Myrsini - Great Cretan food in Berlin

Last night I was in for a real treat. My friend Giorgos, aka my Greek brother Yolo, has started working as a cook at a new Cretan restaurant called Myrsini, located in Charlottenburg. Now I have a reason to go to this area more often.


My partner in crime was there as well.


Nikos, the owner, is a ceramic artist and you see his beautiful work everywhere.


He also brought with him so many beautiful things from his old Myrsini restaurant in Thessaloniki.




You can also buy some delicacies to bring home, next time I will go for that black beautiful tin.


So, let's sit down. Be prepared to get hungry!


We started with some homemade bread (they make everything themselves in the restaurant, as well as directly import most of the things straight from Crete) and those olives had a hint of rose taste, the tastiest I ever tried. And they were so tiny!


Myrsini serves a lot of vegan dishes and are serious about not mixing the vegan food preparation with the meat dishes.


Here some beans and lentils + fava (yellow split peas puree).


This is something I never tried before and fell immediately in love with - Stamnankáthi, a plant which only grows in Crete. If you never tried it - you have to!


And this! Ntákos.


Potatoes and leek in lemon sauce.


All of a sudden, there was cheese on the table! Next time I will go for the mixed cheese plate for sure.


Here is Apáki, marinated and smoked pork. Very rich in flavour and went so well with the potatoes, leek, lemon sauce.


As the Cretan kitchen was completely new to me (never been there, though I'm quite familiar with Greek food), we decided to try some Souvlaki and Bifteki to have something to "compare to". This was more fresh than the regular Greek versions I've tried before.


They also make hand cut homemade fries, which is quite uncommon in the Greek restaurants in Berlin. Another thing I love, is that Myrsini doesn't compromise - good to know: they don't serve Gyros and neither feta cheese or regular tzatziki as it's not part of the Cretan kitchen.


Almost never do I order a dessert, but if there's yogurt, I say yes!


The sun set and we hung out a bit more with the guys, having a glass of red wine and some raki.


Already looking forward to next time!


The end. Now I have to go to Crete.