Greece - Which Restaurant Guide is best?

[John Talbott]

Hi - I'll be going to Greece, Athens and the Iles - later this year and can find no thread on food guides that are reliable for Greece. Can someone steer me in the right direction? Thanks

[MamaC]

Take a look here:

http://gogreece.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsi...rants/index.asp

and here

http://gogreece.about.com/od/greekislands/

[athinaeos]

My suggestion is to use the "Ahinorama" Guides. They publish an annual restaurant and tavernas guide and also regional guides that are good. Unfortunately, they are in greek.

In the link below you can see the winners of the Athinorama 2006 "Best Restaurant" awards:

athinorama.

Most of them are in the Athens area, but there are winners from Crete, Corfu, Rhodes, Santorini and Halkidiki.

To make it practical, once you have a schedule for your visit, post it and I will gather suggestions for the places on your itinerary. You can thus have a basic contruct and embellish it when you come here.

[John Talbott]

My suggestion is to use the "Ahinorama" Guides. They publish an annual restaurant and tavernas guide and also regional guides that are good. Unfortunately, they are in greek.

Well, I usually muddle through with guides in other languages.

Doesn't Michelin publish a Red Guide - I take it it's not that good.

To make it practical, once you have a schedule for your visit, post it and I will gather suggestions for the places on your itinerary. You can thus have a basic contruct and embellish it when you come here.

←

How incredibly generous of you. Thanks.

OT story; when I was 18 and went by moto from Milan to Istanbul and back, the only place where people insisted I not sleep in fields, come into their houses, sleep in the master BR, share dinner and leave the next day burdened with fresh fruit, wine and oil, was Greece. You're terrific.

[Busboy]

You can just go to www.viamichelin.com and, after registering, search. It appears to be relatively useless, however. Of the three one-stars in Athens, I liked Spondi quite a bit.

Remeber: when taking a cab anywhere in Athens remotely off the beaten track, bring either a map with the restaurant's location or a the phone # and a working cell. Cabbies got completely lost on trips to three of the rstaurants on this list, and we made it to others only because we had Greek speakers in the cab.

This is a fun informal guide to tavernas, fish places, good souvlaki shops etc.

This site can be useful, as well.

If I were going back, I'd be tempted to return to:

GEFSEIS ME ONMASIA PROELFSIS for excellent modern/continental takes on traditional Greek food. Proprietor speeks French, btw. up in kiffissia. Kifisias 317; 210 6202 158

ARISTERA-DEXIA; very modern takes on classic Greek mezze-type dishes. Excellent and unique flavor combinations. B. Tzaferi 11 & P. Ralli, Gazi, 210 342 2606

HYTRA: Athens by way of el Bulli. 7 Navarhou Apostoli, 210 331 6767;

Classic Fish Taverna: KOLLIAS FISH TAVERNA, Kalokerinou & Dramas, Pireaus; 210 46 29 620; www.kollias.gr (Your cabbie will likely not know where this is. Tell him or her to head towards Piraeus Harbor, and then take Agios Dimitriou into the Tampouria section of town. Odos Dramas is about 14 small, dark blocks down Agios Dimitriou from the harbor. Take a left and Odos Kalokerinou is five blocks down.)

If you are in the neighborhood of the National Archeological Museum and are hankering for an informal bite, Alexandria, which serves excellent Greek/Egyption food and Patcute which is all roast meat, all the time (try the grilled pancetta) are both just around the corner, though I believe Alexandria opens too late to be convenient for an immediately post-museum bite.

Patcute: Plattia Victoria (Victoria Square) 14 at Aristtelous 90; 8836355, 8836326. Alexandria: Metsovou 13 - Mouseio (Museum) Tel. 30 1 8210004.

CAFÉ AVISINIA is fun for for the sheer glee of eating there and hearing the music, if not necessarily for the food. Also convenient to antiquing and the Acropolis

7 Kinetou St. at Avisinia Square 210 32 17 047;

There's also this topic thread, best and worst Greek Dining Experience, and this one, which is largely Athens-centric.

[athinaeos]

I am happy to hear of your nice memories from earlier trips in Greece. Some people have changed, others remain more or less the same in offering hospitality to our visitors. I hope your visit this year will add to the reservoir of good memories from Greece.

Please feel free to send me your rough itenerary when it is ready, and let me know if you need any other information.

[John Talbott]

Thanks to everyone, plus a few of our friends, for a great time.

Here's our report:

Alexandria, not Alexandra’s, in the Victoria neighborhood, mentioned by Busboy and others, was the highlight of our stay in Athens. It is a sort of Mediterranean fusion cuisine (Greek-North African-Egyptian-Middle Eastern) that is unique. We followed our eGullet pioneers’ advice and had the incredible fatouch salad and lentil soup, the former most outstanding. Then we shared good mains that were interestingly spiced – marinated (really stewed), lamb with currents and pine nuts and veal and vegetables with couscous – both of which I liked more than Colette did. We left happily 70 € lighter than on arrival. The one drawback is the fact that most folks were smoking and the room was unpleasantly smoky; we asked for a no smoking section, but they do not have one, although they have two rooms – oh, and the pita bread was pathetic.

Better pita was served with superb tzasiki had at Thanases near the Monastiriki metro station, which serves kabobs and that’s pretty much it. It is what it is, serving a mostly Greek clientele - simple, solid food. Not bad for 40.74 €.

The Benaki Museum’s resto was also kind of fun; albeit not great food but nice salads and view; we saw that some folks were having hot meals that looked good. (42.20 €). It’s located on a shaded terrace overlooking the National Gardens.

Our meals at Alexandra’s (57.40 €), the Park Hotel’s second restaurant – (we couldn’t get into their first ranked place – 17) - as well as Agora (36.30 €) and the Taverna Filipou (30.50 €) near the Hilton and Congress Center, where I was stuck, were not so successful.

Daphne’s in the Plaka, we were assured, was not a “tourist” place, (which it is), but for dinner on an election day Sunday, we weren’t quibbling. However, I ordered moussaka for the first time this trip and have never had worse and Colette‘s shrimp (the shrimp were OK, not overcooked) saganaki (over-killed with ouzo). Bill = 48.90 €. And, Theofilos on Aminda Street, was another place open for lunch on that Sunday, election day, and again we were grateful to be fed; however, the food was pretty bad; the most lackluster Greek salad of the trip, a so-so spinach pie, and a pallid, almost tasteless veal with canned, boiled artichokes. The saving grace – a simply superb walnut cake. Bill = 89.50 €.

Now to the Peloponnese.

Arapakos in Nafploi/Naphlion, along the quay, gave us our first good fish meal; before we ordered, we were taken to the back of the restaurant and shown several chilled drawers, each holding different fish – all looked very, very fresh. We started with eperlans, fried to perfection, to which we added a bit of salt and lemon; a terrific starter. Then, we shared a grilled sea bass with olive oil and overcooked broccoli (the waiter said the fish came with both rice and French fries – we asked for a vegetable instead!) As this is a great wine producing area we asked for a “local red” & were offered the house wine – it was good, not great. Dessert (offered) was sliced apples with honey. Bill = 57.00 €. We liked it well enough to come back the next day and start with the cold potato and olive oil with garlic, followed by fried red mullets (me, delicious) and grilled sea bream fillets (Colette, good). Another offering of dessert – walnut cake with herb-flavored ice cream. Bill 43 €.

Unfortunately, we tempted fate by eating at their next-door neighbor Savouras, a restaurant that simply did not deliver the same quality fish – my whole fresh, not frozen, grilled calamare(i) was only passable, even when plastered with a lot of freshly ground pepper (why does one always have to ask for the pepper mill here?), salt (don’t tell my cardiologue), olive oil and lemon (why is it so different here?); however, Colette’s fish soup with the head of a red snapper was terrific (by me) and OK (according to her - she prefers the French version, ah Colette); but I thought the seaweed, veggies, herbs and spices with a type of lemon soup was soooooo different it got extra points. Backing up, the Greek salad was nul – the tomatoes (in full season and at all the farm stands here) were hothouse Holland, the feta horrible, the olives and green peppers average but astonishingly, the pungent red onion almost saved the dish. The after meal treat given to us - yogurt and grapes and honey dessert was super. The bill = 37 €.

Ah, but then we ate at O Vasilis, a 85% tourist/group taverna in the heart of old Nafplio (aside jewelry shops, a chapel with lots of icons open until at least 11 PM and the trip’s best ice cream afterwards at the Antica Gelateria di Roma, run by an ex-Roman, 6 years here - love, indirectly, brought him). Anyway, Colette found her Greek salad OK and her spinach pie not as good as friend Helen’s in the Bronx, while I thought the rabbit stifado was great and the sausage starter acceptable. Bill was 30.30 €. Extra points for the 40 Scandinavian kids and chaperones and teachers who didn’t smoke, thus lowering the eye-reddening factor by 95%.

In the town of Geraki we found only one place open: Aτnanti. I had the best roast chicken I’ve had in years and Colette’s Greek salad was OK. Bill = 13 € for a world’s record price-quality ratio meal, including a so-so rosé – no red available! At night, however, in the spectacular site – Monemvasia - the well-reputed fish resto Aktaion/Akteon had a wonderful acceuil (and exciting football) but pretty subpar frozen shrimp and salad and eggplant salad (really a purée). The tempest that had been blowing for several days kept the boats in the harbor, hence, no fresh fish for us. Bill = 41.80 €. We then had a pretty good lunch at the Taverna Akrogiaki in Stoupa. I had anchovy filets with small “nuggets” of garlic and rabbit with rosemary. Colette liked her small, grilled sea bream, plus an OK slice of walnut cake. Bill = 31 €. (The setting, overlooking the small sandy beach, was superb.) Dinner was at the hotel/restaurant Toypiεtiko Taγτetoy at the top of the pass between Kalamata and Sparta (where we dined facing the rugged mountain peaks where I suppose the ancient Spartans left their kids out to either survive or perish). It was akin to a spartan (no pun intended) ski lodge, but featured a really spectacular piece of stewed goat on what I’m always astonished at in Greece, good pasta with grated cheese. Colette had a Greek salad (always “safe”) and a so-so bean soup. Also on offer were rooster (a first for us) and rabbit, both reported to be good choices by the Lonely Planet guide. Good chow for 45.50 E. Then, another lunch in Mycenae at O Spiros a sort of slash, hash place in the midst of tour-bus heaven (Petit Dejeunier I think it was called, our first choice, was closed for “winter” but its charming WWII-suffering patron referred us); OK, nice welcome, friendly wine, huuuuuge lamb’s knuckle with quite good potatoes, not great moussaka and wonderful local fresh great tomatoes in a salad, as well as Greek greens (probably a type of dandelion green), terrific baklava. Bill = 31 € E. And dinner was at the Ruby Room at the Holiday Inn, Attica Ave (42.5 Km) near the Athens Airport; excuse us for this, we hadda catch the early AM plane to Munich and on. I had a vegetable soup that was acceptable but not worth 7 E (Why?; somehow a cris de foie crept up after ten days and I was miserable); Colette had a (Surprise!) Greek salad that was also barely acceptable and we slunk off for our airplane. Bill = 52 €.

[Busboy]

Nice to see a fond note regarding Alexandria. When I mentally prepare a return trip to Athens it is, probably more than anywhere else in that town, a key dining destination.

Too bad about the smoking. It doesn't bother me much (and I mostly spent my time there dining on the small patio) but Athens appears still to be a city where they apologize for seating you in the non-smoking section.

[marlena spieler]

two of my favorite (modern, non-tourist) restaurants in athens are:

oikea, which is kinda homey and looks like you might be in new york or marin county, and which has had a bit of a change in the attitude (for the worse) since their redecoration, serves up yummy trad faves, sometimes with a twist. their tyropites come covered with a thick layer of crunchy sesame seeds: divine. reasonably priced.

absolute fave is papadakis: run by a remarkable woman from the island of paros, whose food is greek island food prepared with a delicacy and attention to detail that might just whisper, training in france (which is true). her chickpeas are amazing, all seafood and fish dishes fantastic, and her bougatsa, made with special butter from crete, unmissable. fragrant and delcious homemade liqueurs to end the meal. also, don't miss the fish stew ladled over crumbled up dry rusks. simple white-walled decor, pricey but worth it.

both are in kolonaki. i don't have the contact details at hand, but do somewhere in my files. so if googling doesn't help, contact me again and i'll dig them out.

kali orexi! (bon appetit!).