When traveling I love trying the local food and drinks, and in Greece one of the local drinks is Ouzo. Ouzo is usually drank as a shot, and before meals; apparently having a shot of ouzo before a meal helps digest the food.
While trying to find a place to eat in the island of Corfu we found this little restaurant hidden on a quiet street. The restaurant was completely empty, but we had walked for over 30 minutes trying to find a place so we decided to settle for this lonely family restaurant. We were sooo glad we did! The owner was extremely friendly, and was so excited to get tourists! After having dinner he asked if we could sign his guestbook, and even wanted pictures with some of my friends.
Before our meal we were offered a free shot of Ouzo....did you say FREE? I can never say NO to FREE stuff! A few friends had tried Ouzo before and said it was "Gross!" We asked the owner how Greek people typically drink it, and he said it was better chilled. We were all given room temperature Ouzo, and a pitcher of ice for those that wanted to try it chilled. As soon as I put in the ice cube, the once clear ouzo became milky white.
I cautiously watched others drink it before trying it for myself. I saw many disgusted faces, but you know what they say, "When in Rome..." So I bravely chugged it, and I was pleasantly surprised. It had a licorice flavor to it, and having it chilled definitely helped! Similar to absinthe, it warmed the body (especially the throat) for a good 15 minutes.
Date Accomplished: September 30th, 2007
4 comments:
I haven't been to Greece but they had it in Italy and I tried it. I don't like licorice so I didn't like it. Yucky. But gotta try things at least once.
I'm not a licorice person so I'm not certain that I would like it...but if I was in Greece I would definitely try it, especially since it's free
Never tried it, but Chef Kat Kora does a shot after every Iron Chef competition!
I had one shot of Ouzo in Greece and that was enough. Haha! Did you ever try Raki? When I was in crete they would sell it in empty water bottles. It was super intense!
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