Another significant and impressive restaurant in Grivalia `s complex project, starting from the Asteria Glyfada and the One & Only Aesthesis and bypassing PIKPA, reaches 91 Athens Riviera Resort & Prive Club, in Voula. As an ouzo restaurant, the famous Barbarossa of Paros that started in 1987 -in the well-known, fantastic location of the picturesque port of Naoussa- and evolved in recent years into a high-end fish-food party restaurant has also made port in Glyfada.
But here it comes without its main asset - for most of its clientele - which is fun. On the one hand, the area`s regulations are strict; on the other hand, the well-known glamping area operated by Domes and the "camping" of the luxury tent rooms is located at the back of the restaurant. Barbarossa Athens is a luxurious, rather hotel-style fish restaurant next to a nice pool and in front of a small garden that leads to the beach of the 91 Athens Riviera Resort and eventually overlooks a bit of the sea. You must go through the resort gate and drive to the parking lot to get there. Then, club cars will take you to the restaurant.
The menu, curated by the group`s executive chef Dimitris Nikolis, is the familiar Paros menu in a slightly shorter version for now. The raw material is good, the management is careful, and the dishes are tasty and well-made without claiming culinary excellence or excitement. And I start straight from the conclusion because, on the one hand, the prices are predictably high, and on the other hand, the competition in the broader area with Papaioannou in Kavouri, Akti and Blue Fish in Vouliagmeni - if I limit myself to the FNL star awarded fish restaurants - is extreme.
The sushi section is good (but unnecessary), as are the restaurant`s more Mediterranean raw dishes. The taramosalata is velvety but a bit bland. Of the former, I picked out the slightly spicy crayfish, with clams, chilli oil and a well-weighed amount of feta ... a delicate, attractive, more gastronomic and free-flowing rendition of the classic "shrimp saganaki". In the main courses, the fish was fresh, tasty, and a touch more cooked, the salmon with couscous was bland and uninteresting, while the linguine with clams, eggplant and chilli was tasty but lacked flavour concentration and was a little overcooked in the boil.
The wine list curated by skilled oenologist and restaurant manager Haris Panagoulias—a transcription from Ziller`s—is already exciting and ever-expanding. In contrast, the wine prices may be stingy but are more reasonable than those at similar beachside restaurants.
Barbarossa Athens was launched rather quietly in the heart of the summer season, and the bet on its course and success will be played out now, on its return from holiday, and of course next winter. The so-called Athenian Riviera is transforming day by day into a very competitive field and is becoming more and more like Mykonos—and this needs a lot of attention!
Info: 91 Athens Riviera Resort, 4 Alkyonides Avenue, A Akti Voula, tel. 214 409 9100. Price: €120-180 per person with wine
https://domesresorts.com/91athensrivieratheresort/barbarossa/