starter we shared a superb and beautifully presented Caprese salad with soft, tasty mozzarella, ripe tomatoes and excellent olive oil, all mopped up by homemade ciabatta bread. Pizza was our choice as a main course and I chose the Diavola (naturally...) but asked for a bit of extra onion; my companion had the Gourmet which was a 'bianca' and featured gorgonzola, walnut, cherry tomatoes and pear - it was deemed delicious by the eater, though for me fruit other than tomatoes have no place on pizzas.

I'm a conservative pizza eater and even eschew pizzas without tomato sauce (bianca), sorry!

My innate greed then steered me to a plate of Tuscan salami after the pizza just to stoke the fire, so I also needed a glass of red wine, and had a little something from the magnificent Porto Carras estate in Northern Greece. It was ripe and juicy, well-made but indifferent and, to me, signifies the decline of this amazing undertaking since the death of its founder (shipping magnate John Carras) and its enforced sale by the banks. M. demolished a small tiramisu and seemed satisfied while I forced down an espresso and a small aged  grappa to fuel my return journey. I stopped there, clearly showing my restraint...

Our boat back was leaving at 16:30 so we had to hastily say goodbye and make our way down to the huge new port, built to accommodate the cruise ships that regularly visit this island during the tourist season, something that I am happy to leave to them. While I hope to visit my friend again and wish him every success in all his Mykonos projects - he has things exciting things up his sleeve - the place in full flow is not for me, not at all. Pah!

So goodbye for ever (for now?) Sale e Pepe Athens and all you have meant to me and the Greek gastronomic/wine scene. And all you little fans of Ivan and his skills now have to make your way to Mykonos if you can bear the place, where he will not disappoint you. Life moves on.