Page 121 - EMPIRIA 2024

Special Feature

Travel to a culinary journey with Thalassamou, the idyllic restaurant-oyster bar where diners enjoy a perfect cocktail or chilled glass of wine with sublime far reaching Aegean Sea views.

A fourth-generation cook, Marios Salmatanis, is at the helm How does your cuisine connect with the island of Paros?
of the gourmet seafood restaurant, Thalassamou. As its The connection is immediate. In addition to our own
owner and chef, he prepares an inspiring menu that reflects organic farm, we work closely with local farmers which also
the location of the seaside restaurant and his creativity for contributes to the destination’s sustainability, while we also
passionate dishes. Having completed his studies at the “Ecole collect wild mushrooms that take centre stage in the menu.
Ritz Escoffier”, he went on to collaborate with renowned Close partnerships with fishermen ensure that seafood and
restaurants in Europe. We caught up with this innovative fish are also brought in daily ensuring fresh, authentic dishes
Greek chef to talk about his culinary vision and his focus on of the day, such as the grouper filet fricassé.
sustainability.
This year, a new restaurant is opening at the marina of What other measures do you take in terms of sustainability?
Alyki in Paros. Named Fotia by Thalassamou, it will offer Sourcing the very best ingredients as locally as possible and
Mediterranean cuisine with seasonal ingredients, cooked supporting local communities. I don’t believe that any food
entirely over fire. It will be an all-day venue, serving brunch, should ever be wasted, so anything not used is fed to domestic
lunch, and dinner, and is set to open in July. animals resulting in zero food waste. In addition to that, we
also recycle all glass and plastic material, as well as the
How would you describe your cooking style? cooked oils which turn into soap for our restaurant reducing
Our approach can be called innovative while paying homage our footprint to its minimum.
to traditional recipes. We slow cook most of our dishes in
ceramic pots in the wood oven, a technique I learned from Which is the first dish you would recommend to someone to
previous generations. The sensibility of Thalassamou has try when visiting Paros and your restaurant?
always been to embrace what’s in season and channel it with You cannot leave the island without tasting the traditional
a twist. Perfect examples of that philosophy are the dishes of “revithada” (chickpeas in a ceramic pot, slowly cooked in a
ajo blanco with beetroots and red mullet filets and the blue wood oven), and our signature dish, which is mock calamari
crab with mango chutney and apple chips. We’ve also added a risotto in its ink with green apple and peppermint—no rice!
beautiful cycladic wood oven to enhance our offering including
our signature sourdough bread which is daily handmade.

Thalassamou Pisso Aliki Beach, Aliki, Paros 84400, T.:+30 22840 91461, E.: welcome@thalassamou.gr Thalassamou