Nick finds drama on the table on the Greek island of Corfu.
Restaurants are very similar to theatres in many ways. It certainly felt like a performance after we had parked the car in Corfu Town and walked into the restaurant known as Fishalida’s Garden for Sunday lunch, to be greeted by an elderly man sitting in the sun outside who, it turned out, was none other than Spiros Tsavos, the restaurant’s proprietor.
Then it was a walk – past a large sheet of frosted glass behind which Albanian-born chef George Tsanai, pictured below in the garden, was hard at work, and down some steps into a picture-perfect garden overhung by bougainvillea and laid out with tables covered in crisp white linen. A stage setting.
On the way into the garden was a circular, glass-topped display cabinet (seen in the distance behind the chef) laid out with the all-important fish. There were sea bass large and small, a dozen red mullet, a couple of scorpion fish and at least four John Dory. The glass dome was raised and lowered by pressing a button underneath, a mechanism later put to use to calm a crying toddler.
We were shown to our table by two smiling, young Greek women. But from then on, our lunch was to become a one-man show.
The man in question is Nikos Litsis, a Corfiot who for the past 18 years has also worked as the sommelier for this island’s best-known chef, Ettore Botrini, who has opened numerous restaurants throughout Greece and its islands. We had enjoyed Botrini’s imaginative cooking in September 2022 at Silene restaurant in Santorini’s Katikies Garden hotel, a distance of 800 km away.
When I asked Litsis how he managed these diffuse roles, his initial response was a disconcertingly attractive smile, followed by ‘because I like to give pleasure and my role is all about giving pleasure’.
The performance continued with Litsis leading me back to the fish display and a discussion about which fish I would choose for our table’s main course. In the end I chose a John Dory, partly because of its religious connections (and this was a Sunday lunch in a country where the church still has a strong presence), but mainly because I believe that this is a fish which is a real test of any kitchen to cook precisely.
We returned to the table where a close examination of the restaurant’s wine list was already under way. We decided against a glass of French champagne for one of Greece’s finest counterparts, Karanika’s 2022 Cuvée Spéciale based mainly on Xinomavro with 10% Assyrtiko (€11 a glass) before moving on to a tour of Greece. This began with a 2022 Vidiano made by Oenops in Drama; then to Naxos for ēkhô’s stimulating (and beautifully packaged) white field blend; and finally to Naoussa for a very fresh 2023 Rosé de Xinomavro from Thymiopoulos.
All from a list that, while it contains numerous wines from top producers in Austria and Germany, lists all the white wines without a vintage date. When asked about this, Litsis responded robustly. ‘Our policy in not mentioning vintages is one that I hope offers the best solution for my customers, for my producers and for the owners of the restaurant. It is a way of saying that by not listing a vintage we will do our utmost to ensure that the vintage of any white wine that we do serve will always be the freshest. It is as simple as that, and it seems to work.’ Freshness is apparently highly valued by Greek wine drinkers – and during our week in Corfu we found most reds served too warm.
I watched Litsis fulfil a series of different roles. He went back to the fish display, lifted its lid, took out a John Dory, weighed it on a set of fish scales that seem to be ubiquitous in every self-respecting restaurant on Corfu, before carrying the fish into the kitchen. From which he returned with crusty bread and a bowl of an extremely pale tarama that was to set a very high bar. This version was white rather than supermarket pink.
Four very different first courses were to follow. A sea bass carpaccio with red peppercorn crunch and a tuna tartare served in a bowl of spicy gazpacho were excellent but they were both somewhat overshadowed by a ceviche of prawns and then half a dozen large, but not enormous, prawns which had been cooked on an open grill for just the right amount of time so that their flesh had taken on the flavours from the heat but not overly so.
And so to our John Dory, which arrived filleted – depriving me of the one opportunity I get to show off – and beautifully presented. Two large fillets of the fish lay across the plate with the head to one side, and Litsis pointed out that the flesh of the sizeable cheeks was for him the most succulent part. Beside the cheeks were two large pieces of John Dory liver. I prefer monkfish liver but what was really missing was some kind of sauce. The olive oil from the vegetables – a mixture of tomatoes and excellently cooked beans – was not quite enough.
With more than enough wine inside us, we eschewed dessert and I paid a bill of €270 for the three of us, Litsis having donated the fizz and the second white wine of which he is particularly proud. By this stage Litsis had adopted another role, as cashier, before bidding us farewell.
The other customers provided as interesting people-watching as the cast of any play. We arrived just before 1 pm and had the garden to ourselves for 45 minutes. Then a man came in on his own whom the staff treated reverentially. ‘He’s the freeholder, their landlord’, whispered our Corfiot guest.
Then, as though to underline which day of the week it was, his five guests arrived close to 2 pm. His table of six now included his wife and also a priest. So the setting for this afternoon’s performance was very Greek indeed.
Fishalida’s Garden is one of two restaurants to bear this name. Also in Corfu Town, and even closer to the port where the fish is landed, is the slightly simpler Fishalida restaurant next to their fish shop, which has been in business since 2006. I did not manage to eat there but our restaurateur son did with his wife and two children aged six and two. What they ate and drank was excellent, he reported, but what was even more memorable was the attitude of the staff. When my grandson fell asleep in his father’s arms, they promptly made up a bed of two chairs for him and he slept soundly right through the meal.
This obvious, heartfelt friendliness, especially towards children, was evident throughout our week in Corfu, wherever we went.
Next week: a Corfu restaurant for discerning wine lovers.
Fishlida’s Garden 4 Vraila Armeni, 49132 Corfu; tel: +30 2661 026878
Fishalida 11 Lochagou Spyridonos Vlaikou, 49100 Corfu; tel: +30 2661 082150
Every Sunday, Nick writes about restaurants. To stay abreast of his reviews, sign up for our weekly newsletter.