Kritamon in Epano Archanes

The Up Archanes, often referred to simply as Archanes, is a town located 16 km from Heraklion in Crete, with 5.000 inhabitants, at an altitude of 400 m. It is located at the northeastern end of the valley - formed by Mount Yukhtas- and is a vast vineyard of beds, producing the famous rosacea grapes, which are consumed mainly by the markets of Europe. Other products of Archanes are raisins, wine, olive oil and cultivated dittany.

In this beautiful village, a model for Crete - recently, underground wiring of PPC was passed - decided the Dimitris Mavrakis, a young chef with seminars near Alain Ducasse, Alessandro Miatelo and respectively of Cretan traditional cuisine, together with his wife Maria Hachlaki to come and settle with their team and apply their knowledge in their particular homeland.

The goodies of the wild Cretan flora, the cooking habits of his particular homeland, the vegetables that he cultivates, the extra virgin olive oil of his place, the herbs and the herbs that are collected from the mountain "Yukhtas" are for Dimitris Mavrakis backbone and the drive wheel in the “Criticism", the restaurant-workshop of the new Cretan Cuisine. Here he also produces his own homemade pasta (sioufika production, noodles, mangiri).

The kitchen of Dimitris Mavrakis So it moves between the traditional of Crete and its creative version and the most interesting dishes we saw were:

• the sympetheri of legumes (fava married with beans and kritamo)
• the sourdough (with sweet pumpkin and mint - old Cretan recipe)
• the almond salad (yogurt with almonds, lemon age, louiza and mint)
• the green salad (with wild aromatic herbs and herbs from the mountain slopes of Juchta, fresh mizithra, seasoned with pomegranates and petimezi made of grapes)
• the saganaki anthotyro (dry cream cheese with sesame, fried in sesame oil and sprinkled with carob honey)
• This makes it a perfect choice for people with diabetes and for those who want to lose weight or follow a balanced diet. spoon (an excellent pasta recipe, where pasta like wide noodles -some boiled and others fried- are mixed and served with meat broth and grated cream cheese)
• the rooster with ajam pilaf
• brisket with tomato sauce, kritamo, capers, served with mashed potatoes and chestnuts

In Criticism η "Cretan gastronomy" covers your gastronomic desires!