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Chef Alexandros (Alex) Tsiotinis’ CTC is a playful and inventive fine-dining restaurant set in a beautiful courtyard in central Athens. There, Tsiotinis, who was the winner of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition 2015 Mediterranean Countries regional final, has created a modern interpretation of Greek cuisine, with French technique, that has won the restaurant a Michelin star.
Below, the chef talks us through some of the most important dishes in CTC’s history, dishes that have made the restaurant an essential stop on any Athens dining itinerary.
The roots of Greece in a salad (2014 – top)
“This dish comes with all the culinary history of our country that is hidden within – the aromas, flavours, textures and colours of Greece in one dish. The inspiration came at a difficult time: during the period when Greece was in a deep economic crisis, I wanted, inspired by Elytis' little nautilus, to represent a dish that may have fallen down, but if you put all its ingredients back in place you will have a perfect bite again.”
Corn velouté flavoured with lobster and truffle and bergamot foam (2015)
“This dish has been very much loved by every guest. It has been on the CTC menu since day one, and even today, our loyal guests, in a funny way, sometimes threaten me that they won't come back if we remove it from the menu. I personally love bergamot, I consider it one of the citrus fruits that can change the logic of a dish with a little bit of zest. So one afternoon, while I was in the fridge and they were smelling, we picked up truffles, and I thought this is a combination I've never heard of before but it must work… that's how this dish was born.”
Grilled foie gras with stew sauce and chestnut foam (2017)
“I believe that a cook is characterised in his dishes by his or her culinary experiences. I grew up in Greece, but my most important years in cooking were in France, so this dish is an ode to my career as a cook in that era, as it blends the flavours of these two significant countries for me, together. The stew sauce is a sauce with sweetness from the many onions and acidity from the concentrated cooking vinegar; I find that these two ingredients embrace and enhance the fattiness of the foie gras.”
Cabbage dolmas (2018)
“It's a very traditional dish and important to keep it with us. In the winter in Greece, we make the dolmades with cabbage and serve them with an egg-lemon sauce. But we thought of remaking it and reimagining it by taking a cabbage, which we confit with many herbs, and garnishing it with a mousse from the dolma filling and for the egg lemonade, taking the fermented cabbage juice and thickening it over the fire with egg and lemon.”
‘The bill’ (2019)
“As I've been telling clients, it's the sweetest way to steal the bitterest moment of the evening. Miniature desserts (or petit fours whatsoever) in general are the kitchen's/chef’s farewell message to the guest so they should be as strong as the welcome, so we thought to hide the bill in a chocolate piggy bank and take it to the customer to break it so he or she can discover it – make it more interactive.”
Piglet in the oil paper (2021)
“During the panegyria [outdoor summer festivals] in Greece, they often serve pancetta with potatoes, and they serve them together, without even a plate but directly on the greaseproof paper. We decided to ‘remake’ the pancetta from scratch since no part of it is part of the pancetta: its neck, kidneys and head, all cooked differently and layered and between them instead of the usual fat, we put a feta pancetta, while on top of the caramelised skin is a potato cooked in the fat. A dish that proves that you have to know the tradition and roots of a cuisine in depth if you want to develop it well and successfully.”
Cauliflower cremeux with jasmine ganache, coconut sorbet and lemon blossom (2022)
“The first time I served it at the restaurant, the first group of people who tasted it, asked to call me to tell me that it was the most disappointing thing they had ever tasted. After that group – it's funny to think – without actually changing anything afterwards and after we kept it on the menu, it became one of the most successful desserts we have served at CTC. I remember as a child my grandmother's house stunk every time she boiled cauliflower for us to eat. She would at one point try to get me to eat it by creating alternative ways of boiling it, sometimes she would boil it with milk, and other times she would just close all the doors. At some point, I thought I could take that logic, and make a different dessert that ‘covered’ that cauliflower essence, marrying it with coconut which is a combination that goes well, and slowly a dessert was created that I am very proud of.”
All about mushrooms and cheese (2023)
“As clichéd as it sounds, we cook for people we love, and a very special person in my life loves mushrooms and cheese, so I wanted to create a whole stage dedicated to this person. We have a double tartlet with smoked cheese cream in the base, and on top is a wild mushroom tart with truffle, truffle butter and sourdough bread, in which the sourdough is fed every night with mushroom water.”
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