World-class vegan food! & the uncheesecake!!!
5
Posted on 07 / 21 / 2012
My partner and I ate here a few nights ago and were absolutely blown away by Improv!
We arrived and were served immediately by lovely, friendly, chatty waiting staff. We were brought a big frosted bottle of water which was constantly topped up, to drink with our beers. We also got a free appetizer of toasted pitta and red pepper dip of some kind, which was delicious. What a welcome!
We then ordered a starter to share, the meatless meat balls. These were SO GOOD, the portion was small for two from first glance, but actually they were very filling and I don't think I could have managed a whole plate to myself. Served with a delicious minty/coriandery kind of dip. Yum! They arrived very quickly too!
Next, mains -- my partner had the 'add it up,' which is a tofu/veggie/tomato concoction with salad bits and fries. He was VERY HAPPY. The tofu was beautifully cooked, we're going to try and replicate this ourselves at home! I had the Rooster which consisted of bean patties with mash and gravy. All of it was super amazing -- the gravy was totally delicious and the mash (so easy to get wrong!) was fluffy and creamy and so good! The portions were generous and we struggled to make it to dessert.
BUT do not leave this place without trying the uncheesecake. Seriously, it is the experience of a lifetime. It is the best dessert I have EVER eaten, even before I became vegan! The hype is all true! Try it! Heavenly!
The whole experience was amazing and a total bargain. We paid 39 euros for two of us to have three courses and drinks. We were chuffed! The service was brilliant, too -- the waitress was very friendly and accommodating, and the barman (who I think is also the owner?) came for a chat and was also really cool. We greatly enjoyed the soundtrack too, although it was really blasting so if you're not into loud music then bear this in mind (we liked it!). I was wearing a Metallica t shirt so they played some Metallica for me! Awesome! The atmosphere was generally great. Nice decor, very very fancy bathrooms. We loved it! I would give it 20 cows out of 5 if I could! Thank you ImproV, we love you!!!
Pros: Awesome service, UNCHEESECAKE UNCHEESECAKE UNCHEESECAKE, All the food was blissfully good
Cons: There are no cons! Go there now!
Our menu includes Greek traditional recipes along with some American favorites (e.g burgers, hot dogs etc) and at this area where junk food dominates, we give people the option to also eat healthy vegan food that lacks nothing in taste than e.g. the hot dogs that are sold across the street. You had a traditional Greek dish, made from a Greek Chef and in a version much lighter than the original one that is heavy on oil and sauce with cooked beef in it (also to mention our recipe has been published in books). You tasted authentic olive oil from olives we grow ourselves on Lesvos Island. And sauces we jar from our BIO gardens in North Greece with our Greek mother. You seen some of the real Greece from your visit to Gazi, but we will point out to our vacationers in the future where the heart of our ingredients come from and to understand the area better! This is not a mainstream tourist area. :)
Regarding the other dish that you had, the only "unhealthy" part is the fries which we could have substituted if you had asked us with baked potato or salad. Believing that this review is a bit unfair, we wish to see you visiting our place again in the future so you can taste more of our dishes and maybe change your opinion on our food.
Hello and thanks for visiting our restaurant. Just to clarify that most Greek people do not hang around Plaka and Syntagma and actually avoid it. Gazi, where our restaurant is located, is the busiest area of Athens and the heart of the Athenian nightlife where thousands of people visit daily hundreds of restaurants, theaters, clubs, bars, cafes etc. Our place is located next to Technopolis (which is the old Gazi factory that nowdays hosts concerts and events pretty much every night) just few meters from the Kerameikos metro stop (one stop from Plaka and 1 minute walk to our place from metro) and 10 minutes walk from Monastiraki/Thisseio without metro. I guess that the run down buildings is the modern Greece as you might know many places went out of business during the past couple of years and unfortunately those places now look abandoned. (TBC)
Hello, i just have to bring your attention to something you say... You say: "in a city that just doesn't understand "vegan" let along "vegetarian""...
I must point out that this is just not the case, Greece as a country doesn't understand vegan or vegetarian in the way perhaps you are used to - it doesn't make a point of it and have lots of restaurants etc - but actually traditional Greek food is ALL basically Vegan and Vegetarian... Souvlaki, gyros, meat dishes are a relatively new thing and even though they are often seen and unfortunately featured on menus nowadays( especially ones aimed at tourists ) they were not eaten traditionally in Greece... Greece has a deep and long history of vegan and vegetarian foods, they only ever ate meat when they did on rare occasions ( they were "too poor" to eat it often... ) and so they have a HUGE variety of legume based ( chickpeas, lentils, fava beans, broad beans, black eyed beans and many more... ) and vegan foods ( stuffed peppers/tomatoes, peas as a main dish, ratatouie like dish called "briam", potato salads, green beans with potatoes, boiled plain vegetables and wild greens in every taverna, rice with spinach, rice with cabbage, spinach pie ( both vegan and non-vegan ( with cheese ) versions... and MANY MANY more - too many to mention and remember here in fact... )and so there was never any need ( perhaps until now when people are unfortunately following the lead of "rich" countries like USA and eating more meat and dairy than ever before and suffering the health consequences... ) to have "separate" "labelled" Vegan or Vegetarian restaurants... and as a Vegan in Athens i have never had any problems at all eating out with friends and family and actually not having to go to separate restaurants to do so... I am sorry if you didn't know and weren't able to make use of this information on your visit here but I hope that you find it useful for the future!