Less Is More at Athens Was

• PIN

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of breakfast buffets. Give me a well thought-out and well-executed à la carte menu any day (although my kids would absolutely beg to differ, particularly when it comes to never-ending pancakes and bacon!).  Buffets always seem like a good idea at the time. Especially when you arrive starving at midday, having strategically skipped your regular 8am bowl of granola.

But somehow the frenzy to try everything (because “it’s there”), or to eat “one’s money’s worth”, always leaves me feeling over-stuffed for the rest of the day and wishing I’d limited myself to just those tastes I’d genuinely been craving. I’m all about the “single-tasking” these days. Enjoying what’s on the plate in front of me, and not always dwelling on “what’s next” (to prolong the metaphor!).

That’s one of the reasons why the new premium brunch service at the AthensWas art hotel, in the lively Dionysiou Areopagitou strip, won me over. Unlike many luxury design hotels of the same cut, there’s no buffet. Simply an enticing menu, loaded up with a heap of classic brekkie staples:

Fluffy pancakes with blueberries and bacon; comfort porridge (sweetened with coconut flakes); lovely fresh scones (a very rare find in Athens indeed!); and of course, a kicking eggs benedict (the true test of any brunch purveyor).

They’ve offset these with a few more razzle-dazzle options for the big-impact brunch: caramel toffee cake with whipped cream and lime; slow-cooked lasagna (per-fect food therapy for that challenging “Morning After”); and squid brioche with salmon, egg and avocado.

The prices were very democratic too. Most of the above meals came in at a very reasonable, in our opinion, €7-8, (the roasted lamb, at €22, is the most expensive dish on the menu).

Meanwhile, there can be little doubt that the dramatic view from the elegant 7^th floor MODERN rooftop dining space is in the million dollar range, with its lofty Acropolis “wallpaper” and sweeping city panorama.

(You can also choose to eat at the breezy ground floor Moderne Brasserie from 11am-4pm).

Either way, I highly recommend you elevate your brunch idyll further with one of their pitch-perfect weekender cocktails: a Cucumber Martini; a Sub Americano (with rum, Campari, red vermouth and bitters; or our favourite, the well-named “Sunday”, a perky mix made with gin, aperol, ginger and cucumber.

Located right near the Acropolis Museum, AthensWas makes the perfect starting point (or end point for that matter!) for all your Thiseio wanderings. And is currently, I believe, one of the very best Winter Brunch options around.