I found out about this restaurant from the chef himself, George Calombaris, whose restaurant The Press Club I went to in Melbourne back in March. Our first night in Mykonos we decided to stay at the hotel and try The Belvedere Club out. What a great first dinner! The setting was beautiful and serene with tables set out by the gorgeously illuminated pool.

We started with the truffle pita (I can never ignore a dish that involves truffles) as well as the saganaki, crispy calamari chips (too curious not to try them:)) and the traditional horiatiki Greek salad. All were wonderful! The calamari chips were especially interesting – they resembled thinly shaved and fried onion rings but were much lighter and were very pleasing. Because we splurged on our appetizers, we ordered the fresh fish of the day to split which ended up being plenty of food. And of course we saved room for dessert! The warm chocolate pudding with hot white chocolate sauce didn’t disappoint. Perfect ending to a delicious Greek meal!

Grilled pita bread with truffle oil & black salt

Crispy calamari chips, garlic mayonaise and lemon

Saganaki

“Horiatki” Greek salad

Fish of the day

Warm chocolate pudding with hot white chocolate sauce

Sakis – Mykonos, Greece

October 8, 2012

Greece, Greek, Mykonos

Alegro – Mykonos, Greece

September 26, 2012

Greece, Greek, Mykonos

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Alegro – Mykonos, Greece

Alegro was the first restaurant we tried when we arrived in Mykonos. It was suggested by our hotel and being that it was on the water front, it sounded like a great place to grab small bites and a drink before dinner later that night. The setting was perfect – situated on the waterfront with front row seats to all the boats and cruise ships nearby. Beautiful!

Our choices were pretty easy to make. Saganaki, made with Metsovone cheese, ended up being one of the best we had our entire trip to Greece! Wrapped in delicate filo (phyllo) and drizzled with honey…it was perfect and not heavy at all while lots of other versions have a tendency to be. The calamari was fried, however it was the lightest I’ve ever had. There was definitely WAY MORE calamari than breading and it was cooked perfectly and in large rounds. Very good! Last was the zucchini balls which were amazing! I wish I could go back and order those again. Formed into cakes, they were soft and moist with hardly any filler allowing you to taste the ingredients really well. Yum, yum, yum…go here!

Our beautiful view along with some local white wine and Mythos beer

Saganaki

Calamari

Zucchini balls

The Press Club – Melbourne, Australia

March 20, 2012

Australia, Greek, Melbourne

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The Press Club – Melbourne, Australia

Something I didn’t know about Melbourne until I went there is that it has the third largest population of Greeks. Works for me! Chef George Calombaris opened The Press Club in 2006 and has since opened two other restaurants, one in Melbourne (Hellenic Republic) and the other at the uber-excluxive hotel The Belvedere Hotel on the island of Mykonos, Greece (The Belvedere Club). *My husband and I are planning a trip to Greece this fall so hopefully we’ll be able to make a stop on Mykonos:)

I didn’t know what to expect with The Press Club but all I can say is that it was a fantastic night start to finish! Chef Calombaris was in the house which I now know was a treat since he spends 7 months out of the year filming MasterChef Australia in Sydney…quite the commute! We chose to do the Symposium degustation menu along with the paired wines. In addition to the 8 courses, Chef Calombaris treated us to an extra 2 ensuring that we would leave STUFFED! But in a good way:) Everything was PERFECT! The flavors were so clean and well presented. Each bite was an explosion of flavor. It was hard for me not to clean every plate but I knew there was a lot coming so I had to pace myself. If I went back and could only order one thing off of the a la carte menu it would have to be the salmon but seriously, you can’t go wrong and you won’t be disappointed. Sit at the chef’s table if you can…it makes for such an entertaining meal. Thanks George!!!!

Amuse Bouche – Kasos “Tonos – Tuna”