You have to be open in new experiences and new flavors visiting your mouth.

That didn’t sound so right, but you know what I mean. There is something magical about visiting restaurants in your country that are focused on bringing a whole other country and culture to where you live. When talking about a whole nation that is so different in the ways of living and cooking, it makes you wonder how different their lifestyle is from yours.

Birdman is the place to be if you’re living in Athens (or visiting Greece) and for one night you want to eat something that doesn’t have baked eggplant in it or tzatziki on the side. Created to take you on a tasteful ride on the imaginary streets of Japan, bringing to your plate some very interesting food sticks straight from Japanese culture that are going to blow your mind and mouth, like they did to mine.

The location? The very center of Athens, more specifically type to your GPS Voulis 35, Athina and walk on the paved street of Ermou where all the shops are located. Turn around the H&M big store and walk until you see the yellow sign.

Attention! You probably should make a reservation before visiting. It is a fairly small place, which is exactly what makes it a bit hard to find a spot to eat. Personally, I tried once or twice to make a reservation, but due to time and space it was difficult. I made it though and I couldn’t be happier.

These days I am all about trying new things, seeing and visiting places I haven’t before. When you realize how much this world has to offer you are all in for it and somehow it’s like your insides are eager to have the most of this world’s experiences.

Birdman was my Japanese style experience. I was introduced to it by my partner, who like me is eager to try our new cuisines. We were amazed by it all.

Although, the place was very small it had a very nice, chill vibe to it. You don’t have to be dressed formal to eat there, because it’s like a Japanese fast food place and the people there are all young adults with passion for food and Japanese culture.

We sat on the kitchen stool, which is nothing like you imagine. Yes, it’s in front of the kitchen and bar, where all the magic happens, but it’s so interesting seeing the barmen (and women) and chefs there in their place of work that you can’t help but look at them as their hands and bodies go back and forth, around each other, creating your dish. They are so synchronized in the kitchen, that despite the fact the space is small, it doesn’t seem they mind it. It’s nice to see people working in perfect sync with each other.

The service was very friendly, almost like they knew us for a while. They asked if it’s our first time there, which makes sense because the menu was a bit hard for us to understand. Thankfully, the service was ready to answer any question we had and to navigate us through the menu and the variety of choices. They had recommendations with their favorite dishes and were ready to recommend us the best bites for us to try.

We opted for a sando for each of us, which as I found out it’s their way to call a sandwich and a “Taste of the Bird”, which basically is a tray with 4 different chicken meat sticks and parts of the chicken. It even had a stick with chicken hearts. Never had that before, it truly was tender and interesting, but a bit spicy I must say. If you’re the kind of person who likes spicy, they know exactly what to recommend for you to try.

The tray came along a bowl of steamed rice, a Japanese must, which we ate with our chopsticks. I don’t know about you, but I have seen various videos on Youtube, where Japanese people are teaching you how to use them – therefore, for me it was a bit easier to use than most. Thanks for that, Youtube!

What I truly enjoyed is that the barwoman helped us also with our food choices and our drinks. She paid attention to what we were asking, asked us what we are usually drinking and made sure to give us the right drinks for our meal. I was impressed with the drink options and how each cocktail had a special name, straight out of a Japanese series or such.

I got a Fuafua? I still can’t pronounce it, but it was delicious and had a taste of an orange juice. Splendid!
On the other hand, if you don’t feel like drinking there are also nonalcoholic beverages that are so tasteful that you’d think they have alcohol in them. It’s a nice option for people who are driving afterwards.

If you stumble at Birdman, make sure you get plenty of meat sticks. They have a large variety of them, with different ways of cooking and different parts of beef and chicken and – a nice surprise – a veggie type of stick with roasted vegetables and seafood, like octopus and such.

Don’t let yourself be taken away with the sandos, like we did. I believe that next time the best decision would be to get a variety of meat on sticks and just try out the different flavors, let ourselves be truly mind travelers of Japan.

Truthfully, Birdman is the kind of Japanese pub and grill that will leave you longing for the next time you visit. The place to be in Athens, Birdman!

Thanks for reading!

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