#32 | Line, Athens, Greece
Last Visit: May 2023
We've already talked about The Clumsies, the big star in Athens — at least as far as famous names are concerned — with mixed results. Today we're discussing their, relatively new, second project, Line. When John and I visited last year, it had only been open for a year, and they had opted for a distinct location, away from the inner city center. It feels like usually everything in Athens is within walking distance of each other, just like in my hometown of Cologne. That’s almost a little crazy when you think about it, and might surprise new visitors to a city as diverse and exciting as Athens.
For Line, an industrial building, about 20 minutes away from most of the bar bubble, that had also housed a gallery for some time was completely renovated. The aim was to retain a certain industrial and rustic charm, which works extremely well and was accentuated with a few small design touches. The special features of the place are immediately apparent as soon as you step through the green velvet curtains: the high ceilings, the openness, and the space. So many corners and focal points that you want to look at and where you can discover something new.
If you look from the far left to the right, you will first find the door to the laboratory, which is also very spacious, including some elaborate and expensive devices and equipment. Such premises just for a laboratory would be almost impossible, meaning unaffordable, in the middle of a central city location. Then to the right is a rather dark, first bar counter, which is intended for high quality coffee and has the corresponding machines ready. Directly above it (see the picture above) you have a cool view of the bottle collection on the mezzanine floor, which consists mainly of the wines produced in-house. The large, inviting main bar counter follows centrally, almost directly opposite as you enter; the commercial spirits and more of the homemade bottlings can be found here. Again made of dark wood, which immediately conveys a little coziness in the otherwise cold room and works well. Further to the right is another small, semicircular stone bar, behind which you can find the bar's own home-made beers on taps.
No, we're not finished yet. Even further to the right again is something that catches your eye as soon as you enter the room: a huge roller shutter door, like something from a car repair shop, cranked up to reveal the glass covered conservatory and inner courtyard behind it, quite impressive. At the right end of the room we find more tables (as well as in the middle, including stone art objects and other design details), in addition to a wooden, rustic DJ booth with old school records and a small bar library behind it. Rarely have I experienced such a strong feeling of “luxury” when entering a bar or restaurant location without a 5-star hotel behind it and without the classic indicators such as obviously expensive furniture or chic materials. Luxury in the sense of the space, this freedom and the mass of details, as well as measured against the 8-10 “classic bars” that could fit in here, which leaves you quite fascinated.
If you don't sit at one of the several counters, you have more of a restaurant and bistro atmosphere, especially during the day, albeit at a high-end level. That is thanks to the location and with the noticeable influence of the former, alternative gallery. The service is of course different and not as proactive as in small, narrow bars where you sit less than 3–4 meters away from the bartender. All this with a menu that also reads 80% like that of a sustainable, interesting gastronomy concept. It includes 10-12 twisted classics, most of which stand out simply by being added or switched with a homemade spirit or their own wine. For some recipes, on the other hand, there is no apparent “unique selling point” (meaning a clear twist) on the menu, but this could also be because not every ingredient is named. And there are plenty of them, the home-made ingredients: home-made beer, home-made (fruit) wine, home-made eau de vie, home-made bread, home-made cheese even, made with the leftovers from the fermentation process for beer and wine. Sustainability and holistic approaches are very obviously integrated here, and yet without any dogmatic veneer. To have a better idea of the whole concept, see the menu below, you have a choice of snacks and small dishes, some typical of a restaurant only for brunch times, others for the whole day.
The bright and spacious rooms, and especially the much more relaxed staff compared to The Clumsies (and remember, we weren't there at peak times), immediately create a feel-good ambiance and a desire to linger and take your time. For example, one of the three founders, sitting at the bar, noticed me walking over to the DJ booth, or rather the small library behind it, and taking a souvenir photo of the proudly positioned Schumann book “The American Bar”. He came straight to us and asked us if we were from Munich (the hometown of Charles Schumann), which we denied with an explanation, but that we, of course, had been visiting the city several times before. He told us very kindly and openly that his cousin worked at Schumann's and that's why he was happy to display the book. We were also asked if we liked everything at Line until now and how we were getting on in the city. Moments like these stay with you.
Mary Pickford
| Line’s Pomegranate Eau de Vie
| Pineapple
| Pomegranate Whyin Molasses
An exciting riff on a typical B-classic, the Mary Pickford. Originally made with white rum, some pineapple juice, maraschino, and grenadine. With this twist, the focus is entirely on pomegranate and, as with the other drink of the day, on what interesting things are made from that pomegranate in the laboratory. In this case, it is a brandy and molasses under their own wine label. Both are quite aroma-intensive ingredients, and you could tell that from the drink. Compared to the classic cocktail with the same name, a much more concentrated, intense peak of flavors comes straight at you. Intense pomegranate acidity, fermented pineapple, balsamic notes, slightly nutty in between. A little too much foam on top for my taste, which, like the drink itself, wasn't quite as cold as I would have ideally liked. While the flavors were intense, they seemed a touch too “aggressive”, like in the early days of the verjus and shrub hype, when many overdid it a bit with the vinegary notes. The spicy crumble garnish on top was quite nice, evoking notes of speculoos on the nose. An exciting drink that I personally would have balanced a little differently. Either in the ratio or by adding another element to round off the edges.
12 Stars Collins
| Metaxa 12 Stars
| Cotton Honey Spirit
| Cotton Honey Vinegar
| Raw Cotton Honey
As soon as you read the recipe, it becomes clear that this is a prime example of the drinks to be expected in Line if you have already heard about the sustainability and in-house production concept of the bar. Triple use of a single ingredient and the famous Greek brandy to boot. Which can be found in many good bars in the city and usually in the premium 12 Stars versions, as is the case here. This created some excitement before ordering. What we got was a really smooth longdrink that plays nicely with the aromas of honey, which is considered quite delicate and floral-sweet in the form of the special cotton-honey. However, due to the clear focus on one ingredient, it automatically feels a little one-dimensional for today's drinking habits. What it did, it did quite well, but apart from delicate grapes and that very honey, with a nice little spike of acidity, there wasn't much to be found. Elegantly and deliciously presented, Collins' are not the most complex drinks in the bar world anyway. Refreshing, simple and the CO₂ was ideally dosed.
/jf
Let's move on to the rest of the menu program, you could almost say the highlight of the concept, even if we could only catch two or three glimpses. On the one hand, the Line's divine French toast. With homemade sourdough bread, topped with sweet, full-bodied yet refreshing bougatsa cream. Bougatsa is a specialty of the Greek north and can be made sweet or savory, think filo dough folded like puff pastry and filled with semolina cream in the sweet version. Aside from this, the toast was topped with a caramelized apple sauce, hazelnut and “miso-candy”. Only one side of the bread, the underside, was grilled crunchy and caramelized, while the fluffy cream was slightly reminiscent of a perfect cream pie filling, with notes of honey, egg, semolina, and rice pudding. The topping ultimately made you forget everything else, between intense apple, nuts and the earthy, full-bodied miso, combined with the crystalline sweetness of brown sugar. I really couldn't get enough of it, even though it was a huge portion and, like everywhere else in Athens, at a crazy-sounding price for the quality (€7). John, on the other hand, had the easy but perfectly executed yogurt bowl with granola.
Then, of course, we had to try the well-known, homemade fruit wine at least once, pomegranate seemed quite fitting after the cocktail with that very fruit. The aromas on the menu also sounded the most exciting, which the wine was able to deliver. Only slightly chilled, as with normal wine, and you get notes of (who would have thought it) pomegranate seeds, but also intense, dried rose petals, some smoky cedar wood and spices such as aniseed and clove, as well as walnut emerged. A really great and already very polished product, where you can, without hesitation, get a whole bottle for the way home at the bar.
The equally long text about the culinary experiences beyond the actual cocktails already reflects the conclusion well. Line is not really a “normal” and definitely not a “classic” cocktail bar anyway, but much more than that, both in terms of the concept and, even more so, the allocation of space for all its aspects on site. Here you can start early in the morning with coffee and sweets for dessert or a salad, enjoy an aperitivo later and then dive into more serious drinks with their home-made ingredients in the evening. The cocktails are a little more stringent and monothematic than at Clumsies, but also more to the point and with less fuss around it, which didn't always come across in the final drink at the main Clumsies bar. More honest and direct. As an overall concept, Line is therefore the clear winner of the two siblings, as there is much more on offer here and, in particular, the atmosphere on the part of the staff and also in the large rooms is much more pleasant. So although Line was noticeably behind Barro Negro or a Baba Au Rhum in terms of the complexity of the flavors in the actual cocktails, it was a real highlight of our Athens tour as an overall experience. Would I put it in the World's 50 Best Bars, which for me should definitely focus on cocktails and on which it currently sits in 12th place, believe it or not? No. Would I recommend it to every visitor in Athens as a stop, and have already done so several times? Yes.
/rds
The menus from May 2023:
