Since we review coffee shops and food etc we thought why would this change whilst on Holiday. It was hard at some points with Her being vegetarian and with our allergies etc but we did it! Hopefully this will help other people with similar dietary needs or will send you in the right direction for some flavor filled morsels or not as the case may be.
Our trip began midday but our flight wasn’t scheduled to leave till 7.30 pm so with time to kill and in need of food we searched the south terminal.
Wondertree – Gatwick Airport
We headed for Wondertree, hidden right in the back left corner of the terminal and found a colorful and busy place with lots of friendly staff and a good service.Seated under the ever changing colored trees, we perused the menu. She had the Dukkah Veggie Burger (Crushed-nut coated, spiced yellow pea & shredded veggie patty with tzatziki, rocket, roasted red pepper, grilled halloumi, vine tomatoes, hummus & Harissa, sesame & poppy seed glazed bun.) It was a large dish bursting with color, the patty itself was a bit bland but wasn’t too dull, however despite being hungry, I couldn’t finish all of it. He had a Sunny Side Burger (100% British ‘Red Tractor’ beef, fried egg, our special sauce, green salad, vine tomato, caesar aioli, sesame & poppy seed glazed bun & dill pickle) – who would have thought of putting a fried egg in a burger! It was a good size and full of flavor. It was a quick stop but one we would most definitely recommend if you are flying from Gatwick South and need refuelling.
Our holiday had begun!
Despite all our research about Greek food and vegetarianism (since our last trip to Lanzarote where vegetarian was not catered for.) it seems that the internet lied. There one or two vegetarian restaurants in the whole of Rhodes, in Rhodes town itself. In Stegna, many of the bars and restaurants were either completely empty all the time, so we figured to avoid them because there must be a reason why no one was ever in them, or they were fish restaurants and their only veggie options were don’t eat there or salad!
Stegna Star – Stegna
The Stegna Star, Linked to our hotel was a cute, open sided restaurant with a thatched roof. The family that ran it and the neighbouring apartments were incredibly friendly and spoke very good english (which was very helpful at times) There was a Greek night every Monday which we managed to get a sneak peek of which included traditional music and dance. We went here a number of times, The first morning to get breakfast. We both had fried eggs, and toast with coffee and tea.
It was ok, but the eggs were a little over cooked for my liking and the concept of Tea with cold milk always confuses the Europeans!A little later she had some frozen coffee, which was very very nice!
He had a chocolate milkshake, which although was nice and refreshing didn’t really taste of chocolate.
He had the Moussaka – I’ve had Moussaka in the past, but it tasted different here, it had more flavour and different flavour, I guess this is why our rep recommended it, saying it was the best he had, had on the island.She had Pasta Neapolitan – Which was one of the only vegetarian dishes every restaurant had, which was nice but not really the traditional greek food I was looking forward to. We shared a Greek salad between us which was different, feta, chilli, lettuce and the most succulent tomatoes.This was also our first taste of Mythos beer, which unlike lager/beer in the UK had a subtle nutmeg taste to it, leaving a true pleasure to drink.
At end the meal they brought out a plate of watermelon and two baklavas (yum!)
Again I’ve had my allotment of Baklava in the UK, but it’s always a bit too rubbery and I guess stale or the kind that never goes off. But this was different (again), it was light, airy and sticky, really lovely.
Gorgona – Stegna
On the Tuesday night we decided to go on a wander and find out what the restaurants had to offer, we ended up walking to the far north end and seeing Gorgona seafood restaurant.
It had a very busy atmosphere and a cute little mermaid statue outside, inside there were multitudes of different birds, including a parrot that drew the attention of the nearby diners.
The staff were incredibly helpful, making sure to come outside and talk to us about the vegetarian options and even offering to make changes to the original dish.She had potato slices in a white wine and garlic sauce, possibly the most garlicky dish that we have ever eaten, it was so garlicky that it burnt as it went down. However that being said it was delicious and even more amazing when we took the leftovers home and added it to a greek salad.
A portion of Saganaki (Battered fried Feta glazed with honey and sesame seeds), which to me had far to many contradicting flavors, which ended up clashing to the point of being disgusting, however He found it delicious.
After much deliberation, He had the swordfish, It was good but not very rememberable (as in I can’t say what it was like 2 weeks later!)
I liked the fact that the chef came out to help Her decide what she could have, that made for a real personable service. The Swordfish wasn’t amazing, but they certainly have enough fresh fish, while we were eating a couple of fishermen brought in their catch to sell to the restaurant. If I hadn’t been with a Vegetarian I may have tried something from the very fresh selection – But I always feel bad for eating meat or fish in front of Vegetarians so I didn’t
End the meal with a shot each of ouzo.
Faros – Stegna
Hidden at the southern end of Stegna Beach is Faros (we could only think that it was far -os- bad joke never mind) A huge building capable of seating the whole population of Stegna, however when we went it was pretty much empty. The service was somewhat lacking, considering that we waited for ages to have our order taken, whilst the staff sat at the bar playing on their phones. We decided to eat in the outside back area, we were surrounded by the cliffs to our right and the sea to the left, leaving a picturesque panorama.
She ordered vegetarian Pizza, as I didn’t really want pasta again, given that we had bought some to cook back at the room. To be honest it didn’t have much flavour, it was ok as far as pizza goes but sadly left me wanting something more. Despite that we ended up getting it to take away, the local cats loved it!
He ended up getting the Chicken spaghetti
This wasn’t bad, a good size portion and a ton of Parmesan! But the most memorable thing about this place is the size of it, when they built it, they seemed to expect the whole of Stegna to turn up to eat there every night. There is a main dining area, three outside deck areas, the another deck lower down and on top of all this a large, rustic taverna out the back. Should you feel stuffed after the large portions you can use the bathroom, which is right at the back of the restaurant, the walk to and from will burn off some of the calories!
With the receipt we got a shot each of Limoncello.
This is like Galliano, but tastes more like when you wash up and there is still washing-up liquid on the glass!
Romeo’s – Rhodes
We had been given a little leaflet from one of the locals, which had some of the recommended restaurants of the island on it. Romeos was heavily featured so when we got to Rhodes we knew where we would go. After walking around the winding streets and getting fairly lost, we ended up finding it! It was a pretty outdoor spot, which though when we went was fairly empty, you could really see the potential for it to be absolutely packed.
She ended up eating the Vegetarian platter, which included rice stuffed vine leaves, pepper, stewed potato, stuffed tomatoes, beans. It was a large dish with small morsels of each type, it had a lot of flavour probably the best dish of the holiday so far.He ended up getting the Greek Platter, which was very similar to Hers, but obviously meat.This was an ok meal, it wasn’t as big as most, the only difference between the vegy and meat platters is the meat stuffing. Again the service was lacking, although there was at least 7 members of staff, when waiting to pay it seemed impossible to catch one of their attentions. Just as a pre-warning the bill did not match the prices within their menu and the meal was pretty expensive for what it was.Clearly mobile phones must still be a novelty to the islanders, because the staff seem totally fascinated in their phones and don’t care about their customers.Also the prices – the beers came to €4.50 each and the menu stated the Platters were €7 each. Yet the bill came to over €30!
Restaurant Carrusel – Kolimbia
Kolimbia seems to be a very long road lined by trees on either side, with not much there, however if you keep walking there starts to be signs of life. Shops and restaurants appear, including a tatt
She had vegetarian moussaka, a somewhat bad idea given that She is allergic to aubergine and courgette, however I just wanted to try something truly greek, so I picked out the offending squash and ate on. It had a very vinegary taste but all in all i quite liked it. He had Pasticcio (Greek pasta bake made with lamb mince, tomato sauce and layers of macaroni) so like lasagne. This was lovely this was was like Lasanga but different either to stand out on its own. To top of the meal, we got given complimentary ice cream, which was pretty good.Hmm good choice in the complimentary desert.
Stefany’s – Lindos
After walking around the winding labyrinth of streets of Lindos, we were in need of sustenance. We once again meandered around trying to find a vegetarian option that She hadn’t already sampled. We finally found Stefany’s Taverna, a small placed tucked in with a cluster of other restaurants. We walked up the staircase and took our seats in the roof garden so we could have a beautiful view of the surrounding white buildings, the Acropolis behind us and a row of the most interesting cliffs that we would have loved to climb in front.
On to the food…
She ordered the grilled Halloumi, with a small salad and fried potatoes, the Halloumi was very tasty and more chewy that I am used to, once the lemon was sprinkled on the rest It was very refreshing.He had a Creamy seafood pasta.
The location was great and well found by Her. We went all Jessica Alba and took photos of the food, because it was very impressive and the taste matched the look. This is a definate recommendation, if you can find it in the back streets of Lindos.
OGIALOS – STEGNA
Every time we walked the length of Stegna (which was many times) Ogialos was always packed, and by packed I mean there was often a cue of people waiting for some of the diners to leave to be seated. So naturally if something is that popular, you assume it must be good, so on the Wednesday we decided to dine there. After waiting for about 30 mins to be seated, we were taken through to a overly crowded room. The decor although interesting was verging on the cluttered side, there was a television on the back wall showing water olympics.
After ordering, the waiter coming back a number of times to tell us that the dishes had all run out and we had to re-pick, we finally managed to have an order work. We ordered a different beer here Amstel Weiss which was more of a wheat beer, it had a much stronger taste but also was a lot more expensive than any other establishment.The service was somewhat abysmal, the staff didn’t seem to want to serve us at all, and after waiting for our food for over 45 mins we were beginning to get annoyed.Eventually our food was brought out.She had Stuffed Chilli peppers, with cheese and rice, which had somewhat of a peculiar taste, I’m not sure that specific cheese (Feta) actually went with the other flavors.Pitadorias a fried mix of vegetables made into a patty which was pretty good.Cheese balls, which are pretty much as described, although fairly bland. She ordered so many as they were all starter dishes, so it ended up being more of a Meze dish.He ended up having the Sea Bream.
OK this was bad, by now we had exhausted the choices of Stegna and seeing a Italian couple (whom we heard mention he was vegetarian) eyeing up the menu, so it seemed that the restaurant could be a good choice. We had to wait to get in, again seemingly a good thing. We didn’t get shown to the empty table. We sat at the table for at least 15 minutes before a waiter gave us menus. We ordered a couple of Amstel Weiss beers which were expertly poured and tasted great. We ordered food, explaining she was Vegetarian and the waiter looked as if we had accused his mother of plying her trade on the local streets!
We then sat and waited, we were at least half way through our 1/2l of beer when the waiter returned to say that what She ordered was off. A change in Her order and he vanished again for 10 minutes, only to return again to tell me, my fish was finished and so I had to start again, at this point we did contemplate leaving, but we were low on other options so I picked something else quickly.
We must have waited at least half an hour more, the only entertainment was the Water Polo on the large TV and a Justin Beiber look-a-like who was dining with his family and he started to wait tables (probably knowing that the wait for the food would be a long time and he wanted something to pass the time), he wasn’t a very good waiter and so probably was given a job straight away!
Finally the food was dump down in front of us, my fish was a whole fish, head, tail and bones all included, this made Her squirm and I had asked if this would be the case and had been told it was a fillet of fish. So a quick dissection and a burial in a napkin and we finally got to eat and it was mmmh!
I can recommend this place if you really hate good service, if you like rude staff and have a few hours to kill.
The beer was really nice though!
To Marouli – Rhodes
After exhausting almost all the vegetarian options on all the menus, She decided that there must be a purely Veggie place somewhere on the island.There was! After researching online, the one most recommended was a place called To Marouli in Rhodes Town. Knowing we were going to back to Rhodes again on the Thursday, we decided to try it out.Although a small place, its in a pretty little section of Rhodes old town, quieter than usual and not as pushy with the service as the other places. We sat outside, and perused the menu. Choice! at last!
There was a number of choices, all either vegan or vegetarian and all purely healthy (well except the beer)She ended up having Stuffed wraps, with spinach, Salad and a beetroot tzatziki, which was such a welcome meal after eating predominantly the same thing. Although nice, it wasn’t outstanding, a bit of a small portion for me but it was a nice lunch.He ended up having Grilled Falafel with veggies and greensHaving searched and searched we finally found this little place not too far from the main shopping street of Socratius. The waitress was Scottish (and not English as I mistakingly observe – hey it was the first British accent I’ve heard since the plane I was entitled to be shocked!). The food was pleasant and nice change, my Falafels (or Fluffils as we call ’em) were lovely and there were a lot of them too, far more than you get in a kebab! The salady stuff was alright, you know it was green and leafy. I would recommend it as something different and if you are staying in Rhodes a late night supper here could be very pleasant.
Stegna Star – Stegna
Sadly our holiday had come to an end, our pick up time was at 11.45pm so we had to eat in one last place. We decided after staying in the apartments for our stay we would eat once again in Stegna Star.She ordered way to much! I had The stars homemade recipe for Pitadorias which stood out from the others that I had tried, which it own unique flavouring.Some onion rings and some fried mixed vegetables, which ended up being predominantly Aubergine and Courgettes unfortunately. However all together there were huge portions and I ended up taking some of it away with me.He had Lamb Kleftico.I guess I may have left the best till last, all holiday I had said I was going to have to try the Kleftico, but I didn’t find anywhere that made it sound worthwhile. But the Star certainly stepped up and delivered, the puff pastry and the lamb chunks alike were fluffy and light, so full of flavour and so much of it, I was unable to finish it all. This restaurant seems like a hotel add-on but is much more. I really liked the food and the staff here.
Climbing Moss 