Arab

For the Arab tavern (Arap) in its "Turkish" district Mr., also known as Platani or Kermentes, I can not be objective.

For the simple reason I am connected by emotional and ideological reasons!

It was 2004, the time when Golden Hats were at the height of their glory and life style and glamorous reigned in Greece, in the magazine Blue by Aegean Airlines - when she was traveling with her first two planes - my friend Roula Saloutsi and I had made a column: Places, history, gastronomic cultures! And in this context I had made a tribute to Kos. And of course I had chosen the Arab as a tavern destination, a fact that had caused the relevant criticism:

"But you chose the Turks from all over Kos!"

You should explain at that time that these people were Greek Muslim citizens. And I remember them supporting their football teams, Olympiakos and Fener Baxe with the same fervor in their international matches that we watched together in their shop in front of the TV.

I went to the tavern of Arap again after 13 years, this summer with a relative anxiety, what will happen?

But everything was as it was then. The mother of Yasar and Kandir to make the dolmadas, the assistant cook Suleiman to be promoted to head chef, the menu the same, the portions, the same sizes and the same setting. The environment itself, Platani, did not follow the rhythms of the island. And the music mixed Turkish with Angelopoulos, Kazantzidis, same taste.

Ο Yasar (Yasar) met me, so did he Suleiman and we rejoiced.

We sat down and had a bite. Cabbage, vine and zucchini dolmadas, pasha macaroni -this divine delicacy needs a lot of analysis-, patties, yogurt, ajem pilaf, Adana kebab, mix kebabs.

Yasar, the son of an Arab, remembers since the store was half full and it was something like a cafe with a few appetizers, 60s and how from the 80s it became the tavern of the Arab that gradually became one of its most popular Kos.

"We do not accept groups, only individuals and groups, of course we have Greeks and Turks who lately are growing in number, but also Europeans, Germans, English, Scandinavians"

The existence of the Arab as I met him after a while did not only cover my gastronomic worries and whims (spicy and meaty), the gastronomic relations that Asia Minor recipes have with the cuisines of the East, but also my mental and philosophical ones. In this vortex of modernity and modernity, the preservation of some fixed, it is one balm. They are the so-called soothing and reassuring flavors that nourish the soul!