Ios - Katogi

After travelling for a month we had eaten more incredible meals than I could count (at the expense of my waistline), but this particular dinner, our last one the Greek island of Ios, was especially important because it was Allie’s birthday. Of course a fabulous meal was in order and after some pestering of the locals for recommendations we chose Katogi; a tapas style restaurant in town.

Now on the tiny white walled streets of Ios it is one thing to know where a place is on a map and a whole different thing actually getting there. But, after a few loops and some vague directions we finally arrived at Katogi- cleverly hidden among the uniform white buildings and distinguishable only by a colourful chalkboard sign.

Katogi is a charmingly eclectic restaurant full of knick-knacks and fabulously kitsch decorations. The restaurant was bathed in a pink light, illuminating what would usually be stark walls in a warm glow. For those in New Zealand the atmosphere was somewhere between Mexico and Coco’s Cantina, with the quirky-chic waitresses topping it off.

We started of with blueberry bramble cocktails, a delicious gin and jam concoction that we greedily gulped down. Unlike many of the menus we had come across in our travels, which seemed over-eager to cater to every taste with pages and pages full of overwhelming options, Katogi’s simple menu meant we could order (what felt like) almost every dish.

We started with a spicy feta dip with pita bread, and fried smoked cheese, adding to the already alarmingly large amount of cheese we had consumed on the trip so far. The fried smoked cheese was as good as it sounds; surrounded by crunchy cornflakes on the outside and gooey soft and smokey on the inside.

Almost as soon as the last mouthful of cheese had gone the next dishes arrived: slow cooked beef tortilla cones, and pear and cheese ravioli with a dill and carrot sauce. ‘pear and cheese pasta???’ I hear you think – but trust me it was sweet, savoury and just-so-good.

The feast continued with a bowl of chickpeas stewed in tomato and basil, tender grilled lamb morsels, and a grilled sausage dish to remind us of the food back home. The food was coming fast and we could barely keep up as our poor stomachs tried to manage the onslaught.

When we thought we were almost defeated the king prawn saganaki arrived; a dish we had grown to love on our trip through Greece (almost as much as fried cheese). Shrimp saganaki is a genius dish with a spicy tomato sauce dotted with hunks of salty feta surrounding the prawns, and this one had an extra hint of aniseed to top it off.

After we had eaten through every dish and drunk a few jugs of sangria we were almost ready to navigate our way through the confusing streets home, but before we had a chance to leave the waiters rushed toward us in a chorus of happy birthday, and a round (or two…) of delicious warmed shots to celebrate. Much better than cake.

We finally left happy, full and buzzing about one of the best meals we had eaten on our trip.