Filippou: the history of the popular restaurant in Kolonaki and the famous people who sat at its tables
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In the distant 1923, Athens had nothing to do with what we know today. Few houses, few cars, muddy neighborhoods, lots of dirt roads. Up there in the Kolonaki (which even if this had nothing to do with what we see today), and on Xenokratous o Konstantinos Filippou, coming from Dichori Fokidos in search of a better fortune for himself and his family, opens a small shop in the basement of a two-story house that performs the duties of a charcoal maker, ice cream shop and wine seller. The customers are few but everyday. The barrels have good wine from Mesogeia, Mr. Kostas is helpful and communicative, he develops relationships of trust with his customers, his wife helps closely by making a couple of appetizers to treat those who want to try the wine on the spot. Nothing major... a meatball, some pickles, a couple of beans, a plate of lentils.
The years pass and the Philip he remains steadfast in his post, watching Athens change, going through poverty, wars, civil wars, juntas and kings. In 1967, which had already been taken over by Konstantinos' son, Giannis, the small two-storey building was demolished, its place was replaced by a large apartment building and Philip is "upgraded" by occupying the ground floor with his small shop. There will be barrels of good wine and some extra tables for the ever-increasing number of customers. The workers who build upside down apartment buildings in Foreigners but also in the neighboring streets, the noons gather here, o Philip puts the big cauldrons on and makes spaghetti with minced meat that fills the people. They pass by the tables every day the residents of the neighborhood who also bring their friends, but also well-known businessmen, politicians, intellectuals, painters and many artists. Some are so frequent that they rightfully own their "table". Like the Panagiotis Kanellopoulos the great politician and prime minister of Greece who lives in the apartment building right next door – with his death and for months after, his table was left empty, with a red rose on it "in memory".
Giannis' young son, Kostas, has also started work, but the father wants his son to study, so he sends him to Italy to become a pharmacist. The little boy is studying, on one of his trips back home he meets her Patricia. She is a diaspora Greek born in Australia, but every summer she comes to her grandparents' village. They fall in love, and as soon as Kostas finishes his studies, they get married. But, the Kostas Filippou he was born and raised in his father's tavern so, as is more than expected, he leaves pharmacology and takes over the shop. The young couple faithfully follows the route laid out by father Giannis, but also brings a fresh air to the business. He introduces the "system", i.e. while until now everything was in the "note book", they put a cash register, they also establish delivery. In the kitchen, they follow the old recipes to the letter, adding a lot more. Along with them are the old cooks whom Kostas and Patricia make them remember the recipes of their places.
Every day the tables are full. THE Katsifaras with his pastoral company but also the "beautiful presences", o Mitsotakis who enters and is greeted by everyone, but also Elytis, Marios Ploritis with Dandoulaki who live in Deinokratous, also a neighbor Irini Papa, The Carolos Papoulias, later Simitis with Dafni, Tetsis, Lappas, Yiannis Diakogiannis with his daughter Rika Vagiannis, Tzimis Panousis and also Psinakis with Rouvas, Angelos Delivorias of the Benaki Museum, Vlassis Bonatsos with Martha and their baby daughter, o Giannis Bezos, Michalis Aslanis who has his studio a little further down, h Angela Gerekou, Konstantinos Tzoumas – daily customer he – along with him Alki Panagiotidis and the George Kotanidis.
Large hotels such as Great Britain, the Hilton, the Saint George Lycabettus they send their foreigners here every time they ask for a good restaurant to experience authentic Greek cuisine. In Philippou's tavern everyone finds their second living room, they feel familiar, at the restaurant's doorstep they leave all their senses and enjoy the homely comfort that is emphasized even more as the kitchen fills them with everything from Greek cuisine. Grilled lamb and veal kebabs, cabbage dolmades, chicken juvezzi and stuffed, chicken a la Milanese and fricassee, moussaka, pasticcio, artichokes a la polita, pies, but also grilled grouper fish with greens and Athenian. Around 25 dishes are cooked in Filippo's pots every day, 11-12 at noon and the same amount at night. There are many foods that finish before they even go into the pan, loyal customers "close" them from the morning. The Saturday grouper and the Athenian grouper become rapturous.
Around 25 dishes are cooked in Filippo's pots every day, 11-12 at noon and the same amount at night. Everything from Greek cuisine.
In the summer of 2022 and on another renovation of the store Kostas dies suddenly at the age of 56, betrayed by his heart. Big blow for all of her Philip's family. Because everyone, bosses, waiters, cooks and even the suppliers (some who bring the bread, the groceries, the good fish, the wine from the Mediterranean vines have been partners for over 40 years), the everyday loyal customers, have become a family. It is also the neighborhood that passes by here every day and cheers them up "We are with you, don't shut it down, we support you." The restaurant seems to have been left without a head, but it is also "standing" here Patricia and their two daughters, young twins Marianna and Cynthia. When their father is ill, they immediately come back to Greece from Australia, where they are studying, to support him. With his untimely death, they clench their teeth and just as they too are born and raised in Philippi's kitchens, are now taking over the reins of the fourth generation of Philippou with their mother. With them are always the long-time cooks and the two Georges, the waiters, one of whom has been working at his post for 36 years and the other for a few... only 26! They all jump up and continue with the same fervor the famous Philip.
They all think so Philip serves a daily need, the food, is not a place of entertainment, they tell me an afternoon yesterday that I have passed to meet. "We receive people, as if we are opening our home to them, and we treat them as if they are members of our family. We know them all and they know us, we talk about our children and our jobs, we always exchange a couple of funny or heart-felt conversations". And that is exactly what so many generations have loved for a century. This calmness and fulfillment that can give you a plate of food, made with traditional recipes and in the same and unchanged way for years, a food that was not "acquired" by fashions and trends, but wanted to remain unadulterated, energizing and loving just like our mother used to cook it for us. In a space that does not accommodate excesses, and with an "equal" world. Here, in this hall where whoever enters leaves the problems outside, and everyone, rich and poor, famous and anonymous, becomes the same in front of the hunger that asks to be satisfied.
For her completion of 100 years the family with the help of the 23-year-old Mariannas Filippou who has studied directing, made a very beautiful documentary through which old and new customers go through photos of the old, nostalgic moments and anecdotes, while they talk about the moments they spent in this space. And, Saturday, March 18, the Philip's family he invites us to see it together and then offers us meatballs and wine and food that made history, all that made us go again and again to the beloved, centuries-old Philippou. We will be there... - NENELA GEORGELE
From Moralis to Tzouma: The stories of the people who passed through Philippou's tables
If Platanos in Plaka was the hangout of Pikionis and Seferis, Magemenos Avlos in Pagrati the hangout of Manos Hatzidakis, Dourabeis in Piraeus and Leonidas in Parnitha the haunts of Konstantinos Karamanlis, Filippo's restaurant he was closely associated with our leading painter Yannis Moralis.
Moralis had a house in Foreigners and atelier one street above, in Deinokratous. Every morning, he made the same route. He would start from his atelier in Deinokratous (he preferred to sleep there than at home), and go down to Brasilian to drink his coffee with the rest of the company. Then he started to climb again towards the highlands of Kolonaki, he made a stop at the shop of his friend and colleague, the potter Elenis Vernadakis, second stop at his other girlfriend, the Lena Strogylou and third stop at Zoumboulakis Gallery to talk and gossip with his gallerist and closest person to him until the end of his life, Peggy Zoumboulakis. Around one o'clock he arrived at Philippou's restaurant. There his own exclusive table was waiting for him in a secluded corner near the galley. For his meal to begin, two things had to happen: First, a plate of peppers and onions had to be available, and second, his driver had arrived to order as well. We learn from the restaurant staff that Moralis never ate unless his guide had been served. "Moralis was always served by Alekos" remembers today George Adamopoulos, a restaurant employee for 35 years. "Then I took him over. He loved legumes, grouper and always had a bottle of red wine that we kept in the cellar, a bottle every two days. When he was alone he was closed with his back turned, he didn't want to be disturbed. However, the times he was accompanied by a female presence, he became unrecognizable, heart out, to the point where we wonder if it is really Mr. Moralis or someone else."
"Adamo, a grouper and a splat splat"! It was the moment he entered the restaurant Konstantinos Tzoumas. His daily customer Philip the well-known actor, lived in Deinokratous and came down every afternoon, often in the evening, to eat. "Come into the store" remembers George Adamopoulos (hence the diminutive "Adamo"), "he saw me with plates and trays in my hands and massaged my back while spouting the most godly words his mind could think of."
THE Kostas Simitis both as a minister and as a prime minister he did not fail to go uphill, always with his wife Dafni, from their home in Anagnostopoulou to the restaurant. "He was the most shy and quiet man I have ever served" G. Adamopoulos remembers. "He would come to me and whisper to me: "Mr. George, is there any table for two?" He usually chose steak while his wife chose fish. He would grab a small table in the corner and stop bothering us."
Unlike him Konstantinos Mitsotakis that, when he entered the restaurant, the whole restaurant stood up to greet him and treat him. "I have never encountered this before with another politician", remembers George.
The MP and former minister will be unforgettable for his kindness Giannis Kefalogiannis. "He would come into the shop and ask me, 'George, what do we have today?' and I, to make fun of the Cretan politician, answered him "We have delicious Tzias steak"! I was greatly impressed by his insistence on never being served unless his safety was served first. He kept asking me "Did you go sweet to Nikos, does he want some more wine?", remembers George.
THE George Klagos he is another employee of his Philip which closes almost three decades. He remembers the terrible Vlassi Bonatso to nose up out of nowhere in a convertible, leave it in the middle of the road, enter the store and order while outside there is chaos from the honking of other people's horns.
He was still a regular patron the gallerist Renos Xippas, who represented, among others, sculptor Takis, also a patron of his Philip, since his apartment was a few meters down on it Foreigners. "One day, Takis appears with a white kelebia", Giorgos recalls, "and as a well-known Athenian woman sees him, she whispers in my ear, 'Hello, who is that with the sheet?'"
"A select one we have served" he says George Klagos, "and we had never recognized him until after he passed away, he was the artist Giorgos Lappas. Now his daughter often comes here." "And Lena Engonopoulou" adds Giorgos Adamopoulos "she used to come to eat, she even gave me a screen print of her husband".
With the same sweetness and smile they remember him as their client Tsimako the Panousis. Giorgos Adamos even has a plate painted by him that he gave him one evening.
The stories that were heard that night when we met him George Klagos and the George Adamopoulos they could become a book. Why once historic restaurant which has fed, accommodated and seated around its tables so many Athenians and non-Athenians, is in itself The History of a City. – STAVROULA PANAGIOTAKIS
Filippou Restaurant: Xenokratous 19 & Plutarchou, Kolonaki, 2107216390
Source: athensvoice