During our short break in Dumfries and Galloway we ate twice at the Nikos Greek Restaurant in Castle Douglas. We visited first for lunch, we were so impressed by the good food and wonderful Cretan hospitality, we returned the next evening for Dinner.
Nikos restaurant is conveniently situated in the town centre on the corner of King Street and Church Street, For both our visits we were able to park our car close to the restaurant.
The spacious restaurant is decorated in traditional Greek style. It is ground floor making it suitable for the less mobile. Chef and owner Nikos Apostolakis has over forty years of hotel and restaurant experience in Crete and the UK as well as catering experience on Cruise ships.
The purpose of our first visit was for a quick lunch before checking into a nearby holiday cottage, so we ordered a simple Greek Salad with home baked bread. The simple meal turned out to be both filling and absolutely delicious – a tasty olive dressing with delicate herbs enhanced the freshest of salad leaves and vegetables on which rested a large portion of tasty olives and creamy goats cheese, complemented by very nice herb bread. This meal was so fresh and tasty it brought the sunshine of Crete to our plate which was much appreciated as it was a cold blustery day in Scotland. It had been a long Winter and it was good to be reminded of sunnier climates!
We enjoyed our meal so much we knew we had to sample their evening meals so before leaving we reserved a table for Dinner, the following evening.
Arriving the next evening, we again were warmly welcomed by Nikos. It took us a while to choose from the menu because we love Greek food and it all looked so tempting!.
Remembering how filling my Greek Salad had been yesterday I skipped the first course but my husband ordered a tomato and basil soup which he said was delicious.
For my main course I chose Mousakka and Horiatiki (Greek Salad) and my husband Clifford chose Yemista – Beef Tomatoes, stuffed with rice and herbs, oven cooked with olive oil and served with fresh parmesan cheese. He enjoyed a side of hand- made chunky chips.
My Mousakka of minced beef and scalloped potatoes with aubergines and courgettes had a tasty Bechemal sauce and was topped with fresh parmesan cheese. My Greek salad was,as it was on my previous visit, bursting with flavour and freshness .Clifford reported his Yemista was the best he had tasted.
We followed our main course with Loukomades for myself – a rather nice Greek doughnut with nut and cinnamon in honey syrup. Clifford enjoyed Baklava – nuts, sesame seeds, cinnamon in filo pastry served with vanilla ice cream.
A good choice of Greek wines and Beers were available.
The warm hospitality, great atmosphere and superb food triggered happy memories of some of our favourite holidays in Crete. I would rate the meal as one of the best, if not the best Greek Meal I have had, even though I was in Scotland, not Greece!
Lining the length of one wall in the restaurant are shelves stocked with Greek produce and a delicatessen. This area is known as the shop area.. Here we found some lovely produce such as Cretan honey, Olive Oils, Herbs candles, soaps. Nikos is known locally for the tasty bread he bakes, and we couldn’t leave without buying some of the bread we had tasted at lunch the day before,. so we bought some, along with a jar of what turned out to be delicious honey to eat at our holiday cottage Cakes, various dishes were also available to buy and take out.
Castle Douglas is a lovely Scottish town, it is known as a foodie town so visitors do have an excellent choice of restaurants to visit. However, for those that like traditional Greek food and good Cretan hospitality then visiting Nikos Greek restaurant is a must.
The costs I show below are based on our meal at dinner.
