Winery

Η Winery in Seralia of Castle of Sifnos, without any doubt is not only at the top of Sifnos' culinary offer, but is an excellent international example of a genius synthesis of the heterogeneous elements that made it up.

First of all, a place with a very long history, uncontaminated by modern culture, the Castle of Sifnos. Built on a steep rock with an excellent panoramic view of the sea, with life from prehistoric times, it is still one of the most important and well-preserved settlements.

Secondly, the Seralia which, while in the past they were the port of the Castle, today it is neither a village, nor a port, nor palaces (seralia - serai) but a small beach, unworthy of interest for tourists, as it is small, with a sea that touches it to the north, with underground currents – only locals visit it to bathe – and two fish taverns on the rock. Two hundred steps to go up and down inside the sun capsule, is enough of a disincentive to venture into it.

Next comes the building itself, where the word Winery it has been written in chalk on the rock for 30-40 years, and was nothing more than the brand name of a humble canteen that offered visitors to the seaside a cheese pie and two refreshing soft drinks. A canteen, a small house stuck like an oyster on impressive rocks that in recent years has been used as a warehouse. Such a building - from the wonderful unclaimed - in a dramatic landscape at the roots of the Castle.

An incredibly gifted chef, Mr George Samoilis, whose work we met at Omega 3, in Platis Gialos, when since 2013 in a again tiny Fish-Bar, he created perhaps the most sought-after fish appetizers of the Cyclades, and "forced" Tom Hanks from Antiparos to come to him to try them. This time George happened to be in Seralia, he was enchanted and had the incredible idea to make use of the space. With brief procedures he gave it life, without doing even the minimally necessary interventions, necessary for the operation of a small restaurant. Visually, the canteen remains untouched, with the patina of time on it and with simple, metal and elegant seats framing the metal and marble minimal spacious dining tables.

Finally, the kitchen and service brigade, all of them one by one, are more like a theater troupe moving in unison harmony and joy enjoying their work under the sounds of music (also chosen by Samoilis), which if I understood correctly exists mainly to give them rhythm and less for the needs of the clientele!

Cantina's kitchen philosophy is based on the basic principle - as formulated by its creators - "no loss - no waste".

So Cantina attempts to adopt “a sustainable operating model that respects nature's resources, highlighting the importance of sustainability in gastronomy as well. Here, nothing is thrown away, nothing is lost, through the creative and studied use of each material»

In fact, Giorgos Samoilis humorously uses the phrase "From nose to tail", which means from the nose to the tail.

Of course, to be fair to the crooked, what Samoilis and the most radical chefs have discovered and are now promoting - in contrast to the wastes of the mainstream gourmet chefs - is nothing but the quintessence of traditional cuisine , where due to poverty and lack of food, practically nothing was wasted. It was time for all modern creators to be inspired by her values!

According to what George told us, most of the ingredients used by Cantina come from Sifnos, wood-fired bread, organic vegetables, free range meats, fresh fish and seafood and vegan options. From their menu we singled out:

From starters the tarama, the smoked eggplant mousse, the fava bean crepe and chickpea panisse,

from the raw dishes, carpaccio rofo, pelagic marinated mullet,

from dishes with fish as the main ingredient, grilled scorpina with burdeto sauce,

the charcoal-grilled mullet with brown fish bone sauce, the trachana with local lobster, the squid grilled in cast iron.

from beef brisket with thyme honey and smoked seaweed in fava bean tacos, pork with bean puree, smoked pork chops.

The end result is indeed special from all sides, and very soon the Cantina received accolades from Greek and foreign critics, but above all it won the hearts of the public who visited it and experienced this uniquely special experience.