Where to eat in Greece

The seventh-floor rooftop of the A for Athens hotel, directly on Monastiraki Square, with about the most head-on Acropolis view a casual bar in the city will give you. The drinks are fine, the food is fine, the view is why you came. Get there by 7 p.m. for a railing seat at sunset in summer; stay for the post-dinner drink crowd at 11.

Voulis 10, behind Syntagma: the Lobotesis family bakery since 1910, take-out counter only, and the room hasn't been redesigned, which is the point. Order the 1910-era feta cheese pie (tyropita) first, the bougatsa with vanilla cream second. Walk in, point, eat it on the marble step outside. €2–3 a thing. A hundred and fifteen years on, and the case for the no-frills morning bakery still holds.

Thanos Prunarus's rum-and-tiki temple just off Kolokotroni Street, open since 2009, on the World's 50 Best Bars list more than once, 400+ rums on the back bar. Tropical drinks made with intention, and bartenders who'll walk you through the rum list without rushing you. Smaller and warmer than the Clumsies, which makes it the second stop on a two-bar night, not the first.

The grandfather of Monastiraki souvlaki, six Bairaktaris generations on the same square since 1879. Yes, tourists. Yes, you'll be in someone's photo. Order the mixed grill (souvlaki, gyros, sheftalia, paidakia) and a carafe of retsina, take an outdoor table on the square, and watch the Monastiraki crowd go past. Walk in any time.

Pangrati's modern Greek anchor since 2014, opened by five chefs (Koskinas, Zournatzis, the Liakos brothers, Karathanos) and now under Periklis Koskinas alone. Modern technique on Greek ingredients: lamb with lemon and oregano, fava with capers, market fish. The Pangrati lunch, with a couple of glasses of Assyrtiko.

Alexandros Tsiotinis's one-Michelin-star kitchen at 15 Plateon St in Kerameikos, open since 2015 and starred since the 2022 Guide. Modern Greek cooking with European technique, a small dining room, a chef who walks the plates out and explains them. A cab ride west of the centre; book two weeks ahead.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre's two-Michelin-star dining room, and Greece's only 2-star restaurant. Chef Giorgos Papazacharias opened it in July 2021; it took 2 stars plus a Green Star in the 2022 Guide, one of only 3% in the world to earn two stars from a first evaluation. A single 12-course Omnivore tasting menu, on Renzo Piano's rooftop on the south edge of Athens, looking across the SNFCC's olive groves to the Saronic Gulf. Time it with the Greek National Opera in the building below.

A basement taverna on the corner of Sokratous and Theatrou inside the central market, going since 1887, with no sign, no menu, and lunch only. Mitsos brings you whatever's cooking that day in clay pots (revithia, gigantes, anchovies, hand-cut salad). Retsina comes from a barrel in the corner. Cash only, and it closes when the food runs out, usually around 4 p.m.

A walk-up counter on Aiolou Street that built the Athens falafel argument: falafel fried to order, stuffed into hand-cut pita with tahini, pickled cabbage, hot sauce, and fresh herbs. €4 a pita, eaten standing on the sidewalk. The vegetarian answer to souvlaki, and the line moves fast.

Dionisiou Areopagitou 1, directly across the road from the Acropolis Museum: the Fotiadis family's all-Greek yogurt bar since 2011, strained yogurt from a single family farm in Thessaly. Toppings are Greek and nothing else: Hymettus honey, Chios mastic, walnut, spoon sweets (cherry, fig, bergamot). The morning move after the 8 a.m. Acropolis-museum slot.

Hytra's one-Michelin-star modern Greek kitchen on the rooftop of the Onassis Cultural Centre (Stegi) on Syngrou, starred since 2010 (when Nikos Karathanos held it), now under chef Yiorgos Felemengas. At this price, the kitchen doing the most in the city, and we'll defend the claim. Conceptual tasting menus that read the Greek pantry through a global lens; rooftop in summer, ground floor in winter. Add a play downstairs.

Cappadocian-Greek charcuterie and mezedopoleio on the corner of Sokratous and Evripidou, near the Varvakeios central market, opened 2014 by Fanis Theodoropoulos. Cured beef pastirma, soutzouki sausage, smoked cheeses: the Greek-Anatolian side of the table the taverna standards leave out. Eat it as lunch with tsipouro from the carafe, and come back for the dinner version if it lands.

Theatrou Square 2 near Omonia, opened 1927, with live rebetiko Tuesday through Saturday from 22:00 (€20 minimum), and the band is the regulars, not a tourist act. Lamb slow-braised in clay, giant beans, whatever's on the daily pot menu. Eat early if you want a real dinner; the room turns into a rebetiko-and-tsipouro club by 11. The Athens late-night that isn't a bar.

A two-table window on Plateia Agias Eirinis, family-run by Kostas Jr. since his grandfather opened it in 1946, and the most-argued-over souvlaki in central Athens. Charcoal-grilled pork on the spit, hand-cut pita, tomato, onion, tzatziki, a single dusting of paprika. €2 a stick. Closed weekends, and it sells out daily, often by 3 p.m.

Kalamida 9 in Psyrri: a 19th-century candle shop the owners kept partly intact (the candles still sell from the back wall), reopened as a modern-Greek dining room. Michelin Plate in 2024 and 2025, an all-Greek wine list leaning hard into low-intervention bottles, a small garden under a lemon tree for summer. Smaller and quieter than the Michelin-starred rooms, and the booking you don't have to make six weeks out.

A café-bookshop in the shadow of the Acropolis Museum: trained baristas, a small Greek-and-English book selection, a few outdoor tables under bitter-orange trees. The flat white is the giveaway that this isn't a tourist café. Two-hour table limit when busy, so come at 8 a.m. or 4 p.m.

Athens's natural-wine standard, owner-sommelier Michalis Papatsibas, across two locations (Falirou 68 in Koukaki, Plateia Mesologgiou 3 in Pangrati). All-Greek, low-intervention, half the bottles you've never heard of. Small plates to pair: cured anchovies, ladotyri, tarama with bread. Walk in early; standing room only by 10.

Nobu Matsuhisa's outpost on the Athenian Riviera, inside the Four Seasons Astir Palace in Vouliagmeni, and the dinner that justifies the 25-minute cab from central Athens. The Nobu greatest hits (black cod miso, yellowtail jalapeño, rock shrimp tempura) on a terrace over the Aegean. Swim at the hotel's beach in the afternoon, then reserve sunset.

"The Black Sheep," a modern Pangrati mezedopoleio at 31 Arrianou St that turned into one of the city's most-booked tables. Small plates of regional Greek cooking with a contemporary edge: stuffed peppers, smoked sardines, slow-cooked rooster with hand-cut hilopites pasta. Book ahead and budget two hours; they enforce a hard seating limit. The proof-of-concept for the Pangrati dinner.

The oldest taverna in Psyrri, established 1967: wood tables, paper tablecloths, a chalkboard menu of yesterday's slow-cooked dishes. Stuffed tomatoes, lamb in lemon, fresh fava, octopus on charcoal when it's running. Come at lunch; the room fills with Psyrri regulars on Saturdays. Open day and night, closed Sunday.

Emmanouil Benaki, between Akadimias and Solonos in Exarchia: the Grammelis brothers from Mytilini opened it in the early 1960s and have been getting daily fish off the boat from Polychnitos on Lesvos ever since. Salted sardines, smoked mackerel, sea-urchin spaghetti, and the upright piano the regulars still play. A long lunch with several small ouzos, so pace yourself.

Also inside the Four Seasons Astir Palace, currently holding one Michelin star, with chef Luca Piscazzi running a Mediterranean-Italian kitchen on Greek seafood and a 350-label cellar that goes deeper than most rooms twice its size. The terrace looks across the Vouliagmeni cove. The Riviera dinner that isn't Nobu, for the night you want serious cooking over the greatest hits.

Neos Kosmos behind Syngrou: chef-owners Fotis Fotinoglou and Thodoris Kasavetis opened it in June 2019, the menu changes daily, and the kitchen is open, so you watch the day's plates come together. The signatures are thick-cut potato chips with taramasalata and fish tartare wrapped in stuffed vine leaves. The mid-tier dinner we'd send you to before you book Hytra or Delta.

The newer-generation yogurt bar a short walk from the Acropolis. "Pilino" means clay: the yogurt is hand-strained and set in small clay pots, topped with wild thyme honey and seasonal spoon sweets. Smaller and quieter than Fresko, less historic than Stani, the third pick if you're working through the city's yogurt argument over three mornings.

Athens's longest-running Michelin restaurant, opened 1996 in a Pangrati townhouse by Apostolos Trastelis, the first Greek restaurant ever to earn a Michelin star (2002). Held two stars from 2008 (under Arnaud Bignon) until 2022, one star now. Classical French technique on Greek ingredients, courtyard tables in summer, jackets at dinner. Book a month ahead.

Marikas Kotopouli 10, just off Omonia: opened 1931 in Piraeus by Nikolaos Karageorgou, in this Athens room since 1949, one of a handful of pre-war dairy bars still standing in the city (there were 1,600). The strained sheep's-milk yogurt won gold at the 1953 Thessaloniki Expo and the formula hasn't changed. Also rice pudding, loukoumades, and a small marble counter to eat at. The historic yogurt pick.

On Rovertou Galli at the foot of the Acropolis since 1975, and the rooftop with the unobstructed Parthenon view. Classical Greek cooking (lamb chops, mixed grill, fresh seafood), done well. You book it for the view: take the terrace one night, and eat your other dinners where the kitchen, not the view, is the reason. Sunset booking essential in summer.

Greece's most decorated specialty coffee roaster, opened 2009 by Yiannis Taloumis, with head barista Stefanos Domatiotis taking the 2014 World Brewers Cup. Single-origin pour-overs, espresso pulled correctly, a weekly rotating menu. The Athens specialty-coffee benchmark; several locations, and the original is in the centre near Omonia.

A Koukaki bakery on Misaraliotou St, family-run by the Papadopoulos family since 1971, now third generation, and the breakfast move if you're staying in the neighbourhood. Ladenia (flatbread with tomato, onion, oregano), spinach pies, walnut bread. Eat it standing at the counter, the way the regulars do. €2–4 a thing; cash easier than card.

Troon & Kydantidon in Ano Petralona, opposite the Zefyros summer cinema, opened 1930 by Giannis Oikonomou and run since 2000 by Kostas Diamantis. The whole kitchen is 15–20 slow-cooked pot dishes a day, and nothing is fried, not even the potatoes. Eat what's on the day's chalkboard, drink the house wine from the carafe, walk five minutes to the cinema if it's summer. The Athens neighbourhood-taverna case study.

30 Praxitelous Street: Nikos Bakoulis and Vasilis Kyritsis's all-day-into-late-night bar, on the World's 50 Best Bars every year since 2015 (it peaked at #3 in 2020). A seasonal menu that rewards a chat with the bartender, and a secret upstairs room that's reservation-only and worth requesting. Athens's most influential cocktail address, and it isn't close.

The Plaka exception. Thespidos 18, a pedestrian alley directly under the Acropolis rock: outdoor tables, opened 1979, named for the 6th-century-BC inventor of Greek tragedy. The cooking is unexpectedly serious fish (swordfish skewers, mussels, crab, whole fish off the morning boat) in a room where almost everyone around it is selling moussaka to the cruise crowd. Quiet, beautiful, and the rare Plaka view-dinner that earns the booking.

Seventh floor of the King George (Luxury Collection) on Syntagma, chef Nikos Livadias's one-Michelin-star kitchen (the star has held since 2023). The view is the floodlit Acropolis directly across, framed by the terrace columns: the high-end view dinner where you don't give up the food to get it. Booked weeks ahead for the terrace; the dining room is the back-up.

Chef Lefteris Lazarou's seafood room on Mikrolimano harbour in Piraeus. Lazarou was the first Greek chef ever to hold a Michelin star (2002, at the original Varoulko). He held it for more than two decades, then dropped to Main Selection in the 2024 Guide. The whole catch is from that morning, and the room is glass-walled and over the water. Cab from central Athens (25 min), or pair it with the new Piraeus tram line.

A beach taverna at the south end of Folegandros's Aggali bay, run by the same family as the small Apanemo Hotel above: walk down at one, swim, eat at three. The octopus is grilled and dressed simply, the courgette flowers are stuffed with myzithra, the white wine arrives in a carafe at the right temperature. The walk back up is the only argument against it, so bring a towel and stay until five.

The Greek street-food benchmark on the main stepped lane of Ano Syros: lamb and beef from the local butcher, charcoal grill, pita wrapped while you wait, €4–6 a meal. Order one of each (lamb gyros + pork souvlaki) with a cold beer, and eat on the stone step outside. Open late, busy with the weekend crowd; walk it off back down to Ermoupoli.

A courtyard restaurant in the back of Folegandros Chora, three family generations deep. The signature is matsata, the island's hand-rolled pasta, served under a slow-cooked ragù; the fava is the warm Cycladic standard. The courtyard is the table, the inside dining room is the consolation; reserve a week ahead in August.

Refined Cycladic cooking inside a repurposed 17th-century Tinian dovecote (peristerionas, ornamental stone agricultural structures with geometric reliefs) in Triantaros, one of the inland marble villages you have to want to reach. Tinian-modern, vegetables and meat both grown or raised within sight of the kitchen, the daily list reflecting what walked in that morning. The drive over is the half-day; loop through Pyrgos and Volax on the way.

A small owner-cooked meze room in medieval Ano Syros (the island's prettiest quarter, and we'll say it): small plates of gruyere with their own tomato chutney, fresh cheese pies, Greek pasta with whatever herb is in the back garden. The jam shop next door is the same family. Sit outside on the stepped lane; coming down from a sundown walk in Ano Syros, this is dinner.

Antonia Zarpa's second Tinos restaurant: the smaller, quieter, tasting-menu-only indoor counterpart to Thalassaki, the same locavore-Tinian philosophy in a more deliberate setting. One of the deepest wine lists in the Cyclades; ask for a Tinian Mavrotragano or an Avgoustiatis if either is on this week. Pair it with a daytime drive through the marble villages of Pyrgos and Volax, and make a day of it.

Eleni Theodorou's wine-shop-turned-taverna in an 1812 Tinos Town stone building: two arched rooms with dried peppers and copper pots hanging from the ceiling, cooking country-Tinian: stuffed cabbage leaves, rabbit stew, the Tinos omelette with louza (local cured pork) and Tinian sausage. The emblematic dishes are the historic tripe soup and the fish soup; order one. The room fills with Tinos regulars from Sunday afternoon.

Pollonia's modern-Italian / seafood crossover; pasta made in-house, octopus tartare, the wine list goes deeper than it needs to. Younger and more design-forward than the village average.

An aperitivo in the candy-coloured fishermen's village of Klima on Milos: twenty old syrmata (boat-garages) painted in primary colours, water up to their doors, a small dining room set up out front. Order a glass at 6 p.m., watch the sun go down behind the western cape, and stay for the lobster pasta if you have it in you. There aren't many sundown spots left in the Cyclades that still feel like a small secret, and this is one.

The kitchen worth driving across the island for. Modern-Greek done with restraint in a Pollonia courtyard: sea-urchin pasta, smoked-eel saganaki, plating that lands without straining for it. Book a week ahead in season.

Adamas harbour stalwart since the 1970s. Mezze, fish, the local Milos cheese pies. Unfashionable on purpose; the menu hasn't changed and shouldn't.

The gyros benchmark in Adamas near the Milos ferry port: quick, cheap, generous, the lunch you get sent to without ceremony. Pitas wrapped fast with seasoned meat that doesn't taste of the freezer (falafel gyros for the vegetarian in the group), €5–8 a meal. Walk to it after the boat docks at Adamas; eat before the drive to Sarakiniko.

The family taverna in Adamas: garden vegetables, a short menu, and whatever the day's catch turned out to be. Order the skioufihta (Milos hand-rolled pasta) with goat ragù, the dish you have to know to ask for. Half the tables are Milos families; book in August.

The fishing-village lunch in Mandrakia. Tables on the rocks over the harbour. Order the grilled octopus and ask what came in that morning. Lunch only in shoulder season.

"The Drunken Town." A Plaka-village rooftop with the long view down to Klima and the sea, and a sunset table. The menu is straightforward; the position does the work.

The Milos taverna the whole internet has been telling you about, and it earns it. Family farm at the south end of Adamas bay: their own goats, their own cheese, hand-written menus on butcher paper. Get the pitarakia, the goat in lemon, the salad. No reservations after 8.

The volcanic-sand oven taverna at Paleochori beach: they cook the gigantes, the lamb, and the moussaka in clay pots buried in the geothermally-heated sand. Lunch only, after the swim.

The terrace bar at the top of Plaka (Milos's medieval hilltop town and original capital): a black-and-white checkered cliff-edge perch with the full panoramic west view, the Aegean and surrounding islands in front and the village quiet at your back. The Mai Tai is the house pick, jazz on the speakers, the sunset show starting 7:45 in high summer (arrive 6 p.m. for a front-row table). The sundown spot on Milos; closed Nov–April.

The Pollonia waterfront classic: feet-in-sand tables, simple grilled fish, the long lunch that turns into an afternoon. Less precious than Astakas, and often where the island itself ends up.

A cocktail bar in a converted hilltop fortress above Mykonos Town, a terrace with 180° of view from Delos out to Tinos. Reserve a railing seat for 5.30 p.m. in summer; the sun goes behind Rhenia at 8.30 and the show takes 90 minutes. Cocktails are €18–25, the food is fine. One drink, the photograph, then leave for dinner.

On windward Ftelia beach on the north coast: bohemian-luxe pavilions, kitesurfers in the bay, a kitchen that takes its ingredients seriously (the olive oil is house-pressed, the cheese is local kopanisti). Less velvet-rope than Nammos and Scorpios, more design than Principote. The contrarian beach-club afternoon. Come for lunch, and bring a hoodie; the wind drops the temperature 5–8°C from 6 p.m.

On Platis Gialos beach next to the family hotel of the same name: a Cretan-Mykonian taverna under bamboo with a wood-fired oven and a kitchen that's been serious about Mykonian ingredients for two decades. The honest beach lunch in the middle of the south-coast hotel strip. Cheaper than nearby Nammos by a factor of three, with better fava and fresher fish.

A new (post-2020) cocktail bar in Little Venice from the Semeli Group: small, dim, the room people who care about cocktails are relieved to find on this island. Cover charge €25–40 to keep the casual crowd out. The bartenders compete internationally, so let them drive. Reserve weekends.

At Bill & Coo The Coast (the adults-only Bill & Coo sister property on Agios Ioannis beach), chef Yiannis Babalis runs the kitchen and the menu is the Monte-Carlo Beefbar group's Mykonos edit. Charcoal-grilled steaks, raw beef preparations, a sunset platform straight onto the Agios Ioannis bay. The sharpest hotel-restaurant on the south coast.

At Santa Marina, a Luxury Collection Resort on the private Ornos peninsula: the Buddha-Bar group's Mykonos outpost, pan-Asian on a terrace cantilevered over the bay. Sunset DJ set from 6 p.m., dinner from 7.30. The Ornos splurge, easier to book than Matsuhisa or Beefbar, almost the same scene with slightly less Town-circuit pull.

The classic Mykonos Chora sundown spot since 1962: tables a metre from the water in Little Venice with the Kato Mili windmills behind them, touristy and unbothered about it (the locals stopped fighting it long ago and show up themselves). Book a front-row table for 7 p.m. in summer; the light goes by 7:45, the wind picks up, the waves come over the threshold, the show is on. Ouzo, mezze, a slow hour, and don't stay for dinner.

At the end of a dirt track on the north coast: no asphalt, no power line from the road, no signage. Fokos beach is small, the taverna sits on the sand, and the only people there are the ones who knew to drive over. Honest fish, salads, a slow lunch that runs 3 hours and never feels like it did. Cash easier than card; no reservations.

The small Chora dining room that proves there's a serious Mykonos kitchen behind the beach-club hierarchy: two narrow rooms in the lower town, an open kitchen, half the menu in from the morning's market. The sea-urchin spaghetti is what people fly here for; ask the sommelier for the natural Mantilaria off the Cycladic-small-producer-heavy wine list. Reserve two weeks out in August.

Twenty-five years in and still the dinner-into-party room on the island, set off Matogianni in a Paola Navone–designed garden you'd never spot from the lane. Chef Christos Fotos cooks Mediterranean without borders, and the wine list runs deep. Tables hold until midnight, then the music climbs and the room turns. 7:30 p.m.–3 a.m., May through September; book two weeks ahead at least for August.

A British-Greek-run taverna at the south end of Megali Ammos beach (a 10-minute walk south of Mykonos Town along the coast path): Joanna runs the room, the menu is honest Cretan-Cycladic, the tables sit right on the sand. The lunch the Town crowd does when they don't want a cab. Sunset side; book the railing table.

No reservations, no electricity, no signage from the road: walk down the dirt path from the small parking cove above Agios Sostis. One person with a wood-fired grill: whole grilled fish, a long salad of bitter greens with lemon, bread, and as much chilled white as the table can finish. The most-photographed lunch on Mykonos, and the rare one where the photo isn't overselling it; the queue runs an hour by 1 p.m. in season.

Nobu Matsuhisa's Mykonos outpost at the Belvedere Hotel, open since 2003, the longest-held fine-dining address on the island (the 20-year anniversary was 2023). The Nobu greatest hits (black cod miso, yellowtail jalapeño, rock shrimp tempura) on a candlelit garden terrace overlooking Chora. Reserve a month ahead in August and ask for the sunset slot.

Psarou beach since 2003: the original luxury beach club, the table that defined the Nammos international brand (Cannes, Dubai, Limassol all came after). Sunbeds €120–250 a pair in August, lunch typically €150–300 a head, and the magnum-of-rosé sport is real. If you came for the cliché, this is it; if you came for the Mykonos that's already happened, this is what you measure the rest against.

Family taverna on Agia Anna beach (the one near Paraga, not the Kalafatis-side Agia Anna with Spilia): small, honest, half the price of the south-coast clubs, the only restaurant directly on the cove. Walk-in friendly in shoulder season; reserve in August. The taverna lunch you use to recalibrate after a Nammos morning.

The most polished north-coast beach club, on Panormos beach: white-on-white pavilions and a kitchen run by chef Maria Loi (Greek-American, Manhattan and Athens credentials). Quieter than the south-coast set, more luxurious than the south-coast clubs charge for, the pick on days when Nammos and Scorpios feel like a queue. Sunset on the Panormos sand is the trade-off for skipping Oia.

On the headland between Paraga beach and Kavos lagoon: the Soho House Group-aligned beach club that's now the music-led alternative to Nammos. Mediterranean-pan-Asian kitchen, a long lunch platform, and a DJ programme (international names) that builds into a sunset set on the headland. Books out 2 weeks ahead in August. For the crowd that came for the scene, not the status.

Reopened spring 2025 under the Caprice group, directly beneath the Kato Mili windmills, the most-photographed Mykonos Town dinner address. Charcoal-grilled fish, raw seafood platters, an outdoor terrace with the windmills above and the Little Venice rooftops below. Reserve the sunset slot; the cruise crowds clear by 7 p.m. and the room is at its best at 9.

The longest-running nightlife institution in Mykonos Town: four floors of bars and a yard that spills into the alley, a mixed crowd, open until daylight. Not for the cocktail purist; for the late-night Mykonos that no other room does quite the same way. The Mykonos Town finish to most Mykonian nights since the 1980s.

A sea-cave restaurant in the Agia Anna cove next to Kalafatis on the east coast: tables on a platform built into the rocks, the Aegean two metres below. Seafood-led, half-day-into-evening service. Speedboats moor offshore for the long lunch, and the road approach is signposted from Kalafatis. The most-photographed lunch table on the island after Nammos.

The best-known restaurant on Tinos: chef-owner Antonia Zarpa's platform of tables set a metre from the Aegean in the quiet north-coast bay of Ormos Isternion (speedboats come over from Mykonos for lunch, which is the reputation). The seafood is the headline, but the Tinian vegetable dishes are the surprise: wild artichokes, fava with capers, courgette flowers stuffed with myzithra. Reserve the water-edge table (you'll get splashed, part of the deal) and order the pairing menu.

A kilometre up the Alyko-Kastraki road: farm-to-table Naxian, no printed menu (the day's plates are recited), and the meze and the goat in lemon are where you start. The honest alternative to Axiotissa, with a bit more room at the table.

A six-course tasting in a courtyard 25 minutes south of Naxos Town: the Karavias family, sons cooking, parents farming, the ingredients walking in the door (Naxos is the farm island of the Cyclades, and Axiotissa is the proof). A short weekly menu under a fig tree, paired with the family's own wines, six courses for what a New York entrée runs. Drive over, eat at 2, swim at Kastraki for the afternoon, drive back at sunset; reserve.

Moved to Plaka in 2025 (formerly Agia Anna) and merged with Nomad. Day-into-night beach club and kitchen: long lunches, fresh fish, a cocktail menu that's been thought through. The chic-est lunch on the beach strip.

Chora paralia (the waterfront). Fish-focused mezze, the catch lined up on ice at the door, long tables that turn at 9 and again at 11. Order half the menu in small plates and share.

The bay-side lunch in the far-north fishing village: the morning's catch, simply grilled, a long table on the water. The reward for driving up to see the Kouros and the north coast.

Down at the Pyrgaki end of Alyko: a stone-and-cedar seaside room, the catch grilled simply, the bottle list local. Sunset table. The wind-down dinner on a long-stay trip.

The Naxos unicorn: a Mexican kitchen on Plaka beach, open since 1996, run by an Aussie-Mexican family. Order the salt-rim margarita on the sand at 4 p.m. after a swim; the food is the deepest non-Greek meal you'll get on the island.

The big-view destination on the Filoti–Apiranthos mountain road. Drive up for the sunset, sit on the round-stone terrace, order a couple of meat dishes and a bottle of local. The view is the lead, the food keeps up.

Apiranthos, the marble-paved mountain village. Lefteris does the local goat rosto (slow-cooked in red wine), the home-made cheese is where you start, and the terrace has the classic inland view. Lunch only in shoulder season.

The Chora dinner Naxians book before the tourists arrive: a small, family-run room since 2008, a short menu, the rooster-with-hilopites and the lamb in lemon the orders. Reserve.

The town gyros, and the late-night that closes the trip out. On Sokratous Papavasiliou; cash, no reservations, eat standing. A €4 chicken gyro that beats most restaurants twice its price.

Twenty-seven years in Halki, the kontosouvli (slow-spit-roast pork) is what they're known for, the courtyard is shaded by an enormous fig. The lunch stop on the inland day, pair with the kitron tasting at Vallindras across the square.

Family-run on the south-coast Aliki harbour since 1974: the boats moor on the quay, the room is honest, and it anchors the south-coast day. Follow it with a swim at Faragas beach (10-minute drive south) or Parasporos. Cash and card; reserve in August.

A family taverna on Agios Dimitrios Beach, a small cove a 5-minute walk east of Naoussa, with no website and no need for one. A few tables on the water, a hand-written daily list, and no ambitions beyond the cove, which is why it works. The fried calamari is the textbook version (golden, light, not chewy), the sardines come grilled whole, the salad is whatever the garden gave up this week. Walk-ins; cash easier than card.

Naoussa's pink-doored cocktail-bar-turned-nightclub on the port: DJ programme from 11 p.m., open until daylight, mixed crowd. More club than cocktail bar, and a Naoussa late-night institution since the early 2000s. Where a Mario dinner goes when it refuses to end.

The Naoussa harbour fish house, directly on the quay: the boats moor metres from your table, and the catch came in at 6 a.m. that morning. Pick your fish from the case and have it deboned at the table. A second Mario opened in Parikia in 2023; the original on the harbour is the one. Reserve the corner outdoor table, the one facing the working harbour, over the air-conditioned interior. Cash and card both fine.

A fishing-family ouzeri on the harbour in Piso Livadi, on the east coast: the owner has his own boat, which settles the sourcing question. Whole fish, shrimp saganaki, stuffed sardines, sea-urchin spaghetti in season, for roughly half what the same plate costs in Naoussa. The drive from Naoussa is 30 minutes; stop at Marpissa village on the way back and it stops being a detour. Reserve in summer.

Since 1912, four generations of the same family, three branches across Paros: the Parikia counter is the original, the Naoussa branch runs as a small sit-down bistro, and the third sits on the inland 6-km midpoint road between the two. The morning move on the island. Croissants and pain au chocolat on puff pastry they've been laminating for a century, and the textbook spinach-and-cheese pie. Eat standing at the Parikia counter with a Greek coffee.

The 50-plus-year-old family institution in Drios on the east coast: a real village taverna in a quiet residential setting, almost no foreign tourists, the taverna Greek families drive across the island for on a Sunday. Honest Cycladic cooking, slow-cooked meats, a small garden at the back. The Sunday-lunch drive from Naoussa.

The serious fish room on the Parikia waterfront: small, family-run, the boats mooring offshore. The catch is what came in that morning, and the menu is short and changes daily. The dinner for the night you arrive or leave by ferry. Reserve a day ahead in season.

A modern Greek seafood room in Xifara, on the coastal road between Naoussa and Santa Maria beach, 3 km east of Naoussa. The long beach lunch the Naoussa hotel crowd cabs over for; the kitchen leans contemporary on Cycladic ingredients (red shrimp from Mazara, sea-urchin spaghetti when in season, fava with capers). Open Easter through October, daily 1:30 p.m. to midnight. Reserve the table closest to the water.

A tiny back-alley restaurant in Naoussa: chef-owner Kalypso Sifnaiou ("Soso") in a room small enough that the open kitchen and the dining floor are basically the same space, her husband Petros at the door. Fusion Greek with global ingredients, done with restraint: lamb shank in lemon sauce, pork fillet in mustard, careful portions. Every chair, table, and light in the room handmade by Petros. Reserve a week ahead in August; in shoulder season a few days will do.

The Parikia waterfront grill house near the post office: counter service, twenty seats outside, and a 1 p.m. queue that works as the review. Meat grilled in front of you, pita wrapped warm with the right ratio of tzatziki to lemon to tomato, the bill around €5. The cheap Parikia lunch; the second branch in Naoussa is the same kitchen at the same prices with less harbour view.

A Naoussa cocktail bar with a happy hour the rest of the island envies: €7 cocktails between 6.30 and 8.30 p.m. (the name "7 Bar" comes from the price). Mixed crowd, garden seating, the natural warm-up before dinner at Mario or Yemeni. Walk-in friendly; later in the night the room ramps up.

A serious wine taverna in a quiet Naoussa lane since 2007, with the best Greek cooking in town and a list deeper in Greek producers than anywhere else on the island. The signature is the boneless lamb wrapped in vine leaves and stuffed with Naxos cheese, slow-cooked in the wood oven with potatoes. Ask the sommelier for a Tinian Mavrotragano or a small-batch Paros white. Book ahead.

A cliff-edge seafood room in Fira above Town Hall square, named for the Akrotiri Bronze Age date, with a kitchen that leans hard on what came in at Vlychada that morning. Whole grilled fish, raw seafood platters, a deep Santorinian wine list. One of the few caldera-side rooms you'd come back to for the cooking, not just the view. Reserve the terrace.

An old-school taverna in Megalochori (the wine village inland from the Santorini caldera) since 1922, same family: no view, all food. Fava with capers and a slick of good oil, lamb baked overnight in a clay pot, tomatokeftedes (the island's volcanic-soil tomato fritters) you'll order twice, retsina from the carafe. The Sunday lunch Greek families fill every table for by 2 p.m. Walk back through the vineyards.

The old cliff-side Argo relocated in recent years to a 4,500m² garden venue in Kontochori, 5 minutes from Fira, trading the cliff view for room to breathe. Modern Greek-Mediterranean, the same kitchen as before in a calmer setting. The pick when you want the food without the cruise-deck volume.

Chef Haris Kossyfas's Mediterranean-Greek fine dining inside the medieval Kasteli fortress of Pyrgos: an 18th-century mansion converted to a 30-seat room, with a terrace looking across the whole caldera. Modern technique on Cycladic ingredients, tasting menus only. The Pyrgos splurge dinner, easily paired with a daytime wine tasting nearby.

A cliff-edge cocktail bar in Fira opened in 1976 by an Italian-Greek classical-music aficionado: an open-air terrace facing the caldera, classical and opera on the speakers, jacketed bartenders, no concessions to the cruise crowd. The Negroni is the order, and the sunset hour fills the terrace. Small plates now, too.

A traditional taverna in Finikia, the small village a kilometre east of Oia, inside an 1832 building, opened as a restaurant in 2007 by the family that has owned the building for generations. Cycladic-mainland menu, charcoal-grilled meat, fava, the local Assyrtiko in carafes. The dinner you have to remember to drive to. Five-minute cab from Oia.

The dining room at Andronis Boutique Hotel in Oia, opened 1971, the oldest fine-dining restaurant on the island, now consulted by three-Michelin-star chef Emmanuel Renaut (Flocons de Sel in the French Alps). Cliff-edge terrace facing west into the caldera; the tasting menu pairs Renaut's alpine precision with Santorinian ingredients. Book three weeks ahead and take the sunset slot.

A Cretan-Santorinian taverna in Exo Gonia next to Agios Charalampos church, in a 19th-century building with a stone terrace facing east toward Anafi. Booked out a month ahead in season, and deservedly: the food is honest, the room is warm, the wine list goes deep into local Assyrtiko and the rarer Mavrotragano. The long taverna lunch you'll wish you'd booked earlier.

Molecular-mixology bar inside a cave on Marinatou Street in Fira: smoked drinks, edible-foam toppings, cocktails served in lab beakers and on slate slabs. Cliff-cave interior with a caldera view through the windows. More theatre than the other Fira bars, and worth one stop once you've done the classics.

On the Oia caldera edge since 1996: restaurant and bar, the rare cliff-side address where the food still respects itself. Mediterranean, seafood-led, an outdoor terrace cantilevered over the rim. Less touristy than Ambrosia next door; book the sunset table.

A walk-up grill house on the Oia main strip: charcoal-grilled pork on the spit, hand-cut pita, and the cheapest honest meal in Oia by a wide margin. €4–6 a pita. Eat standing on the corner; don't go looking for a cliffside seat. The lunch for the day you burned the budget at brunch.

Santorini's first cocktail bar, opened 1976 in Fira on the back of the cliff (no caldera view, all about the drinks). Yiannis Kanakaris has been mixing here for decades. Small, dim, and the pilgrimage stop for the Athens cocktail crowd when they're on the island. The second stop after Franco's.

A modern Greek room in a 1912 Oia building, chef Grigoris Karagiannis cooking the Cycladic pantry through a contemporary lens since 2022. Smaller and more deliberate than the Oia caldera spots: no cliff view, all about the food. The room seats around 30; book a week ahead in season.

The serious modern Greek kitchen of Santorini, in the inland wine village of Pyrgos, chef George Hatzigiannakis cooking from this island for thirty years, every dish anchored to a Santorinian ingredient you may not know exists (fava in three textures, sun-dried tomatoes from Mesa Gonia, capers from Akrotiri). The wine list takes Assyrtiko as seriously as any list in Greece. The reason to leave the caldera for dinner; book a month ahead in summer.

A third-generation family fish taverna on Akrotiri beach: the boats moor a few metres from the tables, the catch is whatever came in that morning, the room is shaded with bamboo. Pair it with the Akrotiri site visit (a 5-minute drive). Cash and card both fine; lunch is when the room is alive.

A Cretan-coffee place at the quiet northern edge of Imerovigli, family-run and open early (when Imerovigli is worth being awake for), with a free view of the caldera, a correctly bitter freddo cappuccino, and loukoumades hot in mountain-thyme honey. Sit on the small terrace with a paper before the sun gets serious; skip it on cruise-ship days, when the small space fills.

Kagiampi & Agion Deka 5, near Agia Ekaterini square: chef Stefanos Lavrenidis's contemporary-Greek room, opened 2019, with a natural-wine list that's the deepest in Heraklion. The dinner the city's chefs eat on their nights off; book ahead.

Xanthoudidou & Radamanthyos, inside a 1530 Venetian building with a wisteria-covered courtyard: modern Cretan cooking and a 400-label all-Greek cellar (Fusion Enoteca next door). The Rethymno dinner that justifies basing here for two nights of a longer trip.

Kyrillou Loukareos, the Heraklion morning institution. Bougatsa is the layered phyllo pastry; here it's filled with fresh Cretan myzithra and dusted with sugar and cinnamon. Eat one standing at the counter, then walk to Knossos.

Chania Old Harbour: a Sfakia-village family running a Chania dining room around the dish they raise the meat for, tsigariasto, slow-cooked lamb in a clay pot with mountain herbs. Hand-kneaded breads, and the rest of the menu plays slow-Cretan supporting cast. The honest harbour-front dinner.

In the hilltop village of Mavrikiano just above Elounda: a family-run taverna with boat-caught fish, a courtyard, and the long view down to Spinalonga. The Elounda dinner that isn't a hotel; the cab down at midnight is part of the night.

Plateia Eleftherias 43, on the rooftop of Legacy Gastro Suites: wood-fire and parastia (mound-coal) cooking in a glass-walled room overlooking the city. Tarama Sfakiani, beef tartare, youvetsi orzo with short ribs, tuna kebab. The Heraklion dinner where reserving sunset pays off.

Sofokli Venizelou on the waterfront: the classic ouzeri, tables across the road against the seawall, raki and mezedes for hours. The casual mid-afternoon stop before the museum or after Knossos.

Lions Square: the Heraklion bougatsa counter that's been there since the 1920s. Cream-filled phyllo, dusted with sugar and cinnamon, eaten at a marble table on the square while the morning gets going. Line it up with the Heraklion Archaeological Museum opening.

Daskalogianni 51: the Chania souvlaki counter open 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., pork and chicken on the spit, cult status in town and a queue that moves fast. €4 a stick. The late-night close to a Chania night, or the €5 lunch on a 7-course Crete trip.

5 km out of Chania on the Profitis Ilias hill: the cliffside café with the Venetian-harbour-and-White-Mountains panorama, and the Zoumero chocolate cake people drive up for. Open since 1997. Afternoon or sunset; pair it with a Chania-Old-Town dinner after.

The mountain pilgrimage. Drakona village, 18 km up out of Chania: Stelios Trilyrakis cooks everything in clay pots and wood ovens, no electric appliances on the property, the vegetables coming from the family's own plot. Gamopilafo (wedding rice), slow-cooked goat, ladotyri cheese. The meal that frames the trip.

Relais & Châteaux flagship dining room inside the Elounda Mare hotel: chef Stavros Kokkinakis, Toque d'Or, a €65–120 prix fixe of modern Greek cooking with the Mirabello Gulf in the window. The east-coast dinner. Book a week ahead in season.

The Captain Polyxingis mansion in the Old Town: a restored heritage building, fed by the kitchen's own 30-acre organic farm at Charaso. The menu is built around forgotten Cretan ingredients (wild greens, heirloom grains, slow-cooked goat), and the cooking is as thoughtful as anything in the city. Book ahead.

Next door to Kirkor on Heraklion's central square: third-generation family, founded 1922, specialising in phyllo pastry and the city's reference galaktoboureko (semolina custard inside crisp phyllo, soaked in lemon-syrup). The afternoon-sweet stop.

Portou Street, Old Town: chef Susanna Koutoulaki's small Cretan kitchen, a long-running critics' favourite the tour groups walk straight past. Tight menu, regional Cretan plates, the booking Chania makes for itself.

Akrotiriou 4, on the Rethymno waterfront facing the Fortezza: Mediterranean cooking with a few sushi-and-ceviche detours that work better than they should. Terraced over the water; sunset is the table.

Akti Enoseos 3, on the Venetian harbour quay: upscale Cretan with its own vegetable garden and a serious all-Greek wine list. The harbourfront dinner that cares about the food, which most of them don't.

Zampeliou 49, inside a former Venetian-Ottoman hammam: Greek-Eastern Mediterranean cooking since 1982 in one of the better-looking rooms in the Old Town. Stuffed vegetables, ottoman-spiced lamb, mezedes done with care. Book Fri–Sun.

Vivilaki 35, in the Tabakaria district: a beachfront fish taverna built among the abandoned 19th-century tanneries, with sunset behind the Venetian lighthouse. The sea-urchin salad, the catch grilled simply, the cab back to the Old Town after.

Daskalogianni 33, centre of Chania: daily-changing seafood, you pick the fish off the ice at the door, the room full of regulars. Closed Sundays. Cash easier than card.

Defkalionos 5, Chania Old Town: Stelios and Zeta's organic vegetarian-and-vegan Cretan kitchen, no set menu (the day's plates come from the morning's market and farm). Closed Sundays. The rare serious vegetarian room in Greece, and a Travelers' Choice 2025 pick.

Monis Kardiotissis 71, Lakkos district: a garden taverna serving Cretan cooking with Asia Minor accents (caprico, the wedding-rice gamopilafo). Quieter, more local, the dinner Heraklion books second after Peskesi.

The Old Town rooftop grill-and-wine-bar attached to the 3Sixty Hotel on Papanikolaou St: premium meats, a serious Peloponnesian wine list (the Nemea reds in particular), the rooftop view across to the Palamidi fortress. The booking that justifies dressing for dinner.

Vasilissis Olgas, off the main square: small, family-run, the taverna a regular will sit in alone with a book at lunch. Order the moussaka the day they have it and a half-litre of Agiorgitiko from the carafe.

Chef Giorgos Papaioannou's seafood-led concept at The Romanos: the sharpest cooking on the Costa Navarino estate. Tasting menu, Greek wine pairings, the room you book once during a four-night stay. Reserve a week ahead.

The barefoot beach restaurant at the Westin / Romanos beach: the signature Costa Navarino lunch, designed by K-Studio, tables in the sand, fresh fish and a sea-urchin pasta worth the splurge. Walk up at lunch from the resort; book for dinner.

Ritsa beach, just outside Kardamyli: tables under the olive trees, lunch and dinner, attached to the Elies Hotel. The slow second meal in Kardamyli, after Lela's. Excellent grilled vegetables and the local pork.

The steak-and-grill room at the Romanos: open-fire cooking, dry-aged Greek beef, a heavy red-wine list. The night you want a serious carnivore dinner without leaving the resort.

A garden taverna 12 km from Pylos in Methoni, husband-and-wife run, no fixed menu: what's cooking that day comes to your table. The local lunch on a Methoni-castle morning; cash easier than card.

Kardamyli seafront: Lela was Patrick Leigh Fermor's cook and housekeeper for decades, and the taverna she opened (now run by her son Giorgos) is the Mani's most-storied dining room. Refreshed in 2021 toward a "contemporary traditional" menu without losing the spirit. The pilgrimage lunch.

The wood-fired stone-oven taverna on the Kinsterna Hotel estate above Monemvasia: named for the on-site traditional wine press (linos), the ingredients from the estate's own orchards and vineyards, lamb and vegetables slow-cooked under quince trees and vines. Live music Friday and Sunday. Seasonal · 24 April – end October only.

Inside the Kastro, on the main alley: operating since 1950, a trellised garden with the long sea view, the room that anchors every Monemvasia trip. Order the saitia (local cheese-and-greens pie), the lachanodolmades, a bottle of Malvasia (the wine native to this rock). Book ahead.

Areopoli, the Mani capital: the small mezedopoleio specialising in the Mani's orange-peel-infused pork sausage, the regional pride. Order them with a tsipouro and the boiled greens; lunch becomes afternoon.

The "neo-taverna" at the Mandarin Oriental Costa Navarino: by Alexandros Tsiotinis, the Michelin-starred chef of CTC Athens, alumnus of Alain Passard and Pascal Barbot. Traditional Messinian recipes "paraphrased" through small-producer sourcing. Reopens for the 2026 season March 31. The Navarino Bay dining argument that justifies leaving the Dunes side for a night.

Not gelato, not really. A milk-pudding specialist working with four ingredients (fresh Koukaki-farm milk, corn flour, a 7-rice flour blend, sugar) to build the muhalebi and mastiha-and-sour-cherry plates the Nafplio dessert argument is really about. Stevia and almond-milk vegan lines on the menu. The afternoon stop the food press already knows.

Bouboulinas St on the waterfront: the family-run fish taverna Nafplio points to. Pick the catch off the ice; eat it whole-grilled. The other harbour restaurants are for tourists; this is the one that isn't.

Staikopoulou St in the Old Town, recently refreshed without losing the room: the courtyard under the bougainvillea, slow-cooked rabbit, lamb in lemon, the regional cheese platter. The Nafplio dinner that lands every time.

Sivota harbour on Lefkada's south coast: the long-running waterfront fish taverna in the chain's most-photographed small-harbour bay. Pick the catch off the ice; eat it slowly. The Lefkada dinner if you're basing south of the bridge.

150 m from Gaios main square: a Gaios garden restaurant with a small, daily-changing menu of Paxos cooking pushed half a notch up. Olive-oil seriousness, local fish first, an unfussy wine list. The Gaios dinner of the trip.

The clifftop bar-and-restaurant on the wild Erimitis cliffs of north-west Paxos: sunset over the Ionian, a glass of Robola in hand, dinner under the stars after. The reason the rest of the island feels empty at 7 p.m. on the night you go.

Kato Korakiana, 20 min north of Corfu Town: chef Ettore Botrini's flagship, in a converted family home with a garden. Botrini holds a Michelin star at his Athens restaurant, and Etrusco is widely cited as Corfu's most ambitious kitchen. Modern Greek-Italian tasting menu; book 2+ weeks ahead in summer.

Travliata, 15 minutes south of Argostoli below St. George's Castle: chef Angeliki Spyratou took over in 2014, the vine-shaded terrace looks across to Zakynthos, and the Kefalonian wine list (Robola-heavy) is the deepest on the island. Pair it with a Kastro-Café afternoon for a full hilltop day.

At the St. George's Castle grounds near Peratata, central Kefalonia: Spiros and his English wife Nicky's hilltop café, ranked the second-best restaurant on the island on TripAdvisor (out of 528). The homemade cheesecake is the dish; the view across to Argostoli is the rest of the booking.

Benitses, across from the marina, south of Corfu Town: the Bellos family fish taverna since 1997, the textbook for bourdetto (the Corfiot spicy fish stew) and bianco (the white-wine fish version). Quiet, off the tourist circuit, harbour-side. Cab from Old Town, 20 min.

Paleokastritsa: the cliffside-cove bar reached by ~140 steps down from the road into a cove you can't see from above. Day swim and cliff-jumping, sunset cocktails at night, drinks and light snacks only. Not a meal, but the best-sited drink in Corfu.

North coast, in the Aharavi/Roda area: chef Ekaterini Nikolakopoulou's fine-dining room, often cited alongside Etrusco as the most ambitious kitchen on the island. Tight tasting menu, modern Greek, a quieter alternative to the Etrusco booking-trial.

Nikiforou Theotoki 32, Corfu Old Town: third-generation Dafnis-family patisserie since 1924. The bitter-chocolate desserts are the work the city talks about; the house-made kumquat and wild-strawberry gelato (from a single local Corfiot dairy) is the summer order.

Magganos village, 2 miles outside Fiscardo on the road to Assos and Myrtos: mother-and-daughter run, the modern Anglo-twist brunch the Fiscardo yacht crowd drives up for. The Sunday Eggs Benedict is the order; they also pack full beach hampers to take away.

Scaramanga Square, Corfu Old Town: chef Aristotelis Megoulas, modern Greek with serious Italian training, the room where Old-Town residents take out-of-town guests. Pasta made in-house; the seafood orzotto is the dish to get.

Above the fjord-like inlet at Aghios Leon on Zakynthos's west coast: a pine-shaded terrace looking down into the cove, grilled fish, sardines, squid. The lunch that justifies the cross-island drive from Tragaki or Tsilivi.

By Solomos Square in Zante Town: chef Krystallia Karageorgou's modern-Greek fine-dining room (FNL / Toques d'Or recognition), the most serious kitchen on the island and the reason to base in town for at least a night.

Kapodistriou Street, just behind the Liston in the Corfu Old Town: operating since 1932 under the Katsaros family, the textbook for Corfiot classics done well. The sofrito (veal slow-fried in white wine with garlic), the pastitsada, the bourdetto: the dishes the island invented, cooked by the room that has been at them for almost a century.

Argostoli, Kefalonia: the Patsi family bakery since 1890, now in its fourth generation. The famous mandoles (red candied almonds) are still made with the original post-WWII baking-pan method, and the tsoureki (Easter bread) is the textbook. Morning stop on the Robola wine drive.

Vathy: chef Nikos Kostopoulos's modern-Greek and seafood room, the more design-led Ithaca dinner alongside Trehantiri. Seasonal · May 1 – October 15.

Gilford 59, Corfu Old Town: the morning institution for spanakopita (€2.50, the homemade phyllo is the giveaway) and a shakerato coffee people cross town for. Eat one standing at the counter, then walk on.

The Fiscardo institution since 1972: Tassia Dendrinou's harbourfront kitchen, the Kefalonian fish-stew the photographers come for, an excellent Robola-led wine list. Yacht crews book ahead; do the same.

Agni Bay, north-east Corfu: one of three waterfront tavernas in the cove (Toula's and Nikolas the other two), this one the longest-running. The catch grilled on charcoal, the salads from the gardens above. Arrive by boat from Kassiopi or Kalami.

The hilltop terrace at Bohali above Zakynthos Town: view dinner, fresh fish, the sunset that frames the bay and the Peloponnese in the distance. View first, food second, in that order.

Kremasti Square in the Old Town, around the only 17th-century well still in its original position: fine dining in a tiny cobbled square, a tasting menu that reads Italian into Corfiot ingredients, the sommelier list the city is built around. The Old Town splurge.

Agni Bay, NE coast: the second of the three Agni-Bay waterfront tavernas, in a converted 1890 olive press, run by Toula since 1981. The lobster is the house specialty (€90, served simply with oil, lemon, steamed vegetables); the room is the slow-Sunday-lunch on the boat day.

Behind the central square in Vathy, Ithaca: open 40+ years, the quiet favourite of the local-and-yacht crowd, the goat kleftiko (slow-baked in paper) the dish. The Ithaca dinner for the two nights the island earns.

Plateia Kavadia, in a Tselentis-family building since 1893: the more Italian-leaning Fiscardo classic, pasta-and-seafood, slow harbour-side lunches. The Fiscardo lunch that pairs with Tassia for dinner.

Loggos harbour: the family-run waterfront taverna the Loggos regulars book. Grilled fish, the local strapatsada (eggs and tomato), olive oil from the family grove. The Loggos lunch.

The third Fiscardo harbour-front classic: the easiest walk-in of the three, the wider mezze platter, the long-lunch room.

Pigadia waterfront on Karpathos since 1989. Note: the name suggests Olympos village, but the restaurant is in Pigadia harbour, the capital. Steak, grill, a serious wine list for the island. The Pigadia dinner.

In a 16th-century Knights-of-St-John lodge courtyard on Megalou Alexandrou Square: a century-old ficus shading the tables, single-origin coffees, a small but serious Greek wine list. The Old-Town morning-to-afternoon stop everyone points you to.

Sapsila inlet just outside Skala: opened 1997 by Benetos and Susan Matthaiou, fourteen tables on a seaside veranda, the Patmos dinner every food writer who has been to the island writes about. Book at least a week ahead. Seasonal · closed Nov–Easter.

By the small mosque at the eastern end of Kastellorizo harbour: a former lighthouse converted into the island's day-swim-and-sundowner spot. Glass-clear water off the harbour rocks; cocktails as the sun drops over Turkey. The Kastellorizo defining moment.

In Chora, in the literal shadow of the Monastery walls: the family taverna, the lunch after the monastery morning. Greek classics done well, the meal that fixes Patmos in place for the people who get up there.

A garden restaurant on the Lindos hillside next door to Lindos Mare: Mediterranean cooking, mostly seafood, the lunch-or-early-dinner room when you don't want the village-square scrum at Mavrikos. Seasonal May–October.

Operating since 1982: three levels in a Lindos house with twin rooftops facing the Acropolis directly. The cocktail-and-sunset bar of Lindos, by some distance. Book a rooftop table for 7:30 in summer; the queue is unforgiving after.

Orfeos Street in the Rhodes Old Town: operating since 1967, the family-run Greek-Mediterranean room the regulars send you to. Slow-cooked lamb, fresh fish, plates that arrive without ceremony and pay you back for ordering them.

The Yialos waterfront fish-meeting-point: long-running, the room the celebrity-yacht crowd cycles through. Order whatever's on the ice that day; share. Reservations help in season.

On the main square in Lindos village, under the acropolis: founded 1933, third-generation Mavrikos brothers, the institution every Greek-food writer cites first when Rhodes comes up. Modern Greek with Aegean detail; book a week ahead in summer. The dinner that justifies basing in Lindos for a night.

Yialos harbour: chef Stavros's wood-oven Symi kitchen, the room the harbour-front regulars book and yacht crews squeeze into. Slow-cooked meat from the oven, the sweet small Symiakos shrimp (the island's famous catch), an unfussy wine list. The Yialos dinner.

A traditional Rhodes taverna since 1981: the Niohori family runs the butcher across the road and serves what they cut that morning. The pick for the meat-focused dinner, in a city built on Knights-of-St-John and Ottoman-empire fish recipes.

At the Elysium Resort on the Kallithea coast 10 km south of Rhodes Town: chef Giorgos Troumouchis and Spyros Kougios (ex-Maaemo, Oslo) running a "Progressive Rhodian Cuisine" tasting menu. Athinorama Toque d'Or 2022–2024, FNL two-star. The Rhodes fine-dining anchor the Old Town doesn't quite have.

A small fish taverna in the Old Town since 1970: the Pizanias family room, where the catch is what came in that morning and the menu is the conversation. The Rhodes-fish dinner without the harbour-front mark-up.

Above Loukakia Beach in the Sapsila bay: chef Ettore Botrini (the same Botrini behind Etrusco on Corfu, who holds a Michelin star at his Athens restaurant) running a pool-side terrace kitchen. Shrimp risotto with vanilla, smoked-sygklino tagliatelle, the cooking the Patmos yacht crowd talks about. The third Patmos dinner once you've booked Benetos and Vegghera.

On the Pigadia waterfront, attached to the Poseidon Blue Gastronomy Hotel: modern Greek, the most serious cooking on Karpathos. The fish off the morning boat is the order.

Georgiou Leontos 1, Old Town: Greek-Eastern Mediterranean fusion in a room that nods to the chain's Ottoman past. Note: it shares the name with the famous Chania (Crete) room but is unrelated. The Old Town's most serious dinner outside the heritage tavernas.

At the top of the Kali Strata (the 500-step stone staircase from Yialos to Chora): English-run, breakfast-and-lunch only, 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. The reward for the climb. Excellent shakshuka and a small Greek-island wine list by the glass. Daytime only; closed for dinner.

On the edge of Yialos harbour walking out toward Charani (not Pedi; Taverna Tolis is the Pedi one), a quiet fish-and-mezze room with a long-view-down-the-harbour terrace. Sunset over the pastel mansions is the reason you booked; the fish plays supporting cast.

An Old Town ouzeri: family-run, the small-plates-and-ouzo room for the slow late-afternoon stop between the Palace of the Grand Masters and dinner. Pitaroudia (the Rhodian chickpea fritter), local cheeses, an honest carafe.

A modest, affordable seafood taverna on the Skala waterfront: the casual second-night dinner after a Benetos or Vegghera splurge. Local fish, the Patmos-favourite aubergine in oil, retsina from the carafe.

On the Skala marina: twelve tables, modern Greek fine-dining, the most serious kitchen in Patmos's harbour town. The booking that competes with Benetos for the yacht-week table. Seasonal.