Taverna Kyclades

Many of our friends who live in Astoria recommended Taverna Kyclades to us. What a find! The Taverna specializes in fresh seafood and they don’t disappoint. I found the staff to be very knowledgable about the menu and they happily answered the many questions that I had for them.

A hot loaf of crusty bread was brought to the table before we had even looked at the menu. Warm and chewy on the inside and crusty on the outside, drizzled of olive oil, it made for a great start to the meal. We ordered an appetizer of skordalia which is a cold potato and garlic dip. Boldly flavored, it is scooped up with hunks of the warm bread. Great!

My girlfriend had the swordfish kebab with vegetables. As always, we split the entrees. This was some of the best swordfish I’ve had lately. Grilled to charred perfection, it was still most and flaky with a subtle fish flavor, and the vegetables (zucchini, onions and tomatoes)were soft, yet retained a slight crunch. I had the baked stuffed shrimp with crabmeat. Normally I don’t go in for most stuffed seafood dishes as I find them too bread-heavy, or the seafood stuffing tends to be very fishy. This was absolutely perfect. The firm-textured shrimp were cooked just right. The stuffing was buttery, herbaceous, and had lots of crabmeat. The extra butter on the plate was great on the very flavorful rice, which is cooked with aromatic bits of carrot and green peppers.

I tried something new tonight: dandelion greens. I believe they are steamed and they have a great bitter greens flavor. I like how they are wilted, yet retain some of their crunch. However, they are also served cold (I’m not sure if that was intentional). I love greens, but I do prefer them warm or at least room temperature.

The crown jewel was the dessert, called galaktoboureco, described by the waitress as a Greek custard cake. It was made with phyllo dough and drenched in honey syrup and dusted with cinnamon. I didn’t think it was possible to be utterly moved by a non-chocolate dessert, but this one made a believer out of me.

The staff here are pretty great. Our waitress was very helpful, funny, and made the experience very enjoyable. The chef came out at the end of our meal and asked how everything was and talked with us for a bit. Astoria has the largest Greek population outside of Greece and therefore has a wealth of Greek restaurants to choose from. If you make your way there, Taverna Kyclades is worth a visit.