San Stefanos Online ~ North West Corfu

I was just thinking to myself, I wonder if other holiday forums are as obsessed with food as this one?

Maybe it's to do with age. When I started going to Greece the food was absolutely terrible. Remember those old Tourist Police menus with hundreds of items, of which about four actually had a price pencilled in? Remember the tooth-busting souvlaki, the fossilised kelftiko, the cold chips that looked like pale fingers chopped off in a mortuary and preserved in formaldehyde? And so on.

We didn't give a toss about the food. We swam a lot, drunk a lot of Greek champagne at about £1 a bottle while gambolling in the surf, got ratted, laughed a lot, screwed a lot and danced in the discos until the early hours. Maybe it's a sign of the age of the clientèle here that the size of the starters has become more important than sex in the surf.   

Helen - They're usually pretty tied down by Thomson until 6 days before. I would really try to discuss the options with Dimitris and Michalis beforehand.

You may have to wait for reply. Dimitris is not always very swift to read emails. Bless.

Time was the only rooms at LP for Thomson UK were the strip above the taverna (101-109) but I think they may now be using some of the others, which were previously the territory of the Finns and Eastern Europeans. The "front" rooms are very large. I don't know about the others. I'm sure Dimitris and Michalis can advise.

Gav - I know what you mean. LP is always very busy, so pretty much a standardised menu. I'd recommend the moussaka, chicken souvlaki and kalamari.

Maybe there's a trade-off between vibrant atmosphere and hand-crafted food. But it's hard not to love LP. It's a great place to stay, and you're always going to meet people you know there. It's the village pub of Ag Stef.

My general rule of eating out in Ag Stef (or anywhere, for that matter) is "Does it have to be cooked NOW?" If it's in some cheesy pot, the answer is "No". This may be why people get such widely divergent views of tavernas: you may have a reheated stew and I may have a freshly-grilled fish; there's no real comparison, but reviews and judgements are built on this.

When people say, as they do, "I had a bad meal at xxxx" they should really say what it was. Seems to me that some people just want vast quantities to shovel down to swell their more than ample bellies.

After a few visits you should know how to let the place play to its strengths.   

The old site is still available. I'll post a direct link tomorrow. HolidayHypermarket.com has so far not been massacred.

Dupnica - I don't mind getting up early. I do mind hanging about for hours before leaving on the return flight. I also don't like driving home from the airport very late because you have to add two hours body clock fatigue because of the time change. Previous Doncaster flights have left between 06:00 and 08:45, which is fine; 14:40 is not great for us.

They often change right up until the first flight - then they don't. That's the disadvantage of booking early.

Something to go with the biscuits: Spiros' Mum's Giouvetsi...

http://thehotelnafsika.wordpress.com/2013/12/19/my-mums-giouvetsi-%ce%b3%ce%b9%ce%bf%cf%85%ce%b2%ce%ad%cf%84%cf%83%ce%b9/

Yeahhhh!

And let's also hear it for the England Under 21s, who beat San Marino 9-0 tonight in the U21 Euros.