Alkinos Restaurant — Restaurant in Municipality of Central Corfu and Diapontia Islands

We came walking blind bends at dusk

An overhanging fig picked fresh.

No pavements, just a nervous trust

that drivers would skirt our single line.

Hugging bends with torches lit,

Phones swung glowing to the ground

At each arm's stride, hunger growing.

Alkino's Taverna above the bend ahead

Bids we run the road blind

To steeply climb twenty steps

And find our table for four,

On the higher terrace for a change.

Views of Mouse Island below

Still glimpsing the white monastery

In evening's final fade and glow.

Left to the blue hazed mountains

Of Albania, somewhere joined to Greece,

From where the morning sun rises in nine

And a half hours. Distant lights

Sparkle their shine on the sea. The evening air

Is warm. A cicada telephones its rubbed

Ring in the olives. Or are there two?

Half a litre of Retsina comes cold, clouding

The green bottle glass with evening dew,

And with your warm modesty, hoping we Enjoy

It's not to everyone's taste

Bearing its name only in Greece,

But it is right to drink between the pines.

This bottle is the best, and so it is.

Your voice is kind, with a smile,

Seen despite the mask, and thirty years

Of waiting at the terrace tables.

Fifty ..sixty years old? Hard to tell

Until we talk of your leaving Corfu

When you were eight. The family followed

Your father to Queens, but at twenty two

You came home again from New York,

Not kicking the move or sulking in young

Years, though there was excitement, and Life.

You knew in going that you must come

Again one day. It was too late to become

An American citizen. Your passport had Just

Arrived but you needed another full

Year to validate. Perhaps for the best.

You came back to Corfu, had your

Daughters young and with your husband

Alkina was begun. Seven days a week,

Plus housework in between.

No holidays this year but maybe a week

At Christmas to visit your daughter in Athens.

Maybe. But the season had been So short.

The two cats had become yours

And were well, not scraggy and fleed

Like so many that looked up in hope towards

The tables. The elephant beans and fried

Peppers, moussaka and lamb cuts

All shared with salad and fries,

Tomatoes with cucumber. The

Ingredients in the beans? We tried

To guess, but you were asked. Cloves

Was one, red peppers and tomato,

Pureed and fresh, and ground black pepper.

We requested another retsina, and to

Keep the green bottles. You offered a bag.

We talked, Interrupted by the chef,

From a far table. Finished for the evening,

Your husband? A few Greek words from his chair,

Directed, not cross, but you neglected

To serve the other diner, and then you

Came again to talk. Were you in trouble

For spending time with us? No. The O

Was Long, and your smile not broken.

We fell in love with your food and your

Gentle spirit. We hoped see you again,

Next year, but I don't remember

That we asked you your name,

Or gave you ours. Such was your unfamiliar

Intimacy, your warm connection that

Bathed us, and a thousand other visitors

Beside, still fresh, still clear,

Without a hint of stirring sediment,

Your Smile still surrounding you

Like the dew on the...

We where driving with the scooter from the bottum point of the island to Pirgy when in the region of Kerkyra it started to rain heavily at 11pm. We stopped at the first restaurant to have diner and wait for the rain to stop. I had the Musaka and my girlfriend the puzza which where both good! After dinner we requested special raincoats because we still had a 45 min drive ahead on the scooter and it was still raining (garbage bag with holes cutouts haha). The people from the restaurant helped us cut the holes and took a pictures for us, then laught freindly and waved us goodbye in the rain! If the restaurant reads this, we came back home safely, and thank you so much for your help! It would have been so much worse without the bags!...

Last day of holiday decided to tour the sites around Corfu Town. Stopped here for lunch. I ordered chicken on the charcoal. Within minutes of the food arriving the table was surrounded by bees. Complained to the manager who promptly provided some burning insence. The bees were all over my food and I could not finish my meal . They took the food indoors but that didn't help. Bees followed. I complained to the manager and asked for the bill. No offer of reduction and some smart comment that the bees were attracted to my sweet blood. Furthermore bees are attracted to this dish she said. No warning on the menu. Overall experience- terrible manager unprofessional possibility of return...