The Restaurant is the Greek room at Amanzoe, the Aman resort near Porto Heli on the east coast of the Peloponnese. It is perched just above the resort’s central fire pit and set above its reflective pool, with panoramic views of the Argolic Gulf. The cooking is rooted in Greek culinary tradition, and the dinner menu names the village and the island the ingredients came from.
Two dishes carry the room. One is a catch of the day baked in salt dough. The other is a Greek degustation menu served with wine pairings. Breakfast runs 7am to 11am, daily, and dinner 6.30pm to 10pm, daily.
It is one of five restaurants at the resort, with Akari holding the Japanese side and Nura the beach, and the Bar runs all day. The Restaurant’s own menu holds Greek, Mediterranean and international dishes. Tables are open to house guests and non-residents, subject to availability. There is no restaurant in the country around the hill, and the nearest tavernas are at Kilada, a fishing port a 15-minute drive away.
What the menu names
Tyrokafteri, the chilli and cheese spread of the Greek table, is made with feta from Trahia and Florina pepper. The Santorini tomatoes come with capers from Thasos and pickled onion. Charred greens arrive as a selection from the resort’s own bostani, the Greek kitchen garden, under a tahini dressing with anchovies. The crudo of local fish is laid with volaki cheese, organic tomatoes, carob rusk, pickled onion and fresh oregano.
The rest of the carte takes the Greek canon and rebuilds it at this register. Kakavia, the Greek fishermen’s soup, is made here with lobster, skorpina rock fish and squid-ink gnocchi. Lobster is cooked saganaki style under a feta foam with oregano. Prawn ntolmades comes with bisque, avgolemono, the egg and lemon sauce, and dill oil. Grilled octopus goes with lentils, fennel and seaweed, and a beef tartare with cured egg yolk, pickled strawberries and bone marrow. On the side list, a potato puree carries Greek summer truffle.
The signature spreads are served one at a time or as a trio: the tyrokafteri, a taramas with bottarga and bonito flakes, and a tzatziki of garlic, yoghurt, dill and cucumber. The mains run a fish of the day, jumbo prawns, an orzotto with lobster in bisque and lemon jam, and the catch of the day spetsiota with tomato sauce and potato textures. The meat is a Greek beef cut, a USDA rib-eye of 300g, lamb chop, Iberico pork presa, chicken with celeriac, celery and leeks, and lamb under a spice crust with broccoli and cauliflower. A charcoal section is served with a choice of sauce and side, and the sauces include ladolemono, the oil and lemon dressing, and a chimichurri. For a table without meat there is a spanakorizo risotto with feta, fennel, toasted hazelnuts and dill oil, and an imam of aubergine, onion, smoked tomato and katiki cheese.
Where the food comes from
Three supply lines feed the kitchen: the resort’s own gardens, Aegean seafood and pasture-raised meat. The gardens are the bostani, farmed on the estate, and its produce reaches the menu under its own name, as the charred greens and as the herbs on the crispy potatoes. Everything else comes through the resort’s own network of regional purveyors.
Edward Tuttle’s hill
Amanzoe is the work of Edward Tuttle, the architect who drew Amanpuri in Phuket in 1988, the first Aman and the pattern every one since has followed. The resort was designed as a modern-day Acropolis, set on a hilltop with a 360-degree aspect over olive groves, and it holds 38 pavilions. The Restaurant gives a table three rooms to choose from: an open terrace, a shaded courtyard or the cool interior. Soaring windows carry the sea view into the last of them.
Who is this for
The Restaurant suits a table that wants Greek cooking at a high register and a long evening to give it. The air up here carries thyme, the grounds are walled, and the quiet is close to total. It suits a guest with a day of ancient Greece behind them: Epidaurus, the fourth-century BC theatre and sanctuary of Asclepius, is under an hour’s drive, and Mycenae 90 minutes by car. It suits anyone crossing from Hydra or Spetses, a boat ride off.
