Kivo Creative Greek Restaurant – Dinner Menu

From fish marinated with basil and vegetables in sea water, accompanied by shrimp tartar

A refreshing yoghurt salad? A strong dip? A complement to ouzo appetizers? Tzatziki is all these things together and a typical case of success fully depending on the quality of the ingredients: yoghurt, cucumber, dill, olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and crushed garlic –discreet enough not to upset the refreshing character of this characteristically summer delicacy.

The tender tentacle of an octopus, accompanied by caramel onions, floats on the golden fava bean puree. This is one of our chef’s most creative syntheses, one of this summer’s images and flavours you are unlikely to forget. Fresh fava boiled with an onion and a bay leaf, the octopus –fished somewhere in the sea before your eyes- marinated in wine and herbs.

The white tarama salad is at the top of the list of delicious and –at the same time- healthy appetizers, with minimal fat and abundant proteins, phosphorus and calcium. Select cod roe fished in the northern seas is beaten thoroughly with pure olive and sunflower oil, onion and lemon until smooth and creamy. Carob bread –one of our chef’s personal delicacies- is a perfect match. The salad is adorned with whole crunchy shrimps.

The eggplant is baked until its glossy, tight skin is wrinkled. The outer beauty gone, the remaining fleshy part after skinning is a heavenly promise for the palate after being pureed and beaten with only a few other ingredients: olive oil, mustard, parsley and garlic. Dip, salad or favourite appetizer, it is matched –colour- and taste-wise- with wholemeal mini-rusks.

An interesting variation of the familiar classic sweet dumpling. It is offered either as healthy complement to breakfast or as a light snack when we crave for something warm, wholesome and easily digestible. The fresh taste of the tomato, oregano and sour cheese will make these special dumplings your favourite dish at any time.

Baked doe is one of mankind’s oldest foodstuffs. Four common materials –flour, water, olive oil and salt- are kneaded and rolled out to receive fragrances and special flavours of vegetables and wild greens growing on this island, among them spinach, dill, leek, onion and hartwort, in a variation of the ancient Greek vegetable pie by the creative cuisine of master chef Giannis Baxevanis.

From the ancient Greek plakous (doe baked on a slab) to the Cretan plakoftes, and from the Arab pita bread to the Mexican tortillas, Man has always found creative ways of combining simple materials to make the transition from necessity to gastronomy. Such a creative synthesis is our cheese pie, with the special taste imparted by baking on charcoal and the select-quality bacon and gruyere –its two basic ingredients.

stuffed eggplants with caramelized onions in tomato sauce and gratinated feta cheese

with feta cheese sauce
If accompanied by a green salad and French fries, this famous ouzo appetizer is transformed into a main dish. It can, in fact, be accompanied just as well by beer or good wine. Saganaki is a two-handled frying pan which usually hosts a tranche of feta cheese. Mussels are a popular alternative but cheese is present here, too. Feta portions are softened and melted, blending excellently with the spicy tomato sauce and the ouzo-flavoured mussels.

With pickled vegetables, fresh bean salad and herbs

With green vinaigrette, beetroot and tarama mousse

On a vegetable confit tart

Α popular dish throughout Greece, salt cod is the only fish permitted for consumption by the Church during the 40-day fasting period before Easter, on just two days: March 25 –when it is customary- and Palm Sunday. The cod is desalinated, skimmed and cut into small pieces. It is then immersed in batter and fried until golden on both sides, with a thin, crunchy crust. Garlic sauce is a necessary complement to the dish, served here with a modernist touch of -saffron –the “king” of spices- by our inventive chef.

With sweet and sour eggplant and piquant tomato sauce

In yogurt soup, with sweet-and-sour cherries

Fresh whitebait, caught off Skiathos, is artfully fried to form a thin, crunchy crust and retain its juices. Accompanied by peppery rocket, fresh tomato and a little tomato paste –rich in the antioxidant lycopene. Whitebait is the favourite fish of gourmets, who eat it whole.

with season’s fruits, local shepherd’s cheese, olive oil and sour grapes juice

Frizzy lettuce with a delicate taste, crunchy mustard leaves, piquant rocket, fragrant mint and fresh coriander blend with the juice and aroma of fruit: apples, pears, strawberries, oranges. The fresh taste is “filled in” with a little cheese and strengthened with the piquant sweetness of balsamic vinegar and unripe grapes –or their juice, which substitutes well for that of lemon.

purslane with marinated zucchini and grilled chicken

Most people say that the right combination of the most simple and «humble» materials, usually is the most tasteful. This can surely be said in the case of this classic variation of the famous «greek salad». Ingredients that can be found all across the greek land, such as tomato, cucumber, caper and feta cheese are craftfully mixed in this plate along with fresh greens, such as samphire and lemongrass. The end result is a hymn to Mediterrenean diet, which will be reflected on your palate like a cool summer song.

This is a refreshing dish, full of the vitamins and minerals of tomato, cucumber, pepper, olives and aromatic herbs. Its fragrant tastes include the discreet kritamo –the shrub growing wild only by the sea and in which –according to mythology- Prometheus hid the fire he stole from Mt. Olympus for the sake of humanity. The buds and leaves of caper, growing on seaside rocks, grace the salad with a strong, peppery taste.

Pork fillet in roll stuffed with green salad and tomato, served with vinegraite tzatziki and pita bread croutons

with kadaifi, strawberries and lemon thyme sorbet

It looks like an artful sweet dessert or an ice cream but is not –despite a layer of sorbet and kataifi pastry. It is a dessert but neither sweet or savoury. In all, it is an elegant composition of flavours that tease the palate –cottage and feta cheeses, thyme, juicy strawberries and a scent of butter, leaving an aftertaste of sorbet and rocket.

Seafood lovers will adore this dish. After being sauteed in olive oil with a little onion and garlic, sprinkled with white wine and enriched with napolitaine sauce, the oblong kritharaki pasta is stewed in a broth of shrimps, calamari and shell fish, absorbing all their sea goodness. It is traditionally stewed in ceramic pots in the oven. It has Ottoman roots and is popular throughout the eastern Mediterranean but is now considered a traditional Greek dish, one of the richest and most delicious of the country’s cuisine.

Τhe average Greek eats more than 10 kg of pasta annually, and the hundreds of different pasta recipes no doubt require imagination and art. In Kivo’s well-tested speciality, our chef has gone for spaghetti. He boils it in a light broth of shell fish and shrimps, spices it up with garlic, onion and basil, and adds some white wine and sauce napolitaine. It comes out of the oven in individual portions, well-wrapped up in baking paper and aluminum foil that retain their flavours and fragrances until served.

with mushrooms and sundried tuna

You will find that our smoked risotto exceeds all usual expectations. This is due to two particular secrets. The first is hidden in the sea area of the Sporades islands, including Skiathos, and it is the tuna fish which the local fishermen catch. The fish are cleaned, smoked and sold in sterilized jars without preservatives. The second secret is hidden in the way our chef “builds” the risotto until it arrives at your plate, scented by the smoked tuna, the grated parmesan and the fresh butter.

with lobster and sauce made out of its corals

This is the island version of macaroni, which is usually made of hard wheat, patiently kneaded into thin sticks and then cut and cooked. As with all pasta, macaroni becomes tastier with each ingredient added. The discreet sea taste is imparted by lobster, shrimps and calamari; the aroma by estragon and basil; the colour by saffron, cherry tomatoes and parsley. But the impressive visual and tasteful result is due to our chef’s art and imagination!

with tomato and verbena

Τhis is always a select pasta dish and Kivo’s version is surely a special one. It imparts the delicate sea taste of the shrimps, is accompanied by a light tomato sauce and exudes a distinct but discreet aroma. If you search for the source of this aroma you will locate it in the brandy, the deep red saffron and the fragrance of the lemon plant –reminiscent of freshly cut citrus fruit.

with wild greens and vegetables

in the oven for one or more persons

Let’s be clear about it: all fish crossing Kivo’s threshold are select and absolutely fresh. They are caught around the island at night or early in the morning and arrive at your plate on the same day. A fresh fish exuding the smell of the sea is guaranteed to be a good one. But a fish stuffed with freshly cut vegetables and fragrant herbs becomes unrivalled: carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, leek, dill, hartwort and many others are matched with the smell of the sea to create this feasty dish.

with orange flavour

On lemongrass, pureed celery and taboule with dandelion

with pita, tzatziki and a roasted tomato

Kebab requires skill and imagination, as you will realize from this recipe. The word, derived from Arabic or Persian, means the “dry” cooking method –that is, beef, chicken, fish or even vegetables are cooked straight on the grill, pan or baking pot. The secret is to retain their juices and serve them with those complements that suit them. On Kivo’s colourful dish, two juicy kebabs from minced chicken are accompanied by grilled vegetables, warm pita bread and light, fresh tzatziki.

Moussaka

with sweet onions, raisins and walnuts

Any kind of “stuffed” dish leaves the field open for the chef’s creative inspiration and is a small surprise for those at the eating end. This must be surely one of the tastiest poultry dishes you have ever tried. The stuffing includes raisins, walnut, celery and mushrooms but there are several other ingredients that scent the juices of the meat, offering a sweet aftertaste. We’ll let you guess them…

With pistachio crust, ravioli with mushrooms and mavrodaphne wine sauce

with pancetta, roasted tomatoes and wild greens

in the oven with eggplant puree and yogurt tahini sauce

Served with bougiournti and aromatic bulgur

cooked with onions and served with carob bread and mushroom puree

With baked potato, spinach salad and vinegraitte Cesar

The popularity of this dessert is indicated by the fact that several eastern Mediterranean countries claim its origin. The Greek traditional version is multifaceted, with the fragrances of cinnamon, cloves and goat butter overwhelming the sense of smell. The baked fyllo pastry, which envelopes the walnut and sesame filling, absorbs all the sweetness of the syrup it soaks in. Fresh cream in between the layers of the filling moderate the intensity of the rich taste.

This “design” version of the traditionally oriental baklava dessert derives its name from its creator, our award-winning chef Giannis Baxevanis. It takes the form of a tower built by alternating layers of crunchy, thick fyllo pastry and a magic mix of spices, boiled or dried fruit and vanilla ice cream. A joy to delicate palates!

with sweet rose preserve

with cinnamon ice cream

A sweet speciality of our chef, with a full, rich taste which will not disappoint even the most demanding gourmets and chocolate aficionados. The fondant is served in a coffee cup, steeped in delicious chocolate and scented with a small baton of Madagascar vanilla. A little sweet indulgence to conclude a perfect meal or simply to enjoy on the veranda with the captivating sea views.

With 3 flavors of ice creem(lemon, kaimaki, baklava) served with chocolate sauche

Chilled flavor of lemon and cool fresh herbs

with quince or bergamot preserve

Lemongrass cream sorbet, crusty pastry and lemon-flavoured chantilly (whipped cream)