No visit to the mountain village of Olympos should end without sitting down in a restaurant, and we decided to give I Drosia a try. According to my guidebook, it served traditional goat meat dishes and other delicacies. So far, we hadn’t come across any place with such a specialty, so we went in search of I Drosia.
I Drosia @Olympos
It turned out to be located near the entrance to the village, across the street from a little chapel. The restaurant has a large terrace overlooking the valley below. Since it was super windy and overcast that day, which was also the reason why we drove to Olympos in the first place, the view was limited due to the window hangings.
terrace @I Drosia
I Drosia is one of those traditional restaurants where you can still go into the kitchen to have a look at what’s available that day. The restaurant is run by a mother and daughter team, and they are the nicest hosts.
in the kitchen with the chef @I Drosia
Unfortunately, no goat dish was available that day, but after seeing what else was ready to be served, we ended up staying nonetheless. We settled on a chicken dish, meatballs, and a Greek salad to go with it all, and sat down on the terrace. A tiny cat came out to sit next to my chair and waited for some food to fall to the floor.
kitten waiting for food @I Drosia
The salad arrived first and was served with homemade bread and a different kind of cheese. It looked like feta in colour, but was harder and much stronger in taste. The Greek salad also contained quite a handful of green leaves. It was already dressed and, together with the bread, just lovely. Of course, as in any good taverna, the salad was freshly prepared and did not come ready made from the fridge. Always a good sign for what’s to come.
Greek salad and bread @I Drosia
The chicken was a roasted chicken leg along with some tomato rice. The chicken was juicy and really nicely seasoned, and there was enough juice to soak up with some bread.
chicken leg with tomato rice @I Drosia
The meatballs came with a thick tomato sauce and a portion of macarounes with cheese and more of the tomato sauce. Macarounes are a local pasta dish from Karpathos and are usually served with cheese and fried onions. Absolute comfort food on this overcast day.
meatballs with macarounes @I Drosia
Although there was no goat on the menu that day, suddenly a young goat entered the terrace. I’m not sure where it came from, but it clearly belonged to I Drosia. It started to nibble on my plastic bag containing the ceramic wares we had purchased earlier and was clearly also in the mood for some of the food on the table. We watched its antics for a while until the daughter of I Drosia got tired of it all and leashed it up behind me.
young goat @I Drosia
I Drosia was a really fun place for a late lunch, and the food was fantastic. It was all home cooked and made with love, both of which we could taste. If you make your way up to Olympos, you should give I Drosia a try. Yours, Pollybert
