The switch to managing his own café also led to Tsantirakis wanting more than just serving drinks in a bar with live music. “I once made special snacks for a party. You could see it as Tapas, but in our Greek culture they are Mezes. And I liked it so much that those small snacks became a permanent part of our offering.”
An Asser real estate boss, who owns a corner building on the Markt, also noted during a visit that the Greek snacks were popular. But the real estate man especially thought that the Greek catering entrepreneur would be much better at home on the Markt than in the moribund Singelpassage shopping street, which was only emptying out. “He said to me, ‘Mano, don’t you want to start a real restaurant, instead of just a bar, because then I have a nice place for you.’
And so it happened that Tsantirakis was able to open his own tapas restaurant in October 2013, at an A-location in Assen. “And I haven’t regretted it for a moment, this really is the perfect place, with nice, pleasant catering colleagues around me. And I am really here in my role as host. That is great fun. The level of young Greek bartender, with bottles in the air, I have transcended that. I have a staff of ten. And when it is midnight, I can go home.”
And from the start, Tsantirakis knew all his guests by name in no time. Learning the Dutch language was quite a challenge and took him ten years. “I only learned it properly when I started watching Peppa Pig on television with my children, on Nickolodeon. Because I didn’t learn much in the café. Guests at the bar quickly switched to the English language. as soon as they saw me. They often grumbled when I tried to speak Dutch. ‘Please stop, Mano, your Dutch doesn’t make any sense, just speak English,’ they would shout. But that doesn’t teach you the language. “
After 25 years, Tsantirakis feels like ‘a real Assenaar’. “Assen is a city with a village character. The people here are warm, friendly, hospitable, and they always greet you. I recognize that and it suits me. I grew up in a small village near Cnossos, where everyone, of course, And even though Assen is a city, you still have the feeling that you quickly know everyone. So in that respect it is just like Crete, only the weather is a bit less.”
After completing the first ten years, Mano will certainly aim for the milestone of 25 years of Bodega Manolitos. “Then I am 67 years old. Sounds good. My father was also a dynamic entrepreneur, but he was only 43. I hope I can stay here for a long time.”