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‘Stefanos trained in Paris before spending a year at a five-star hotel in Singapore where he started to experiment with a fusion of Greek and Southeast Asian spices. Wait until you try his desserts – his baklava made withgula melakainstead of honey is to die for. What he creates is paradise on the lips, but…’
‘But what?’
‘Well, it’s not exactly what the typical visitor to Santorini wants.’ Katerina nodded towards the group of men drinking bottles of Mythos at a table overlooking the adjacent lemon grove who were in the process of demolishing a large platter of souvlaki and French fries with gusto. ‘Unfortunately, the dishes he creates so lovingly are rarely ordered, and when they are, it’s not unusual for diners to return them because they’re not “Greek enough”. That’s why I – and Stefanos’ other friends – always make a point of asking for one of his fusion recipes when we have dinner here. Can you imagine how it must feel for a chef who has been classically trained to have to make the same recipes every single day, with no variation, no opportunity to make something as unique as this? What Stefanos creates is still Greek food, but with an added twist.’
‘They don’t know what they’re missing.’
‘I agree, and so does Giorgos, but he has to balance the books and Stefanos has to earn a living, so his days are filled with preparing a constant fayre of Greek salads, moussaka, souvlaki, andsoutzoukakia, and an endless supply of fries. Don’t get me wrong, all the ingredients are fresh and locally sourced, and his tzatziki is made using a secret recipe handed down to him by his grandmother, but as an accomplished chef, he’s worried that unless he’s continually expanding his repertoire, his culinary creativity will become stale, or worse, lost.’
When she’d scraped the last speck of Stefanos’ dark chocolate mousse – flavoured with a dash of Cognac – from her plate, Suzie sat back in her chair and sipped the wine that Katerina had told her had been made from grapes grown on Santorini. Like the food, it, too, was delicious; smooth, fruity, with just a top-note tobacco, and after a second glass, the nugget of anxiety she had played host to for far too long began to dissolve a little. An unfamiliar feeling of mellowness infiltrated her veins, and she realised thatTaverna Giorgoswas not simply a Greek restaurant, but a truly special place.
***
By the time eleven o’clock came around, the restaurant had started to empty. Giorgos began to clear the tables, ably assisted by a petite waitress with long blonde hair tied into a high ponytail with a blue and white silk scarf – a nod to the taverna’s theme. Her eye makeup was spectacular; a wave of emerald-green glitter, which enhanced the colour of her eyes beautifully, spread from her lash-line to her brow-line in the shape of an angel’s wing, outlined with a rim of gold. She wore the sameTaverna Giorgosapron as the rest of the restaurant’s staff, except hers had been embellished with golden suns made with sequins, and her earlobes sported a pair of knitted earrings that were green and spherical, with tiny triangles of green felt glued onto them. Suzie knew straightaway that this must be Katerina’s friend Heidi, the creator of the gallery’s hand-made menagerie and greengrocers.
‘Heidi, come and meet Suzie.’
‘Hey, Suzie, great to meet you,’ said Heidi, dropping into the chair next to Katerina, her lilting Welsh accent falling softly on Suzie’s ears. ‘Are you here on holiday?’
‘No, I’m helping Kat out at the gallery for a couple of weeks.’
‘Suzie’s Amber’s sister,’ Katerina reminded her.
‘Ah, yes, of course, sorry. Amber did tell me you were coming over from the UK. It’s really kind of you to drop everything so she can go travelling with Tom. Oh, how I’d love to go on a backpacking adventure through Thailand – a trip to Koh Chang is definitely on my bucket list. Malaysia is, too,andBali. I really do need to start ticking off those countries or I’ll run out of time.’
‘You’re twenty-five!’ Katerina laughed, rolling her eyes at her friend. ‘And at last count you’ve been to thirty-one countries already.’
‘Thirty-two if you count Vatican City.’
‘Which is thirty countries more than me,’ said Katerina.
‘Wow, that’s a lot of travelling,’ said Suzie.
‘Yeah, most of it I didn’t get a say in, though. Hey, guess what?’
Katerina grinned, her dark brown eyes filled with affection. ‘What?’
‘I’ve had an idea for a new business venture.’
‘You have?’ Katerina cast a glance at Suzie that said, “Told you”.
‘I’m thinking of creating my own brand of perfume, using only natural, organic ingredients. What do you think?’
Heidi thrust her wrist under Katerina’s nose, then under Suzie’s, her green eyes filled with excitement and hope as she waited for their verdict. Suzie inhaled a breath and struggled to prevent herself from swiftly recoiling in disgust as the aroma of burnt car tyres mingled with soapy washing-up liquid assaulted her nostrils.
Fortunately, Katerina was well-practiced in dealing with Heidi’s myriad business ideas, and instead of providing honest feedback – and thereby crushing her “perfume empire” idea before it had even got off the ground – she diverted her friend’s attention elsewhere.
‘Does that mean you’ve decided not to go into the literary cocktail-making business?’
‘No, no, I’m still doing that. Did you tell Suzie about tomorrow night?’
‘Not yet, I—’
‘Oh, Suzie, you have you come! Our friend Miranda – who’s taken over the running of her cousin’s bookshop here in Oia for the summer – is going to be my very first client! While Denise is away attending her best friend’s fifth wedding in Cornwall, Miranda has decided that the bookshop should hold its first Book Club night,andshe’s asked me to create a bunch of cocktails that complement the books they’ve chosen to talk about.’
‘Sounds like fun.’
‘Oh, it will be lots of fun, I can promise you that. We’re doing a dry-run – or perhaps I should call it a “tasting” session – tomorrow night before the actual launch on Friday, just to make sure everything’s perfect. I don’t want to poison anyone! Myabsolutefavourite creation is my chocolate Martini, made with Irish cream liqueur, chocolate syrup and vodka, served in a chocolate-coated glass and decorated with a generous sprinkle of cocoa, which I’ve paired with Miranda’s favourite book,Chocolat. Please say you’ll come!’
