A window display at a pottery and ceramics shop on the main street in Kamares. Sifnos has a long history of pottery making and fine cuisine.
Delicious lamb at a traditional taverna
However, we didn’t feel like waiting, so we went to a traditional Greek taverna nearby and took a table on their outdoor terrace (unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the place. I forgot to write it down in my journal, and couldn’t find any photos of the restaurant or the receipt for our meal).
My notes say we enjoyed two delicious lamb dishes — one baked with pasta, another cooked in wine sauce — along with a chicken pie, baked giant beans, and wine for a total cost of €30. Although it was a good dinner, I wrote that we thought our meal at the Delfini had been much better quality, and better value for the money.
We returned to the Delfini restaurant on our third night, this time ordering baked giant beans, stuffed aubergines, stuffed tomatoes, Greek salads and wine, followed by cheesecake for dessert. Once again, our meal was delicious. It also was our most expensive dinner on Sifnos, costing €46, but was well worth the price.
Side view of the Delfini Hotel property on a hillside next to Kamares Bay
The Delfini and its infinity swimming pool have good views of the port town and beach on the opposite side of the bay
The outdoor dining terrace at the Delfini Hotel. The restaurant also has a small indoor dining room, through the door at left.
Another view of the outdoor dining terrace at the Delfini
The dining terrace is a great spot to dine while watching a sunset. It also has views of Kamares village and the port (partly visible at upper right)
We nearly stayed at the Delfini for our final meal on Sifnos. While I was walking around the hotel in the evening, our host George (who runs the Delfini with his wife, Pepi) invited me into the kitchen to see the dishes being prepared for that night’s meal. There was fish, a veal and rice stew that would be cooked in a ceramic baking dish, pastitsio, and of course the spinach pies and stuffed aubergines that we loved. Everything looked so good, we were tempted to stay for dinner. But we had already planned to eat at da Claudio, and went there instead.
This photo, from the Kamares restaurant listings on the Travel to Sifnos website, shows the L’Osteria da Claudio location on the main street in Kamares. The restaurant has outdoor dining areas, but when we visited in September 2007 it was too windy and cool to eat outside.
We had to wait about half an hour for a table to come available, and when we entered the cozy restaurant to take our seats we had a good chuckle — half of the customers were other guests from the Delfini Hotel! Most of the rest were Italians, and we suspected they were visiting on the EasyCruise ship that had been in port all day. The couple at the table beside ours recommended the lasagna, which they described as “divine,” while another duo from the Delfini urged us to try the pizza. “But everything here is good,” one woman told us. “We know, because we have come for dinner every night and tried everything on the menu!”
We ordered bruschetta for a starter, followed by a 5-topping pizza and the lasagna. Everything was superb — especially the lasagna, which was one of the best we’ve ever tasted. Even the pizza was outstanding. It was clear why da Claudio had so many repeat visitors. The service was excellent, too, and the red house wine was one of the best we were served during our two-week trip. The meal cost a reasonable €32.50.
This photo, from the L’Osteria da Claudio Facebook page, shows the restaurant’s cozy and comfortable interior
Just for the heck of it, I checked the Sifnos restaurant ratings on TripAdvisor.com today to see if people are still impressed by da Claudio and the Delfini. They are indeed: da Claudio is currently the #3-ranked restaurant on Sifnos, while the Delfini is #rated 33.
(I’m quite certain the Delfini would rate higher, and get more customers, if it were situated closer to Kamares — many people either don’t know there is a restaurant in the hotel across the bay, or else they just can’t be bothered walking 20 minutes to get to it, when there’s a selection of tavernas side-by-side along the port town’s main road. But in reviews for the hotel itself, many guests comment on how much they enjoyed the food at the Delfini restaurant.)
if you’d like to know more about our experience at the Delfini Hotel, click here to read the review I posted on TripAdvisor in 2008.
There’s more information and photos of L’Osteria da Claudio both on the restaurant website and on da Claudio’s Facebook page.
Below is a brief video of L’Osteria da Claudio that I found on YouTube.
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