Dark grey stormclouds swirl above Lagada village as a spring storm moves across Amorgos. Although the weather looked bleak the morning we arrived on the island, the clouds cleared away during the afternoon and left us with sunny skies for the rest of our visit. Click the image to view a full-size photo.
A Mythos beer and Greek salad … part of our afternoon “snack” at Paradiso Taverna during one of our Naxos beach walks in October 2013
Good eats: In my recent post Our best hotel experiences of 2013, I described the various places we stayed at in Mykonos, Ios, Naxos and Glyfada during our two trips to Greece last year. Today it’s time to talk about the food we ate while we were there.
We love to eat, and one of the reasons we keep going back to Greece is that we immensely enjoy the food there, whether it’s traditional Greek cooking, salads or vegetarian fare, grilled meats or fish, seafood or international cuisine.
We eat well on our holidays, and we always come home wishing we could recreate some of the most memorable meals in our own kitchen. We try, but the recipes either never turn out right or we simply can’t replicate the wonderful tastes and flavours we enjoyed so much in Greece. And, of course, that’s largely because we can’t possibly reproduce the unique charm and character or the extraordinary locations of the places where we had dinners or drinks — or even just a cup of coffee.
Last year, we had remarkable meals or drinks at dozens of different restaurants, bars and cafés. Individual dishes at certain places were outstanding, while in other instances it was the physical premises or scenic location of a particular restaurant that gave us a dining experience we won’t soon forget.
Below are descriptions of the restaurants, bars meals and drinks that impressed us the most — our best food and drink experiences of 2013.
Best beach taverna
Nikolas Taverna on Mykonos and Paradiso Taverna on Naxos (Tie)
Paradiso Taverna has over a dozen tables grouped around a tree on Maragas beach on Naxos. This is one of the most-photographed sights on the island, and this scene has even been featured on Naxos postcards.
Nikolas Taverna also has tables on the sand, in this case at little Agia Anna beach between Platis Gialos and Paraga on Mykonos. The trees shade the tables part of the day, but there are more seats on the sheltered outdoor terrace (left) for people who don’t want to sit in the sun.
One of the things we like most about Greece, and especially its islands, is the opportunity to have a “Shirley Valentine” moment — that is, enjoy a drink or meal right next to the sea, at a table either on a sandy beach or on a terrace mere inches from the water. It’s something we can never do at home, where strict government liquor laws and rigid municipal licensing regulations require restaurants serving alcohol to keep their dining areas enclosed by fences or waist-high barriers — and well away from the water’s edge.
So we’re thrilled when we find tavernas that have open seating close to the water — especially if those tables offer views of marvellous scenery or striking sunsets. And if the restaurant kitchens happen to serve delicious food, too, we will feel like we’re in paradise.
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Superb food and good service
Two remarkable places that we have particularly enjoyed on past vacations are Nikolas Taverna at Agia Anna/Paraga on Mykonos, and Paradiso Taverna at Maragas beach on Naxos. Both have provided consistently good service and superb food, as well as exquisite settings, and both lived up to our high expectations for more of the same when we paid them repeat visits during our holidays in 2013.
The family-run Nikolas Taverna is situated on a small, quiet strand between Platis Gialos and Paraga, two of the most popular beaches on Mykonos. Our favourite place to sit is at one of the tables on the sand, under the row of trees in front of the restaurant. There are nice views toward Platis Gialos, and the setting is profoundly serene and relaxed … it’s a pleasant spot to mellow out while enjoying the fabulous home-cooked Greek cuisine or fresh seafood.
Paradiso Taverna is situated at Maragas, in between two of the most popular beaches on Naxos — Plaka and Agia Anna. Paradiso has a large, tree-sheltered dining terrace in front of the restaurant building, and more tables directly across the road, under a distinctive, eye-catching tree right on the beach. Both spots offer excellent views of the beach, sea and nearby Paros island, and both are good places to watch a sunset, too. The food is as delicious as the scenery.
If you get the chance to visit either Nikolas or Paradiso for a meal, don’t just order off the printed menu — take a few minutes to go inside the kitchen to see the various vegetable, meat and seafood dishes that have been specially prepared for that day. Everything will look appealing, so don’t be surprised if you have trouble deciding what to order!
Two new beach tavernas we discovered
Mikri Vigla Taverna at Parthenos beach on Naxos
Honourable mention goes to two beach tavernas we discovered for the first time in 2013 and hope to revisit in the near future.
We stopped into Mikri Vigla Taverna just for a cold drink and a snack while mountain biking down the southwest coast of Naxos on October 6. We ordered only a Greek salad since we weren’t very hungry, but when we saw the food in the kitchen — as well as what people at the tables next to ours were being served — we regretted that we didn’t have bigger appetites. Everything looked tasty, portions appeared to be quite generous, and all the customers kept commenting on how good their meals were. It was the last day the taverna was open for the season, and the staff kept apologizing for having only a “small” selection of items to choose from. However, we were impressed with the large number of dishes that actually were available — we would have been spoiled for choice had we wanted a more substantial meal.
On October 14, we went to Aperanto Galazio with two friends from the Athens area. The restaurant is located on the beach at Varkiza, a town on the Athens Riviera. We sat on the shaded outdoor dining terrace just steps from the sand, enjoying the beach and sea views while we dined on eight delicious items, including taramosalata (a fish roe dip), Greek salad, stuffed tomatoes, zucchini fritters, calamari, fried potatoes and red and white wine. The food was excellent, the service was great, and the total price was a very pleasant surprise: just €35. We had been expecting the lunch to cost considerably more given the substantial amount of food we had ordered.
Aperanto Galazio restaurant at Varkiza beach on the Athens Riviera
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This videoclip, Beaches of Chios, was posted online by YouTube member Xvijana, who said the clip shows beaches visited during a 2013 visit to the East Aegean island. The clip shows a variety of beaches starting on the west side of Chios, moving from south to north, and then clockwise from the northeast to south.
Winter distraction: I’ve had enough of winter! I’m tired of ice, sleet and snow, and fed up with having to wear several layers of clothing to cope with the mind-numbing cold temperatures outside. But it’s only February 1, and spring is still a long ways off.
So I’m trying to distract myself by viewing online photos and videos of places I’d like to visit on one of our future trips to Greece.
The East Aegean island of Chios is one of those places. I don’t know if we’ll get there in 2014, but this video by Xvijana makes me want to visit just to see the island’s incredible variety of beaches and coastal scenery.
Xvijana’s video took my mind off winter for a few minutes … I hope it’s an equally enjoyable distraction for you, too!
The outdoor dining terrace at the Delfini Hotel on Sifnos. The Delfini restaurant is open to the public as well as to guests of the hotel, and serves excellent home-cooked Greek cuisine and seafood dishes.
Clear windscreens shelter Delfini restaurant guests on windy evenings, but still allow views of the sunset and Kamares Bay
Fond food memories: An online conversation about Sifnos restaurants a few days ago prompted me to pore through my travel journal and hundreds of photos we shot during our four-day visit to the island back in 2007.
Good food was the topic of our message exchange, and it also happens to be something for which Sifnos has long been famous.
While researching islands to visit on that trip seven years ago, I learned that Sifnos has been well-known for fine cuisine for hundreds of years, largely because the excellent pottery and ceramics produced on the island gave Sifnian cooks an early edge in developing culinary techniques and honing their kitchen skills. I also read that many of the top chefs in Athens and elsewhere in Greece got their training and started their careers on Sifnos.
I don’t know how accurate those stories are, but I can confirm that we did eat well on Sifnos; in fact, we still talk about the food we enjoyed there.
Two excellent dinners at Delfini Hotel
Two of those meals were in the restaurant of the Delfini Hotel where we were staying on the far side of Kamares Bay, directly across from the ferry port at Kamares.
Our room was situated right above the Delfini’s seaview restaurant terrace, and the delightful food aromas that wafted from the kitchen through our open windows enticed us to have our first dinner there instead of walking into town for the evening. We had home-made spinach pies, stuffed aubergines, a hearty seafood soup that was chock full of fish and vegetables, wine, and a yummy cheesecake for dessert. The meal cost €42 and was wonderful.
We walked into Kamares for dinner on our second night, and saw a queue outside L’Osteria da Claudio. We recognized several of the people waiting in line for a table — they, too, were staying at Hotel Delfini. They told us they had eaten at da Claudio before (some had been there more than once) and thought the Italian cuisine was amazing. The waiting time for a table inside the small dining room would be about an hour, but they said it would be worth it.
A sign at L’Osteria da Claudio, on the main street in Kamares. The popular Italian restaurant had many repeat visitors when we stayed on the island.
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This was one of the impressive sunsets we watched from the seaview terrace of our room at Delfini Hotel in Kamares on Sifnos island
Visitors to the Acropolis Museum Restaurant can enjoy this excellent view of the Parthenon and the Acropolis while they dine, as this image from the museum website demonstrates
Good eats: Nearly two years ago (in my March 3 2012 post), I described the Acropolis Museum as a “must-see” attraction, both for its magnificent treasures and the museum building’s contemporary architecture.
Now there’s another good reason to visit the museum next time you’re in Athens — to enjoy a memorable meal.
Ranked in world’s Top 5 Museum Restaurants
The travel review website VirtualTourist.com has ranked the Acropolis Museum Restaurant as one of the Top 5 Museum Restaurants in the world, along with counterparts in Paris, New York, L.A. and Seattle.
The top 5 list was reported by the Toronto Star newspaper this week, but I couldn’t find the restaurant rankings on the VirtualTourist site itself. In fact, the search form on the VirtualTourist’s front page doesn’t even work. Anytime I type something into the search field and click the “explore” button, the page goes …. absolutely nowhere.
According to the Toronto Star report, the Acropolis Museum’s “conveniently location” (their words, not mine) less than 1,000 feet from the Acropolis and nearby historic sites “makes it a great place to grab a bite after a long day of exploring the ruins.”
Greek breakfast served daily until noon
Situated on the second floor of the Acropolis Museum, the restaurant opens in the morning every day except Monday, serving a traditional Greek breakfast until noon. From then until closing, it offers a selection of hot dishes based upon traditional recipes, and updated according to the season.
Menu items include “Fresh shrimps from Alexandroupoli with ouzo, cherry tomatoes, orzo and red saffron from Kozani, Scaloppini from veal with oregano, lime and seasonal vegetables lightly sautéed, Trachanas from Arachova made by whole meal wheat with mushrooms and crunchy Greek prosciutto and Homemade pasta with minced meat and kefalotiri cheese from Amfilohia,” the museum website says. A special children’s menu also is available.
Great spot for a special Friday night dinner
The restaurant remains open until midnight on Friday evenings, giving Athens tourists a perfect place to dine with superb scenery. Besides the wonderful night views of the illuminated Acropolis, diners can enjoy delicious dishes including: “Carpaccio of fresh fish with citrus juice and lime, Smoked veal fillet with truffle oil and dried fruits, Mushrooms millefeuille with smoked cheese from Metsovo and eggplants, Risotto with fresh nettle, truffle flavors and San-Mihali cheese, Veal fillet with porcini sauce, homemade mashed potatoes and onions, Lemon tart and homemade Orange pie.”
Reservations are strongly recommended for the Friday night dinners. But there is a special dining area that offers cold dishes and desserts for guests who don’t want to reserve a dinner seating, but still want a light bite to eat. Another dining alternative is the café on the museum’s ground level, where visitors can order from a selection of light fare including salads, soups, snacks and desserts.
Huge terrace offers prime views of the Acropolis
Besides its interior dining space, the Acropolis Museum restaurant provides seating on a huge 700-square-meter outdoor terrace that offers superb, unobstructed view of the Acropolis. Below are some photos we shot from the terrace during our museum visit in May 2010.
The Acropolis Museum restaurant has a 700-square-meter outdoor dining terrace offering superb views of the Acropolis (top left)
Restaurant terrace view of the Parthenon atop the Acropolis. You can take a stroll on the terrace to enjoy the views even if you don’t plan to dine in the restaurant.
The restaurant terrace view of the magnificent Parthenon and Acropolis. Click on the image to view a full-size photo.
Another polar vortex has brought biting cold weather to the northeastern USA and Canada this week, so I’ve been trying to distract myself from the chill by looking at photos and videos of beaches. Like these of the long, gently curving golden sand beach at Gialos, the port village area of Ios. It was sunny and a toasty 28 degrees Celsius (84 F) when I shot these pics — nearly 40 degrees warmer than it is outside my window at the moment. If only I could be enjoying that sun, heat and sand right now! Click on the photo to view a full-size image.
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