This restaurant was built 1913 and the literal translation means ‘the little home’. The kitchen and the indoor restaurant is housed in the house which has its traditional reed ceiling proudly on show, although inside the tables and chairs were reminiscent of a cheap café rather than a pleasant restaurant. This building, however, claims to be one of the oldest buildings in Pefkos.
We started off ordering a carafe of home red but when delivered to the table it was too hot to drink. I looked horrified at the waiter and explained that it was far too hot to enjoy and I rejected his offer of a few ice cubes to chill it down. We, therefore, changed track and opted for the house white, which was not quite as chilled as I would have hoped. It was ill-elegantly served in a metal jug with tumblers. Not quite the deal we’d hoped for, but I guess this is a classically understated rustic restaurant.
The Lafanzan is a dry full-bodied wine form Peloponese and there is little else I can say about it! The restaurant only carries a small amount of wine due to ‘a lack of appropriate cellarage’ and although the white was certainly much nicer to drink than its red cousin I wouldn’t rush back to try it again.
This unpretentious garden restaurant was draped with pink bougainvillea and set back far enough form the main road so that traffic did not interfere with the dining experience. I reckon it’s a family run business and works from what was probably the original family home. Everything about the place is distinctly rural. It boasts a traditional kitchen and certainly there is a limited menu, which the waiter explained was because they want to ensure that everything is freshly prepared on the day. Indeed today they had no beef or pork specials. So although they claim to have half a dozen specials they were really only a couple to choose from.
The limited menu doesn’t put people off, as it was continually busy throughout the evening. I’d chosen baby goat chops (I felt a bit brave as the last time I tried goat in Kefalonia it was tough and fatty) but this was delightful and was served on a wooden platter (my logic said this was not hygienic) with salad, chips, and Tzatziki. The chops were char grilled and there were plenty of them. Momentarily I felt a little guilty because my wife ‘s Moussaka looked fairly meagre but the guilt soon diminished when she helped herself to a couple of my chips.
At one point a trio of roving minstrels stopped off, played a couple of tunes, made a collection and then cleared off. A strange event!
We finished our meal with a traditional Baklava (probably the best I have tasted) and ice-cream and my wife had strawberries and ice cream complete with a sparkler and served in a sundae dish.