What is the güzel that put Keratea on the radar of foodies?
Themistocles has no formal pastry studies, but he was taught the basic principles in Paris, where he was born and raised. Coming to Greece from France, he spent two years working in the kitchens of the Hilton in Athens and finally, in October 2004, he opened a pastry workshop in Keratea, supplying bakeries, pastry shops and restaurants. A year later, seeing that his sweets were in demand, he decid
A few years later, his daughters also joined the family business. The girls combine work in the pastry shop with sports, since both are Greek champions in compound bow archery, with many Greek and European distinctions – the pastry shop features gold medals and cups from a multitude of events at home and abroad. Alexandra has become more oriented towards the sport and continues her impressive career. For Evelina, the scales have tilted a little more towards the art of pastry: without abandoning the sport, she completed her studies at the Le Monde school and today she is the renewed soul of THEKA, having taken over the reins from her father and enriching the range of sweets with new flavors. Her idea is the pastry shop's newest dessert, the golden brownie, with a base of handmade brownie, salted caramel croquettes, bitter chocolate mousse and chocolate icing.
Inspiration from the East, technique from the West
Güzel was an inspiration of Themistocles. A lover of white sweets, he wanted to create a version of the traditional ekmek, but without nuts, with cream, mastic, kadaifi and a syrupy sauce, all the typical ingredients of the well-known ekmek, at least in the version we eat it in Greece. He wanted a finer cream, one that would bring back to mind his first taste memories of French pastries. In other words, he removed from the ekmek what he didn’t like, experimented, adapted and eventually created a new dessert. Initially, he didn’t intend to sell it in the store, but eventually friends liked the dessert, who convinced him to put it on sale. He was convinced, he named the dessert “güzel”, which in Turkish means “beautiful” and… that was it! The güzel entered the pastry shop's display cases in December 2011 and became the trademark of THEKA. A variation soon emerged, the chok güzel, with a base of lightly syrupy tsoureki, while both sweets are also available in ice cream.
Gyouzel has gained loyal fans from every corner of Attica. "Don't forget, we are not even a pastry shop in the Basin. We are a workshop in a small alley of Keratea. Loyal customers come here from Piraeus, Kifissia, Thrakomakedones, especially for gyouzel, and this gives us great joy. Ultimately, gyouzel and T.E.K.A. followed a common path, helping each other: the dessert made sure to be something special and the pastry shop made sure to always keep it at the same good quality," explains Themistoklis.
A little and good
Everything, the preparations, the cookies, the doughs and the creams are made in the workshop, which employs a total of six craftsmen, while the raw materials are selected one by one: the butter from France, the chocolate from Belgium, the milk from Trikala (Trikki) – all certified and of high quality. The variety of sweets of THEKA is relatively small, but selected, bridging with balance Western and Eastern tastes: mille-feuille in two versions, classic and chocolate, lemon pie with measured sourness and lemon croquettes in the dough, banoffee in the version of THEKA. –with banana cream, toffee caramel, without whipped cream and a crunchy base of biscuit rich in caramel–, profiteroles, mille frères with caramelized puff pastry, mousseline cream, strawberry coulis and pieces of fresh strawberries, kunefe, cheesecake, tsoureki all year round, few but wonderful syrupy bites and handmade chocolate bars, plain or with almonds.
The ice creams deserve special mention, especially the pistachio ice cream with its natural aroma of the fruit and its incredibly dense taste. It is essential to try the hazelnut ice cream, as well as the vanilla or strawberry ice creams with a chocolate pie base, the Madagascar vanilla ice cream with brownie pieces, the mastic ice cream, the pistachio-hazelnut (all the above flavors also in a stevia version). “The dessert is the defining moment of the meal, and we take this very seriously,” emphasizes Themistocles. “Even a mediocre meal remains unforgettable if it ends with a good dessert. Dessert is a joy, it was made to make you feel good, even if it is just one bite. It just needs balance. I think we have achieved it,” he concludes.
The sweets are distributed upon request throughout Attica, by special refrigerated vehicle, fresh, same day, with scheduled routes per region, depending on the day of the week.