At last a possible formula for battling the oversized Spetsian mosquito!
After the first sip of the warmed ‘raki’ that Theodore brought to the table for us as a digestive at Maraklis Restaurant here in Spetses, Frank pronounced that “the good news is the mosquitoes are no longer interested.
Theodore calls it Rakenolo, “special medicine from Crete”. We work out that it is distilled pomace similar to Italian grappa and close to pure alcohol. Delicious but deadly, but we manage to stumble home hardly feeling the stone bruise under my heel that had crippled me earlier.
Again, it was Irini the housekeeper who had put us on to this restaurant of home cooking. Trevor and I tried to find it on five occasions without success so I had to ride on the back of Irini”s bike to be shown the secxret lanes that her map did not explain to a non-Greek.
Theodore, the owner”s son comes and sits with us at the table to go through the menu Like Greek-Cypriot Ange does at Sardine Room in Sydney), but quickly decides “leave it to me. I do for you”. This is really Greek home cooking – the table groaned. The stuffed vine leaves in lemon are hot and met in the mouth; eggplant has come straight from the oven – not microwaved and mushy as we”d had before; the tzatziki has a bite of garlic; hand made Greek makaronia tastes to us like a very soft gnocchi; and by this time, the baby veal steaks are superfluous.