Elaias Thea Traditional Restaurant, Voukolies, Chania
Opened in 2016, Elaias Thea is found just as you leave Voukolies on the rise overlooking Glossa village. It has a commanding view over the local area and a stunning sunset can be enjoyed as the sun slowly sinks behind the hills and high slopes of the Deliana Gorge and Rokka.
It is a thoughtfully laid out restaurant with a children's play area with soft rubber safety flooring on your left as you walk towards the entrance. This means that the kids have a great place to make as much noise and have fun without disturbing other diners. The entrance path also features a nice little kitchen garden and a spectacular olive tree.
Inside the building it is nice and airy and I can imagine a lovely weekend meal in winter with the fire roaring to be on our agenda once we get past this long hot summer...but it is the verandah that delivers on the views and showcases the stunning location that Elaias Thea enjoys.
Elaias Thea is DIO certified; this means that it produces only the best organic products and has the seal of approval from the Inspection and Certification Organisation of Organic Products and it must be said that you can truly taste the difference when you try the food.
There were a group of six of us who tried out Elaias
Thea last night and we decided to eat in the traditional family manner of ordering plenty of dishes and placing them in the middle to share. We ordered: Bread with cheese dip, loukanika (village sausages), Cretan salad, dakos (bread rusk with tomato and myzithra cheese), special beef with vegetables, chicken in a fr
esh tomato sauce, lamb in an olive oil and tomato sauce and the special wheat dish blended in goats milk and mushrooms.
We also decided on the house white wine which surprised us with its delightful fruity palate.
All of the dishes are tasty and you can tell they are proud of their dishes at Elaias Thea. The home made bread was of the heavy type with a lovely crust that was just perfect for drizzling with their organic olive oil which tastes so delicious.
The village sausages are deliciously meaty in the way that only Cretan sausages can be and there was a hint of sharpness in them from what I thought was perhaps a balsamic vinegar, that really had me smacking my lips.
The Cretan Salad is delivered in a large bowl just ripe for sharing and full of seasonal delights that tasted so fresh.
All of the meat dishes had great flavours that, for me at least, had me dipping the remainder of the bread into the sauces to mop up the last of the tasty sauce.
The beef dish was very nice, you just touched the meat with your fork and it would fall apart and it felt like it just dissolved in your mouth. My only complaint would be I wished there was more of it!
The chicken is cooked on the bone and is also full of flavour and very tender and the lamb in its tomato and olive oil is spectacular.
The special dish of wheat, blended in goat's milk and mushrooms is like nothing I have ever tried before and was definitely the dish of the evening for me. It once again had me mopping up the remains on the plate with bread to get the final few drops of this fantastic tasting food.
Before we left we were treated to a free carafe of wine and upon asking for the bill we were given two plates of cakes and ice cream and some very smooth raki... a perfect way to round off a great evening.
We got to Elaias Thea fairly early at around 7.30pm for our meal and at this time it was fairly quiet with just one or two tables of families and tourists. As we were leaving the verandah had started to fill with locals who know their food and were enjoying the amazing organic produce. It is always a great measure of a restaurant when you see it filling up with Greeks and Elaias Thea must be one of the best in the Voukolies area!
PROS
Food is wonderful
Views are fantastic
Service is friendly and welcoming
CONS
Food is so good you want more!
OVERALL
A thoroughly enjoyable evening with some great food, wine and stunning views. TASTE BUD highly recommends Elaias Thea if you want to taste some wonderful organic and traditional Cretan dishes. Get there just before sunset to experience the view at its most spectacular.
