The first thing to make an impression when visiting Russian grocery stores in the Athens suburb Kallithea is the vintage-style packaging of goods, bearing letters in the Cyrillic alphabet. Colourful babushka dolls, distinctive scents, dominated by garlic, piles of charcuterie and lots of vodkas also become apparent to shoppers exploring these stores.
In the 1990s, following the collapse of the USSR, thousands of ethnic Greeks with Pontic roots relocated to Greece from the former Soviet states of Russia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Many of these immigrants settled in Athens’ Kallithea district, which had served as a place of reception for distressed ethnic Greeks from as far back as 1915, as well as Asia Minor refugees just years later
The more recent influx of immigrants to Kallithea has led to the establishment of many restaurants and street-food joints serving Russian or Pontic cuisine, or both, as well as grocery stores selling favourite food products from these homelands.
Initially, Kallithea’s ethnic shops mostly catered to the needs of the Pontic community from Russia and other former Soviet states. Over time, however, a wider range of locals have also discovered the culinary world of eastern Europe and northern Asia, buying goods from these ethnic grocery stores and dining at related restaurants.
As a result, Athens has gained a new ethnic gastronomy dimension, now established in the Kallithea district.
Goods to be found at the Russian groceries
Russian groceries are stocked with a wide range of charcuterie, including sausages, salami and bacon, just to mention the better-known goods on offer. Many of these products are spicy, while a great number carry intense garlic flavour. Some are made with beef, while others are prepared using a combination of beef and pork.
Lard, rarely used for cooking in Greek cuisine, is also available at these shops. The lard, which comes in varieties – with small amounts of meat, salted, or unsalted – is great to use for frying eggs, cooking beans, or adding to soups.
The range of cheese varieties at these shops is extremely limited. Shoppers will find soulougouni, a white cheese made with cow’s milk that is eaten either fresh or smoked. Its name probably hails from Georgia. Another cheese, also made with cow’s milk, is fashioned in the form of thin braided strings. It is just like gai, a Pontic cheese. Both these cheese varieties may be fried as saganaki, or used for pizza, pies or any other food recipe requiring melted cheese that retains its texture.
Other dairy products to be found at these shops include kefir and ariani, yoghurt-like drinks, bitter in taste and ideal for digestion. Nowadays, they are also widely available at supermarkets throughout Greece. Kefir and ariani are very popular in eastern Europe and the Middle East. Ariani is particularly popular in parts of northern Greece’s Macedonia and Thrace regions.
Another interesting dairy product, smetana, a type of sour cream with high amounts of fat, up to 42 percent, promises to enhance the flavour of both cooked and grilled vegetables, cool down spicy food, boost the flavour of lahanodolmades (stuffed cabbage rolls), and also combine perfectly with stuffed pasta-type foods.
The latter are stocked at these Russian groceries as frozen foods, either sweet or savoury, in a variety of tastes, including with meat or vegetarian. Varenika (Pontic pasta), as well as a variety of dumplings (pelmeni, manti, and, in some cases, Polish pierogi), may be found at some of the shops in Kallithea. These dumplings are filled with either meat, cheese, potato, vegetables or, for their sweet versions, fruit. They can be boiled straight from the freezer and are ready to eat in no time. These stuffed pasta products, even the sweet versions, combine beautifully with smetana, it should be pointed out.
The smoked and cured seafood to be found is interesting. Selections include smoked salmon, somewhat flatter than usual in taste and saltier, compared to standard European versions, as well as sliced salmon in mild-tasting oil, mackerel, escolar and herring. Shoppers will also find caviar and brick of superb quality at exceptional prices.
The offering also includes a limitless range of pickles, including unusual varieties such as pickled watermelon and mushroom. Whilst on mushrooms, an extensive range is available, some preserved in lard, at low prices. Buckwheat, known as grechikha or kasa at the Russian groceries, is also available. This product, gluten-free, is pivotal in eastern European recipes, matching the significance of wheat in Greek cuisine. It is sold either plain or roasted and can be used to make pilaf or porridge.
The rye bread selections, dense and heavy, and, in some cases, slightly sweet, are also interesting. Armenian lavas, thick pita bread, as well as poppy seed cake, are also on sale at these shops. They also stock berries, as well as biscuits, candy and other sweets.
Their shelves are also filled with an enormous range of vodkas, from Russia, the Czech Republic, Poland and other countries, either plain or flavoured with berries, even chili peppers. The alcohol levels of some of these vodkas reach as high as 45 percent. Liqueurs, as well as wines from Georgia and Moldavia, regular as well as sparkling, often referred to as champagne at these stores, are also sold, all at very good prices.
Shoppers interested in delving a little deeper at the Russian groceries can ask for recipes on how to cook unfamiliar food products, or seek differences between the cuisines of Russia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan.
The shops
Tsar Market
A compact grocery store, its well-organised shelves, refrigerators and deep freezers are stocked with just about everything, including top-quality Eleftheriadis brand stuffed pasta products, as well as crepes, either with mince or sweet versions with cheese, all at competitive prices. Look for this shop’s superb beef sausages and homemade anthotyro (fresh cheese).
A simple-to-make and popular Russian sweet is prepared by mixing anthotyro cheese with smetana and honey. Ask for the recipe at this shop.
Tsar Market is situated by the Kallithea train station (green line). Besides food products, it also sells ethnic newspapers and magazines.
36 Sivitanidou, +30 210-9536155
Nantia
A small grocery shop next to the Kallithea market, this shop is co-run by Nantia and Polina. Its handmade frozen lahanodolmades are outstanding. Keep a lookout for lahanodolmades made with black cabbage, a Pontic delicacy occasionally available at the shop, depending on the season.
Nantia also sells canned cod liver, very good brick, occasionally in bulk form, poppy seed cake, especially during the festive season, as well as a full range of frozen berries. Shoppers may want to try one of co-owner Polina’s recommendations, buckwheat (grechikha) soaked in kefir overnight to be enjoyed the next morning.
140 Grypari, +30 215 5255382
Gastronom
A modern mini market, it combines an adjacent book shop selling Russian-language books and magazines. The shop’s charcuterie range is relatively limited, but it offers a big assortment of mushrooms in jars, preserved either in lard or mild vinegar. This shop is also stocked with many Moldavian wines, vodkas, dark chocolate with high cacao percentages ranging between 75 and 82 percent, as well as ice creams, less sweet than typical ice creams to be found in the Greek market. At present, vanilla is the only ice cream flavour in stock, but the range typically widens from April onwards.
219 Eleftheriou Venizelou (Thiseos), +30 210-9573415
Mockba
Situated virtually across the street from Gastronom, Mockba, pronounced Moscha, is the biggest Russian grocery in Kallithea, possibly Athens, too. A super market-size outlet, it is extensively stocked.
The shelves along Mockba’s aisles are stocked with everything any household could want, the difference being that all products here are Russian, covering Russian food culture. The spot even sells organic and natural cosmetics, also Russian, at very decent prices.
The charcuterie section includes a special garlic-heavy product, as well as beer salami made with beef. The fish refrigerator is stocked with escolar. Delicious lahanodolmades, frozen, with meat or vegetarian, with mushrooms, are also available here.
220 Eleftheriou Venizelou (Thiseos), +30 210-9419883
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