Greek Wine and Tasty Greek Dishes

Mrs. Ibaraki Eat's birthday was last month. I was completely stumped on where to take her. I needed to take her to a place she had never been before, and it had to be fancy. I racked my brain for weeks and could not come up with any ideas. Then I remembered Mito, and a place that not only looked fancy, but also served Greek food and wine. Greek food and wine! That is a rarity in Japan. I made plans and took my wife to Wine O'clock to have some nice wine and some Greek dishes.

Wine O'Clock

No, I am not messing with you. Yes, this is the actual name of this place.
Wine O'Clock is located in the Izumicho area of Mito City. It is on the corner of Izumicho 2 cho's traffic light, right across from the new Niko and...Coffee. If you plan to go to Wine O'Clock by train, the closest train station is Mito Station. It is quite a hike from the station. I believe it takes around 25 minutes on foot. If you decide to drive to Wine O'Clock, there are plenty of pay-to-park lots around the area.
The night we visited Wine O' Clock, the Ibaraki Eats Duo was staying at a place nearby Wine O'Clock, so we decided to do a quick 10-minute walk to this wine place. The building's exterior looks amazing. It looks like an old fancy building that was built in the 1950's. We couldn't wait to go outside and check this place out.

Inside

When we walked inside, the first thought that came to my mind was that this place was quite a nice and lavish-looking wine restaurant. This is a place you want to take a date to, or your wife, for her birthday. Wine O'Clock has two floors. I have yet to see the second floor since we were seated at the bar counter, so I will only be giving my impression of the first floor. The first floor has a few tables and chairs around the restaurant, and a long bar counter with some high chairs. Wine O'Clock is a huge place. I am not sure how many seats the second floor has, but I think the first floor can seat up to 15 customers.
Once we were seated at the bar counter, we looked around at all the wine on display. There are wine bottles on the bar counter and at the tables, and a wine refrigerator for everyone to see on the right side of the restaurant. We were definitely getting wine, but we wanted to check the menu and see what else Wine O'Clock had to offer.

The Menu

Good news everyone! The menu is in both English and Japanese.
Wine O'Clock's menu has, of course, four pages filled with different Greek wines and other types of wine from many countries. There is also a Greek cuisine section, a light appetizer section, a salad section, and a dessert section.
I wish I could go into detail about the food at this place, but we had dinner at Mito's Aladdin (now closed permanently, unfortunately) before we came to Wine O'Clock. We decided to try some wine and have a few tasty light bites with our wine.

Themelio Nemea Reserve

I am a red wine guy. Mrs. Ibaraki Eats loves both red and white. We decided to go with a red wine from Greece. The lovely sommelier who was working behind the bar gave us a lot of good recommendations and was very knowledgeable. She told us that we should start off with a wine called Themelio. The wine was from 2022, and it smelled intoxicating. When I took a sip, it kind of had a hint of chocolate and cinnamon with some cherry and raspberry for some added fruitiness to the wine. We were told that this wine pairs pretty well with meat dishes. I would love to have this wine again next time we order a meat dish. Mrs. Ibaraki Eats was very fond of this wine. She liked it so much that she ordered it twice.
This was my favorite wine of the night, but I do have some bad news about this wine. The sommelier let me know that this wine might be discontinued soon. It is a loss that will be felt by wine drinkers everywhere.

Spinach Pie

It has been so long since I had Greek spinach pie. Do you know where you can find Greek food in Japan? Maybe Tokyo. In Ibaraki, NOWHERE! It is a crime that this incredible cuisine is lacking in Japan. Where I am from, in Miami, we have a bunch of Greek restaurants all around the city. I would go get a Greek gyro during my lunch break when I worked in downtown Miami. Wine O'Clock doesn't have gyros, but they do have a lot of other Greek food. One of them is a spinach pie.
This wasn't really on the menu. The spinach pie was more of an otoshi. An otoshi is a dish that you didn't order, but the Japanese restaurant or izakaya will bring to the table anyway. It is sort of like a table charge. The good news is, otoshis are usually not too bad. This spinach pie was excellent. It brought spinach (of course), melted feta cheese, and a nice flaky pie crust. Biting into that spinach pie was so satisfying and heavenly. It reminded me of when I would order a spinach pie as an appetizer back in the Miami Greek restaurants. An amazing start to our wine and Greek food adventure. Plus, this spinach pie paired pretty well with our Themelio.

Greek Yogurt Dip

Have you ever had Greek yogurt? Real Greek yogurt. Not that stuff you buy at Kasumi or Benimaru. Greek yogurt is amazing. It is thick and creamy. It can also have a bit of a tart, sour taste. Putting honey into Greek yogurt is heaven. Plus, it is a healthy option.
Wine O'Clock's Greek yogurt dip is fantastic. It has garlic and a few delicious herbs in it. It also comes with slices of baguettes. Dipping those bread slices into that enticing-looking Greek yogurt dip is something everyone should experience. The dip is a little less thick than regular Greek yogurt, but it is still incredibly delicious. That creaminess with all those flavors soaked into that baquette slice was a dream. My wife loved this dip. She would sip some of that Themelio wine and then nibble at her baquette like she was at a fancy banquette. It was cute to see, and she was having an amazing time. I do wish the baquette slices would have been a little bit more toasted, but otherwise, an amazing dish.

Instant Becot

After having our yogurt dip, Greek olives, and Greek wine. We decided to go French. The sommelier recommended a red wine called Instant Becot. We decided to end our wine adventure with this wine, and we are both glad we did. I took my sophisticated wine sip and found that the wine was a bit more smoky than the last Greek wine we had, which was a bit fruitier. It was a hard wine, like a Malbec. I felt more like an adult sipping this wine than I had all week. It was a good wine, but I wish I had some prosciutto and hard cheese to go with my wine. I think the salty prosciutto would have balanced well with the Instant Becot.

After we finished our glasses of wine, we thanked the sommelier for all her recommendations and for the friendly conversation we had at the bar. I was so happy to have Greek food again, even though it was a little bit of Greek food, that I told the sommelier that I would be back soon. The wine was incredible, and the Greek cuisine was divine. I will be back Wine O' Clock. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

So if you are in the mood for a fancy date or are in the mood to try some Greek cuisine and wine, why not give Wine O'Clock a chance? Who knows? You might see us there. Enjoying a glass of wine and trying the Greek lamb with mint sauce.
Enjoy!

For more information on Wine O'Clock, check out their website:
https://wwineoclock.wixsite.com/wineoclock