Restaurant Review: Kryptos by Willi

Let me just start off by saying that I am huge fan of Chef Willi's food. I love, love, LOVE the food at Tuscana. Burgundy has some tasty stuff as well, though hot buffets are not my favorite kind of dining experience - the food tends to get kinda overcooked and dry sometimes, don't you think? So when we were invited to review the Greek-Cypriot restaurant 'Kryptos', I was quite excited. I had been there once before, and enjoyed the cold mezze buffet!

This time, our hosts had a set menu planned for us. We had unlimited access to the cold mezze buffet (yay!) and a few warm mezze dishes, and our mains and desserts had been ordered for us. I couldn't wait to get started!

I started with the cold mezze and loaded my plate with all my favorite things. By the time I walked back to my table, I felt like I was being greedy, but there was really a LOT of yummy stuff on the buffet and I just had to try them all. I loved the salads - there were so many kinds, and my favorites were some awesome pickled vegetables, a really nice potato salad and the classic Insalata Caprese. Apart from the lovely salads they had some really lovely dips - hummus, tzatziki and a few more. And they had a few varieties of cheese. You know how I love me some cheese. Very nice spread!

The warm mezze dishes were served to us at the table and I sampled a few of them.

There were quite a few vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, and I just loved the vegetarian ones! My favorite of the lot were these rolls called Bourekakia Melitzanes (don't ask me to pronounce it!), which were deep fried rolls filled with cheese and eggplant. Oh my! They were really, really yummy! The falafel was also really good.

Among the non-vegetarian ones, I liked the Lamb and Aubergine rolls. There was a fried lady finger fish, which is supposed to be eaten whole - bones and all, but personally, I felt the fish was too big and the bones were too brittle. Swallowing was a little painful for me. But then again, maybe it was just me!

The mains arrived in quick succession. There was a chicken breast dish which was flavored with garlic and mint. I found it under-seasoned and didn't enjoy it much.

Next up came an impressive and intriguing looking claypot. In it was oven baked fish cooked with potatoes and herbs. While I loved the presentation, the flavors just didn't work for me, and I felt that the fish was a little over-cooked. The pot seemed to retain a lot of heat, and I feel that the fish kept cooking long after it was taken off the stove.

The beef dish, called Fried Hamburgers, was my favorite among the non-vegetarian dishes, but to be honest it didn't blow my mind either. It was fine. And it was well-seasoned.

My favorite main of the evening turned out to be a dish called 'Papoutsakia' which was eggplant halves (are you noticing a pattern here?) stuffed with some aromatics, a bechamel sauce and some cheesy topping that was all melted and golden. I just LOVED it and helped myself to a second eggplant half. The other vegetarian dishes were also good.

Along with the mains, we were served some sides of caramelized carrots, potato wedges and garlic rice. All the sides were really tasty and the potato wedges were so incredibly crispy! I was very impressed with the sides.

Finally, we got to dessert and we were served a moist chocolate 'pie' and baklava.

The chocolate dessert tasted pretty good, though I couldn't figure out what made it a 'pie'. It had a very unusual (but not unpleasant) texture and had a deep chocolate-y flavor. I quite enjoyed it. The baklava, I didn't like much. I felt there was a LOT of the filling and not enough pastry layers. Personally, my favorite part of baklava is the crispy filo pastry, and this one just didn't have enough for me!

An interesting new thing at Kryptos is that the menu is bilingual - with all the dishes explained both in English and in the local language, Tamil. Quite unique, I must say!


Overall, I enjoyed the meal - especially the mezze dishes (hot and cold). Would I go back to Kryptos? Yes - to enjoy some awesome mezze!