Bougatsa Iordanis

The ship arrived at dawn in the port of Souda. The beginning of my tour in Crete would start from Chania, and from where else to sweeten the heart? From Jordan's bougatsadiko. Even though it was just dawn, the people (people of the city, morning arrivals from the villages) ate sitting on their tin plates bougatsa iordanis.

The signs on the walls are inspiring lyrics (as mantinades) vividly described the love of the world:

"Every time I come to Chania, it seems like it catches me, I go and eat a pan, bougatsa Iordani, (but unfortunately it is not enough)"

"If they came to Chania, instead of sponge cake, Antoinette would eat, bougatsa Iordani"

"Things got difficult, the pension is not enough, I was left with a consolation, Jordan's bougatsa"

"I was not jealous of any company, even if it was Armani, but in the bougatsa I am looking for her to be Jordan"

The BOUGATSA A kind of savory or sweet pie, originating from Byzantium, was brought from Constantinople to Serres and Thessaloniki by the refugees from Asia Minor. From there he conquered all of Greece and for many years was one of the favorite delicacies of the Greeks - along with the cheese pie - as a street food and breakfast.

Bougatsa (pogaça = dough in Turkish), is a thin sheet pie, usually filled with cream, cheese, kima or spinach.

Surprisingly, long before he arrived in Athens and Thessaloniki, Crete was eating bougatsa, when his father-in-law Iordanis in Chania, a baker in Istanbul, bought the bougatsa business in 1924 from a Turkish Cretan. THE Iordanis Akasiadis then he took over and the name remained. Today the most famous bougatsa of Crete is made by the fourth generation of descendants of Jordan.

In contrast to the "Heraklion" bougatsa that is made with sweet cream and eaten with sugar and cinnamon, the Haniotiki is slightly sour because it is made from Hanioti mizithra (Haniotiko pehtogalo), and is eaten sprinkled with sugar.

What if nowadays dozens of fast food restaurants have flooded Chania. Locals and foreigners, young and old, come to Jordan to eat fresh Chania bougatsa, a sweet symbol of an era, a sweet that evokes sweet memories!