Sagittarius Restaurant Pizzeria Bar, Tigaki, Kos Island, Greece
Sagittarius Restaurant Pizzeria Bar was opened in 1989 and so is perhaps one of the longest established in Tigaki. It has a wide menu covering pizzas, Italian and Indian meals as well as Greek home cooking and a nice central fountain area and a stone waterfall.
Last year we visited Sagittarius twice, perhaps because it is one of the closest places to our apartment. The first time I remember being impressed by the Greek plate. The second time I had a good mixed grill, but did note that it isn’t the cheapest of tavernas in Tigaki.
While we were there in 2015, I was treated to an amazing display of consumption by a Brit couple on the table opposite me:
At one point I didn’t think the rotund lady was going to finish the pizza she was having all to herself, but she did. She paused every now and again to take a breath and wipe droplets of sweat from her brow and then chowed on until it was all gone. It was like watching an episode of Man vs. Food, and just watching it was starting to give me acid reflux. Then she rocked on her seat for a bit and drank some beer and ordered pudding. The biggest chocolate sundae I’ve ever seen in my life.
This year I opted for the Greek plate again while Siggy enjoyed a jacket potato stuffed with feta cheese. It was a hot night but the avuncular Manolis found us a relatively cooler table and, despite the availability of over sixty cocktails (you have to ask for a separate menu), we ordered two large local beers and listened to the jolly Greek music while we waited for our starter of cheesy garlic bread. The starter was simple, gloriously buttery and a calorific delight. Heavy on the cheese and light on the garlic.
It’s a shame that the Greek plate didn’t hit the spot for me. I’m not sure what changed from last year but it felt like a plate of stodge. Among the stodge (Greek oven potatoes, stuffed tomato, dolmades and orzo – large rice shaped pasta) there were a few good spots. The unexpected star of the show were the onions from the stifado which were gloriously sweet and hid a rather dry lump of beef which was flavoursome but difficult to swallow without some beer to wash it down. The moussaka thankfully had very little béchamel sauce and almost no nutmeg.
I think perhaps that I made a mistake in not opting for a mixed grill and wouldn’t hold one duff plate against them.
Afterwards, among other things (drinks), we had a couple of nice cocktails at Tirbouson cocktail bar. One made with fruity crushed ice and the other a mixture of Baileys and zambuca (or was it pernod? I forget – it was a strange beast). Pretty much all the bars in Tigaki ply you with bowls of peanuts but this place (and More Meni bar) give you paprika crisps.
Again a quote from couchmagpie.com last year (oddly from the same day as the previous quote):
We tried a different cocktail bar just a few doors from the taverna called Tirbouson which is adjoined to the Marianna hotel. It was nice for a change to have cocktails that weren’t overdressed with umbrellas, sparklers, plastic monkeys etc. the cocktails were damn tasty and were accompanied by paprika crisps instead of nuts which was another good touch. Took ages to come mind.
They weren’t so busy this year and so the drinks came quite quickly. However on another visit I did overhear someone rudely complain to the waiter that he was too slow with the drinks.
The moral of this post is that some people need to think before they open their mouths (or order their food).
All photography (c) Matthew Haynes.
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