Dining in Greece

First off, my most sincere apologies for the delay in posting this article. It’s terrible having to get back to your work routine after a vacation, but no more excuses! If only work and travel could somehow come together, it would make life so much better. Ahh the joys of wishful thinking..

Now to the more important matter at hand – FOOD! In this article, I’m going to talk about the restaurants I dined at in Greece. I’m also going to let you in on a little secret. Besides the fact that I was looking forward to this trip because it was my first one with just friends, I was excited about the gorgeous beaches, people (read: God-like Greek men), and relaxing; but more than anything else, I was looking forward to eating great food. Being a vegetarian isn’t always easy when you’re travelling, luckily Greece gave me no trouble at all. What I loved the most about the food I devoured was its freshness and superior quality. Not only did every dish taste great, but also looked spectacular – the variety of colours on my plate and the presentation were a severe temptation. What I also LOVED was that almost everything I ate was quite healthy, so I’ve enjoyed my meals guilt free!

Athens

Arcadia Restaurant 
‪27 Makrygianni St, Athens, Greece

You’re wandering around the streets below the Acropolis of Athens, tired, sweaty, dehydrated and starved.. What do you do? You go look for a good, fulfilling meal. And that’s how we landed up at Arcadia. Makrygianni Street (around the Plaka) has a ton of restaurants lined up, but the menu here seemed most tempting. The restaurant has two sections – one inside and one right on the street. A few cool beers and glasses of orange juice later, we were enjoying friendly conversations with the wait staff. This place can boast exceptional service! You can choose from an extensive menu of pastas, seafood and local dishes. This was the first restaurant where I tried local delicacies – dolmades, vegetarian souvlaki and zucchini fritters. It was a delicious meal, just what we needed after touring the Acropolis in the sweltering heat. The wait staff was kind enough to serve us tall glasses of local iced coffee and slices of watermelon (on the house) to help us cool down.

Image Courtesy: Trip Advisor

Balux Café – The House Project
Posidonos Av. 58, Glyfada, Athens, Greece
http://www.baluxcafe.com
Location courtesy: Euphoric Traveler

The sounds of the calm sea, candlelight, drinks and a gorgeous sunset, followed by dinner beneath a sky full of stars and tasteful music – Balux Café breathes ROMANCE. It’s the perfect sundowner. Treat your lady to a dinner here or just chill with friends. Balux has a few cafes/restaurants, but the one you want to be at is The House Project. It’s divided by different sections. If you’re there during the day and want to relax by the beach, they have sunbeds to offer. If you wish to lie around, watch television, read a book or two, play table games, they have sections for those as well. There are two sections (indoor and outdoor) for drinks and dinner too, but I recommend you get a table by the beach. The vegetarian appetizers here sure to tickle your taste buds; we particularly enjoyed the grilled asparagus bruschetta in Parmesan sauce. Mains included a margarita pizza and a farmhouse pizza, Santorini pasta and a beautiful asparagus risotto. The restaurant is extremely famous for their sushi options, which I can’t comment on, but my friends thought it was delicious. It is a little bit pricey, so expect to pay around 30 euros per person, including drinks. It can also get very crowded, especially on nights when they have live bands playing, so you want to ensure you have a reservation. It is also a good 40-minute cab ride from the main city, so getting there is a little expensive. We managed to find a private car company to take us there for 90 Euros (one way) and since we were 9 people, we ended up getting a pretty good deal.

Image Courtesy: http://www.baluxcafe.com 
It’s as magical in reality as it looks in the photographs online.

Image Courtesy: http://www.baluxcafe.com

Image Courtesy: http://www.baluxcafe.com

Mykonos

Hippie Fish
Ioannis Diakoftis ‪84600

Bringing together Greek and Mediterranean food with the Mykonian Sun in a Cycladic setting, Hippie Fish is a must visit. Situated right at Agios Ioannis beach it makes for a fantastic location. The restaurant is famous for its sushi and that the movie Shirley Valentine was shot here. Their cocktails are a little expensive but are quite wicked! My recommendation here is the Apple Mojito, without a doubt. We decided to go local and ordered a plate of pita with hummus and melitzanosalata to begin with, followed by dolmades, fritters and the Greek salad. Taste and quality were both superior. You can take a look at their menu here – http://www.hippiefish-mykonos.com. The wait staff is friendly, but service is extremely slow. Luckily for the serenity of this place, we ended up spending a good 3 hours here just soaking it all in. It’s a bit pricey, but the experience is definitely worth it. You must also visit the absolutely gorgeous beach by the day.

Bottom right photo courtesy: http://www.hippiefish-mykonos.com

Nammos
Psarou Beach, Mikonos
Location Courtesy: Euphoric Traveler

This is one experience I am never going to forget. Every penny spent at this extravagant place is completely worth it. Situated right by the Aegean Sea, Nammos is divided into several sections (refer to the photo below).

They have a club, a spa, a boutique with only the most expensive designers, a sheesha lounge and two restaurants. A sheesha will cost you 180 Euros for an hour (yikes!). We sat at the restaurant by the beach; it’s a lot more affordable. This place attracts only the crème de la crème of Mykonos and the islands around it. Even though the top few reviews on Trip Advisor are negative, we personally thought the place was incredible – fantastic crowds, delicious food and a very helpful wait staff. Get here before sunset and this place turns into a beach club with brilliant music. However, do be ready to spend at least 35-40 Euros per person for a meal, minus the alcohol. There is also an entry fee of 4 Euros.My recommendations here are the rigatoni with asparagus and tagliatelle with truffles in a creamy garlic sauce; summed up in one word – DIVINE!

Santorini

After having eaten so much over the last couple of days in Athens and Mykonos, we decided to take it easy in Santorini. We ate our breakfast and lunch, both in the hotel because honestly, it was too hot to go out. At night we went to the village of Fira, and found a great local, roadside place serving excellent falafels – Yogi Gyros. A single falafel here is a meal in itself. A bottle of chilled water/soda to go with it and you’re done for the evening. This will cost you approximately 6 Euros, not more. We ended up having this on 2 out of 3 nights! On our second evening we were feeling a little lazy and therefore ate at a cafe very close to our hotel – Aegen Cafe, Imerovigli. I tried the bell peppers stuffed with rice and herbs (the waitress convinced me that it was a local dish so I should try it), but they were extremely disappointing. My cousin though, had a seafood pasta in wine sauce which she quite enjoyed. What was really interesting was the that the pasta resembled grains of rice, something I’ve never seen before. Unfortunately I do not have an image, but for the record it’s called Orzo.

Quick Tip:
Service at restaurants in Greece is extremely slow, for reasons unknown, so if you’re famished, act accordingly. Also, for some reason they provide you with bills only in Greek so remember the price of the dish you ordered otherwise you wont end up knowing what you paid for.

I do hope this article was helpful. Write in to me at chaicakekitsch@gmail.com and let me know what you think! X