When it rains, there’s nothing better than finding a spot inside one of Athens’ cosy cafes, sitting back and sipping on a warm cup of herbal tea or coffee of your choice, while opening up a book and enjoying some good old fashion reading. So, we’ve compiled a list of five of our favourite cafes where you can do just that!
Tree Book Café A bookshop-café where you can get as flirty as you can get nerdy, this charming Makryianni hangout serves coffee, tea and light snacks with a side of literature. If you want to read undisturbed by chatter it’s probably preferable to sit inside, where it’s a little quieter, but either way, the stylishly bookish atmosphere will inspire you to hold up your book with pride.
This is Athens’ only real tea room, with a minimalist Japanese -colonial feel and a huge range of teas from around the world, served properly by expert staff. As you may imagine the ambience is tranquil, ideal for tea lovers who enjoy a non-frenetic chat and who like to savour their tea as much as the silence. This is a great place to cozy up with a good read while sipping premium matcha.
A: Alexandrou Soutsou 29, Kolonaki
Bios Just because this place has such an artsy and intellectual vibe, it’s ideal for doing something as civilized as reading a good book. Apart from the large ground-floor bar-café area, there is also an upstairs lounge where you can discover the solitude – or something closer to it – that you seek on a busier day.
A: Pireos 84, Gazi
The Daily Perhaps the only real remaining ‘residential’, laid back café in shop- and people-centric Kolonaki, The Daily is a great place – day or night – to enjoy some page-turning solo time. It’s central but not too much so and serves refreshing homemade teas and lemonade as well as quality coffee.
If you like reading while sipping amazing coffee in a naturally-lit, airy space, this is the place for you. Housed in a neoclassical villa and with small tables as well as a long bench, this leafy, high-ceilinged locale was designed for individuals. Since it opened it has received numerous annual barista awards and apart from excellent coffee and a soothing vibe it also serves a delicious brunch menu.
Venture outside the tourist box to see how Athens’ ever-changing present syncs with its age-old past! The book ‘111 Places in Athens You Shouldn’t Miss’ was written to offer you exactly that. This is just one of 10 unmissable places that even locals often miss, offered exclusively for IN+SIGHTS GREECE readers by the guide’s publishers EMONS.
This World Heritage monument, whose church has some of the most stunning mosaics in Greece, has been under almost constant repair since its beginnings. The plot, once a laurel wood, first held a temple dedicated to Apollo Daphnephoros (the laurel bearer). That was destroyed in 395 A.D. by barbarians, all but a few Ionic columns, which were incorporated into the first monastery erected in its place in the 6th century. Only one is left; Lord Elgin made off with the rest, which have been replaced with obvious too-white marble copies.
Despite its prestige, it was later abandoned until the 11th century, when someone high up in the Byzantine imperial court restored it, building a new church and lining it with ravishing mosaics. But with the nefarious Fourth Crusade in 1204, Crusaders took over the Byzantine empire and the monastery became part of the Duchy of Athens, run by Cistercians. The sarcophagi near the entrance belong to two Catholic dukes.
Semi-abandoned once more under the Ottomans, it was variously used as a garrison, a base for Greek revolutionaries, a Bavarian bar- racks, and a lunatic asylum as well as a monastery. In our day, though, owing to earthquake damage, it has been closed for repairs for decades and has only recently become visitable again.
Worth seeing are the crenellated battlements of its outer walls, the cloisters on either side and the superb mosaics – of the Life of Christ and the Virgin, the saints and prophets – dominated by the piercing eyes and stern face of the Pantocrator (Ruler of All) in the golden dome. There’s no doubt he knows your secrets. But take your binoculars because, except for the flowers above the north door, most of the mosaics are too high to examine properly. Many gaps reflect the church’s chequered history, but it’s a miracle any survived. There was even an attempt to melt down the tesserae for their gold.
Address: Athinon, Haidari 12400, +30 210 5811558
Getting there: Metro to Agia Marina (M 3) and then bus 811; buses from Athens A 16, G16 or 836, or from Piraeus 801 or 845
Hours: Tue & Fri 8am – 3pm.
Tip: At the Haidari ‘death’ camp just beyond the monastery, hundreds were executed by the Nazis in 1944 in reprisals for partisan attacks against them. It was the most notorious prison in Greece.
111 Places in Athens That You Shouldn’t Miss can be found at all major bookstores worldwide as well as online at Amazon.
Let’s put it this way: you don’t come here for a ‘great meal’, you come for The Experience.
Certainly, you are well rewarded by both, at one of the city’s most prestigious, elegant and imposing hotels, the Grande Bretagne, which is almost synonymous with Syntagma Square. Then there is the view, or better, oh so much better, views. You can’t help but feel on top of the (Athens, at least) world fine dining at this garden restaurant as you are served by friendly, professional staff under the moon and stars. There’s the Acropolis, lit beautifully in shimmering gold, as if she is posing for you; and there’s the Parliament Square and Syntagma, like a theatre set below you. And lush Lycabettus Hill, with St George church twinkling its lights at the top. Greenery all around and elegance at every glance, in one of the city’s most classic hotspots for the glitterati.
Type of cuisine? Pronounced Mediterranean influences presented in haute cuisine compilations. Flavours are fresh, rich and true to their quality ingredients. Don’t expect experimental or highly gourmet gastronomy, although creativity and finesse are definitely not lacking.
Type of eatery? Super-elegant and the ideal place to take someone very special to you for a truly chic dinner.
The low down… This is a classic luxury hotel restaurant and expects you to respect its codes of attire (Evening Dress Code, after 18.00, is elegant and smart-casual. Beachwear of any kind, shorts or flip flops are not allowed). Being a hotel, regardless of its glamorous history and appeal, it does have a slight hotel-feel. But if that’s something you’re not expecting, why go at all?
Décor/ Ambience? Ideally, sit outside to relish the surrounding glories of the Athenian landscape in combination with your beautifully prepared meal. In the evening hours the restaurant becomes a-buzz with a combination of international hotel guests and both local and foreign outside visitors. The ambience is sophisticated, vibrant and chic without feeling heavily so.
Entrees? We tried the Trilogy of carpaccio with sea bass, salmon and tuna with yuzu sorbet and mastiha oil, and Homemade ‘ravioli’ with goat’s cheese, green pea cream and tomato syrup. The carpaccio was as delightfully fresh and zingy as you’d hope, with the flavours from each fish carpaccio remaining distinct, and the mastiha oil was hardly traceable, only adding to the flavour without standing out. The ravioli was soft, creamy and comforting but the flavours were a little blended.
Mains? We tried the Lamb duet, grilled carré and slow-cooked leg, with smoked Florina pepper and potato filled with a cream of basil and ‘volaki’ cheese from Andros. This was an earthy dish, with warming, delicate flavours in the lamb and smoked pepper and a refreshing tang from the basil and goat’s cheese potato side.
Dessert? For over five years, the dessert menu here is curated by French patissiere Arnaud Larher, who stands amongst the top 10 chocolatiers of France. We tried the Pistacchio Choux with pistachio cream and crunchy salted praline and the Chocolate Bomb with a hazelnut filling. Both were divine, but (subjectively, as all reviews are after all) I would return to the GB Roof Garden Restaurant again and again just for that row of choux.
Something to drink? Between 2014 – 2016 the GB Roof Garden Restaurant was awarded the Wine Spectator Restaurant Award, and the restaurant’s wine list continues to be excellent. Cocktails are very well mixed too. Try the Guava Martini.
Price range? With an entrée, main and dessert per person you can estimate the bill will come to a total of around 160 € without wine or cocktails.
Location? Vasileos Georgiou 1 A, Syntagma (8TH Floor).
Opening hours/days? Lunch: 13:00 to 16:00 & Dinner: 18:00 to 00:00. Bar: 13:00 to 00:00
Global gastronomy specialists Culinary Backstreets sees Greece’s great wine potential and sets up the first ever club for aficionados of great local produce.
In the post-war years, whiskey was the cool drink to sip in Greece; today it’s all about perfectly mixed cocktails, trendy locally brewed craft beer and wine. Greek wine. Amazing, world-recognized, multi-varied Greek wine from all over the country, rising up like a phoenix from the ashes of antiquity.
A great deal of it produced by vineyards that are hundreds of years old, a few using grape varieties that have remained since millennia ago, often by families who are devout to honouring their oenological history. Wine bars have sprung up around the capital and sommeliers nationwide are honing in on sophisticated knowledge about local wines to offer excellent suggestions for tastings and pairings. Numerous websites present everything there is to discover – and keep learning – about Greece’s exciting wine production and grapes, with travel stories, interviews – and great sales.
Creating a New Wine-Lover’s Rendezvous
Enter Culinary Backstreets, a well-established gastronomy website (with print publications to match) that showcases global cuisines through expert reviews of restaurants and food and drink produce across markets. This September, Culinary Backstreets launched its Athens Wine Club, organized by one of its regular contributors Carolina Doriti, and following successful examples of such clubs in other cities such as Lisbon and Tbilisi. The club is set to meet once or twice a month, each time showcasing a different independent winery and tasting venue.
As a wine aficionado I quickly booked myself a space at the gathering, which took place at Ta Karamlidika Tou Fani restaurant on Ermou St and presented the wines of Brintziki Estate. The winery produces 13 wines, of which we sampled four. This was accompanied by a platter of delicious bites by the restaurant, which is known for its Asia Minor roots and optimal variety of cheeses, cold cuts like pastrami, pastourmas and salami as well as main dishes. Each meeting will be based on this very concept – of combining the wines of an independent winemaker with foods from a local eatery in a Covid-safe environment. ‘’As always, Culinary Backstreets celebrates lesser known people in the foodways. Likewise, for the Wine Club, we are focusing on smaller, and/or independent winemakers. It was a pleasure to have a female winemaker at our first gathering,’’ Doriti says.
Tasting Brintziki Estate’s Best
Tinaktorogos, the first Brintziki Estate wine we sampled, is made from a grape that roots back to Homeric times and is only produced in Olympia by the Brintziki Estate vineyards. The wine is white, but when looked at carefully in the light, reveals a few flashes of green which is thought to resemble the colour of the sea. We also sampled the Avgoustiatis rose and the cherry red Avgoustatis reserve. Almost as fascinating as drinking a wine that existed in ancient Greece was trying Esperos, the estate’s ‘Orange Wine’ which is made from an ancient variety of the Assyrtiko grape and produced using completely natural winemaking methods, without any preservatives being added. A truly unique wine that Brintziki was inspired to make after visiting several raw food and wine festivals in the world.
Creating Connections Sip By Sip
The tasting experience was exciting enough. Add to that the tasty bites, great conversation with the winemaker and participants and the feeling of discovering new things about Greece, and there was a winning combination. ‘’ The goal is quite simple: these days, more than ever, it is important to keep the human connection strong to what we eat and drink,’’ Doriti says.
“The Athens Wine Club is all about building that human connection in a safe way. From meeting to meeting, that connection will strengthen between the guests who join and the winemakers we celebrate, and through those connections, knowledge will be shared. And of course, the goal is to drink a lot of good wine!’”
“The collections here are not just objects, paintings, books or furniture. They also include the energy of its past.”
One of the key charms of the Katakouzenos House Museum (KHM) is that it feels almost still lived in. The 300m sq apartment, with a magnificent view of the House of Parliament on Syntagma Square, is a cultural treasure trove of the 1930s-1960s. Exquisite artworks, notebooks, furnishings, sketches and books by artists such as Marc Chagall and Yiannis Tsarouchis are all around. Both artists were among the renowned and beloved friends of the couple who lived there, psychiatrist Angelos Katakouzenos and his wife Leto.
The pair, who were passionately entwined with cultural elite of Europe’s “1930s generation,” were keen art-lovers and collectors who became cultural ambassadors of Greece abroad and trendsetters of international movements in Greece. Today a space that hosts talks, performance events, screenings, readings and artistic presentations in the spirit of once having been a literary salon, the former residence is one of Athens’ lesser-known yet not-top-be-missed cultural spaces.
Sophia Peloponissiou, who has been managing the space for decades in loyalty to her close bond with Leto Katakouzenos and the couple’s overall vision, says: “The collections of KHM are not objects, paintings, books or furniture. They also include the energy of its past, the people who lived in and visited it, the words they uttered, their thoughts and dreams, the aura of the lived place. Every object has more than a market value or an acquisition or donation record; the reasons behind its selection and its symbolic power for the inhabitants of the house are as much part of its life force.
“Apart from honouring Greece’s and Europe’s cultural past, one of our greatest aims for the future is to bring children and the younger generations into contact with this heritage, to subject them to cultural wealth to our best capacity,” Peloponnisiou says.
At the KHM you can see an extensive collection of over 40 original paintings, drawings, sketches and prints, a wide array of decorative items and sculptures, artworks in various media (1930s-1970s) as well as a quality collection of 18th and 19th C. French and Hellenic furnishings.“None of the works was purchased; indeed, most were given by the artists themselves as gifts, tokens of friendship or gratitude,” Peloponissiou says. Among the actual paintings is a painted set of four large mahogany doors made for the Katakouzenos couple by famous painter Nikos Chatzekyriakos-Gkikas and many more paintings by the same artist in various media.
The KHM is a foundation that receives no sponsorship or financial support. Its illustrious refurbishment, beautiful maintenance, rental, bills and any other financial and organizational aspects are all dealt with by its board, made up of a handful of volunteers, of which Peloponnissiou is the General Secretary.
Make an appointment to see the Katakouzenos House Museum here
Playgrounds, trampolines and a huge variety of plants, flowers, trees and animals make this a wonderful area to take your children to.
Throughout the year, but especially during the hot summer months, Athens’ National Gardens are a wonderful leafy getaway. Kids can feed the ducks, watch swans, peackocks, parrots, goats and turtles in action, play at the large playground and play among a unique variety of plant, tree and flower species. They can explore the grounds and enjoy a picnic on the grass, playing in a gazebo, looking at ancient ruins and mosaics, crossing bridges over ponds, throwing twigs into running streams and admiring the sundial at the park’s entrance.
The National Gardens were created in 1880 as a commission by Queen Amalia of Greece, and has an impressive array of plants from all over the world. Located between Kolonaki and Pangrati, behind the former Royal Palace (now the House of Parliament), it’s a great place to visit in between stops to other child-friendly areas. There is also a café here if you’d like to stop for a refreshment.
Next to the Gardens is the Zappeion Megaro, the first building to be built in honour of the modern Athens Summer Olympic Games of 1896, where kids can enjoy scootering, running and playing in the large green grounds. Between the Zappeion and the National Gardens is Fokianos Sports Park, a fun and relaxing stopover for children as it has a seated outdoor café area as well as several features to keep children active: a climbing wall, basketball courts and trampolines. There is also a nice café serving child-friendly meals like homemade pizza and club sandwiches as well as adulty-friendly offerings like Aperol Spritz, salads and wines.
While in the area cross over Vas. Konstantinos Ave to see the Panathenaic marble stadium, originally constructed as a racetrack in 330 BC, rebuilt in marble by Emperor Herodes Atticus in 144 BC and renovated fully in 1896 to host the Olympic Games. Once here, visit the museum where all the Olympic torches from past games are housed.
Mosaiko is a mouthwatering Greek “no bake cake” that will definitely become a favourite go-to recipe when entertaining- as it can be prepared a day ahead- making it the perfect dessert when hosting!
Ingredients
250 x grams Petit Beurre biscuits
150 x grams unsalted butter, room temperature
250 x grams dark chocolate, extra for garnishing
110 x grams icing sugar
200 x grams walnuts, chopped
1 x cup full cream milk
3 x tablespoons liqueur, of your choice
Method
Cut dark chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl.
Place milk in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
Pour hot milk into the bowl with dark chocolate and stir with a wooden spoon until the chocolate has completely melted. Set aside.
Cut butter into a few small pieces and place in a large bowl with icing sugar. Whisk together with a hand mixer, till butter becomes fluffy and is well combined with icing sugar.
Crumble biscuits into butter mixture and also add walnuts and liqueur.
Pour over melted chocolate and combine all ingredients until chocolate has covered entire biscuits and walnuts.
Pour mixture into a cling wrap lined rectangle baking tin and cover entire cake with cling wrap.
Place in fridge (not freezer) for 4 hours to set.
Take out of fridge and place on serving plate.
Grate dark chocolate pieces on top of cake and serve.
Sure, you’ve got a lot to see, do and buy as you casually stroll the elegant streets of Kolonaki, but to experience the true magic of this famed Athenian neighbourhood you need to check out the cool cafes, trendy bars and classy restaurants.
So, to make your life easier, we’ve come up with the ultimate guide to eating and drinking your way around this ultra-chic district. We suggest you do yourself a favour and just bookmark this list.
Part Four | Coffee & Sweets
Da Capo
Kolonaki’s most famous café is Da Capo, an Italian-style coffee shop with green vintage seats facing outwards, making it the ideal spot for people watching. Here you will find a mix of locals, socialites, celebrities and politicians sipping on the specially blended coffee for hours on end.
Portatif Cafe
There’s no shortage of charm in this neighbourhood thanks to places such as Portatif Café. With its French inspired décor and feel, they are renowned for their homemade tarts, croissants and eclairs- plus a variety of tea and good coffee- making it the ideal spot for an afternoon pick me up.
Filion
If you would like to rub shoulders with local artists and intellects, head to Filion, where you will overhear plenty of conversation regarding politics, the arts, history and culture. Apart from the good coffee, they also have a great variety of homemade desserts from traditional Greek sweets to French inspired pastries.
LowCal
LowCalopens its doors each day at 7am, so if you are in need of a caffeine hit bright and early- this is of you. Serving healthy dishes and sweets, the modern all- day café has a cool industrial feel, with lots of wooden and metal finishes.
Cultivos
Having only opened its doors in January of this year, Cultivoshas already become a hit amongst locals who come here morning, noon and night to enjoy the chilled vibe, great coffee and nice range of sweets, sandwiches and light snacks.
Queen Bee
Queen Beeis an all-day bakehouse. Set in a stylish 1940s art deco building, it’s been given a major redesign with a focus on the sleek open kitchen. The elegantly displayed handmade products include sourdough, croissants, cinnamon buns and pies.
Kokakias Pastry
If you don’t have time to sit down for a coffee and cake but are in need of a sugar hit, walk inside Kokakias Pastrystore where you will be blown away by the gorgeous displays of decadent desserts, gelato and handmade chocolates that will be placed in pretty packaging so you can take away and enjoy.
Sweet Alchemy
Greece’s most popular pâtissier Stelios Paralios has a small boutique store Sweet Alchemy on Irodotou Street, where you can taste one of his delightful creations. With a wide range of chocolate truffles, handmade biscuits and a variety of Stelios’ famous cakes- deciding what to choose here is not easy!
Marega Apo Spiti
For the best meringues in town head to Marega Apo Spitiwhere you can indulge in an airy and creamy pavlova topped with fresh strawberry, lemon, or other fresh berries of your choice. If pavlova doesn’t do it for you, try the delicious homemade cheesecake or chocolate mousse!
There’s the Asian food district under Syntagma Square, Indian and Pakistani food in Psyrri and many, many other ethnic food places in pockets of the city that have sprouted up in recent years.
Here’s our guide to the ones you definitely shouldn’t miss! NB. In case of lockdown, or if you simply can’t get to these places, all are also available on home delivery apps like E-food and Wolt.
MULTI-CULTI MENUS
Would you prefer an Indian samosa or, a Mexican chimichanga or burrito, a middle eastern tabbouleh salad or an Asian-style salad with stir-fried veggies and prawns? If you can’t make your mind up– or want a combination of ethnic foods– go to Etnico (Kolokotroni 22, Monastiraki) where there are plenty of options to choose from. There are also a sufficient amount of vegan options on the menu. Migada serves everything from Thai Tom Kha Gai soup to Asian noodles, falafels, Mexican tacos and Indian curries (Praxitelous 8, Monastiraki). Their menu is separated into sections based on explorer’s journeys to different parts of the world and including the ingredients and dishes found there. They also serve a satisfying amount of vegan and vegetarian dishes (including a delicious vegan chocolate cake).
INDIAN
In recent years some of Athens’ Indian restaurants have created the ‘Indian souvlaki’, which makes for a perfect takeaway wrap if you’re not in the mood for the Greek souvlaki because you fancy something more exotic. Mirch (Ermou 109, Thisseio) serves the most popular one of this type, made with a large thin nan bread stuffed with chicken tikka, raita and mixed vegetables and cut in half. Bollywood Masala (Fokionos 4) makes the same chicken tikka souvlaki, as well as an onion bhaji souvlaki and Indian-style kebab souvlaki. Both also serve easy-to-eat-out samosas and poppadoms.
PAKISTANI
Pak Tika Tak (Menandrou 13, Psyrri) serves spicy kebabs and chicken tikka wraps as well as several vegetarian options like rice with chickpeas or vegetable curry.
For the rare pleasure of trying Pakistani sweets to much along the street or take home, go to Sitara Sweets and Bakery (Menandrou 14, Psyrri). Here you’ll find authentic, homemade traditional desserts like gulab jamun, jalebi and barfi. You can also get a plate of pani puri (crisp fried crepe-like dough balls stuffed with imli pani flavored water, chutney, chili, chaat masala, potato, onion or chickpeas, that’s very hard to find elsewhere in Athens!
Pak Tika Tak
Sitara Sweets and Bakery
MIDDLE EASTERN
At Baba Ganoush (Embedokleous 25-27, Varnava Sq. Pangrati) you’ll find top quality falafel (served with either hummus, yogurt sauce or baba ganoush) but not only. You can also try their middle eastern-style burgers, either in a vegan or vegetarian rendition, with a patty made of quinoa and sweet potato that’s topped with yogurt-harissa sauce, pickles, onion and ketchup. Over the last decade falafels have become one of the staple streetfoods in Athens and although not yet even close to overshadowing the reign of souvlaki, the increasing number of health minded Greeks are opting for crunchy chickpea balls over meat more every day. Falafel Abu Milad (Liosion 1, Omonia) is considered one of the best in town for both vegetarians and meat eaters. It makes well-seasoned falafels that are fried to crunchy perfection and served in a pitta with various seasonings of your choice. Here you’ll also find sandwiches with chicken or lamb kebab with a homemade sauce and chicken on a stick with hummus.
Falafel Abu Milad
At Baba Ganouch
Meanwhile Feyrouz (Karori 23 & Agathonos, Psyrri) serves up delicious lachmajun (thin pita bread slathered with minced meat and sauce but here also in a vegan rendition with zaatar spices and walnuts), a bready pie (peinirli) stuffed with a lentil, chickpea, hummus and aubergine filling and sprinkled with fresh coriander, and even desserts like baklava.
At Sumsum (Solonos 86, Exarcheia) you’ll find Arab street food like mutabal, a pitta bread wrap filled with lamb or beef mince and bana ganoush, or falafel wraps with hummus as well as lachmajun and taouk pitta which is stuffed with chicken, yogurt and herbs. Salads and soups of the day are also available for takeout.
THAI
Several quality Thai restaurants have opened in Athens over the last few years, but Tuk Tuk (Veikou 40, Koukaki) is the first street food version of Thai, which is surprising considering that in Thailand it’s the street food that rules! From spicy Papaya Salad with dried prawns and peanuts and Khanom Jeeb Mu steamed Pork Dumplings to Tom Kha Gai coconut milk curry soup and Pad Thai noodles, you’ll find all the street classics here in relatively authentic versions.
Feyrouz
Sumsum
VIETNAMESE
An exciting new arrival on the street food scene is Vietnamese Madame Phu Man Chu (Praxitelous 36, Monastiraki) whereyou can order mustard leaf rolls stuffed with prawns, smoked pork and rice noodles, chicken skewers marinated in lemongrass, tomato soup with mussels and fried tofu with sweet chilli sauce. Dao (Agion Anargiron 43, Psyrri)also serves delicious street food and specializes in Banh Mi French baguette sandwiches with a mouthwatering variety of fillings – from BBQ pork or beef to shredded chicken and fried egg. They also serve Pho and wonton soups, spring rolls (both fried and fresh), stir fried rice and noodles.
JAPANESE
There isn’t really a Japanese street food place in Athens right now but there are many Japanese restaurants, especially in the Syntagma area, where you can pop in and order food to take out.
TIBETAN – Currently Closed Due to Covid But We’re Letting You Know About it Anyway!
Chomolungma (Karytsi 10, Syntagma) is the one and only Tibetan eatery in Athens right now, and although its menu is still quite small, the food there already has a small following. Try the crunchy cheese balls with tomato chutney, momos (dumplings) with their accompanying sauces like curry, pepper chutney, mango chutney and chili mayonnaise, lotus root chips with matcha tea sauce and tangste salad with pickled coleslaw.
PinkFlamingo
Mr Pugs Canteen
CHINESE
Pink Flamingo (Skoufou2-4) is a dinky, two-storey place with a giant neon pink flamingo at its exterior that serves dimssum, dumplings and particularly delicious bao buns. In cooler months you might find a soup of the day too. At Mr. Pug’s Canteen (Katsoulieri 6, Halandri) the menu is simple yet gratifyingly yummy, with a wide selection of bao buns with different fillings, such as crispy cod, duck, beef burger, pork and dragon air (spiced minced beef, chili, kimchi and fried garlic). Oddly, the dessert is Mexican churros. At Street Wok (Panormou 115) you choose the base of your choice (different types of noodles or rice) and then add your choice of vegetables, meats and condiments like bean sprouts, pineapple, herbs, peanuts. The third and final step is selecting your sauce of choice (hot Szechuan, coconut curry, sweet chilli etc). Simple, fast and tasty.
MEXICAN
Grexico (Fokionos 4, Syntagma) serves up freshly made burritos, quesadillas, tacos with dressings and salads. More of a restaurant than street food joint, but with excellent take-out options, is Taqueria Maya (Petraki 10), a self-service place serving a variety of burritos, quesadillas, tacos and salads as well as takeout margaritas.
Taqueria Maya
Taqueria Maya
HAWAIIAN
The only one of its kind so far, Poke (Petraki 7, Syntagma) serves Hawaiian sushi bowls, with a set menu as well as a great array (that changes according to what’s available during each season) of ingredients for a DIY bowl. With rice as the base, you’re free to add any kind of raw or cooked fish, veggies, fruit, herbs and seasonings like sauces, shredded seaweed and spices to create your own Poke concoction.
Russian
For freshly made, fluffy and crisp piroshki pies stuffed with minced meat or potato, visit Gadaychuk Mariya (Acharnon 140). Also popular, and with much more variety of homemade piroshki is Kalina Malinka (Solonos & Mavromihali, Exarcheia and on Stadiou 27, Syntagma). Here you’ll find fried or baked piroshki with fillings such as spring onion and egg, beef mince, feta cheese, chicken and mushroom or sausage and gouda cheese, as well as authentic, handmade Russian salad and crunchy tsebourek. And then there are the desserts, like baked fluffy rolls and sugared cinnamon rolls.
Venture outside the tourist box to see how Athens’ ever-changing present syncs with its age-old past! The book ‘111 Places in Athens You Shouldn’t Miss’ was written to offer you exactly that. This is just one of 10 unmissable places that even locals often miss, offered exclusively for IN+SIGHTS GREECE readers by the guide’s publishers EMONS.
For a kafeneion, it is uncharacteristically quiet. But patrons don’t come to Panellinion to argue over politics or football (or both simultaneously as in many cases the two are inextricable). Nor do they come to indulge in the counter-culture ambience of other area cafés. They come to play chess. And every single table in the café is set up with a chess set, ready for the contest.
Panellinion isn’t the sort of place that attracts passersby. Scuffed tables, a marble mosaic floor typical of 1950s and 1960s kitchens, stiff wooden chairs with flaking paint, and, at first glance, a clientele of mostly pensioners. The coffee is almost exclusively Ellinikos, individually brewed over a gas flame. The décor is mostly framed photos, including one of the original, far grander premises at the corner of Benaki Street that it occupied for the first eight decades after its founding in 1885. Pride of place among these souvenirs of its history is a magazine spread from 24 August, 1992, featuring Gary Kasparov, the Russian former world chess champion, who not only stopped by Panellinion but simultaneously played – and won – 30 games against the café’s regulars.
Chess isn’t just a game, but a philosophy. Or, as the Emanuel Lasker quote tacked to the service counter notes, ‘On the chessboard lies and hypocrisy do not survive long.’ As a game, it enjoys enduring popularity in Greece, with active clubs throughout the country. Panellinion is more of a haven, a place where players go to share their love of the game, rather than compete for a title. Like the décor, this love for chess has remained steady over time. Perhaps the one thing that has changed is that the coffee house no longer charges customers by the hour so they can continue to contemplate the board without anxiety about running up a bill. And there’s no rush to leave: Panellinion will stay open until the final checkmate. checkmate, even if it takes hours. Unlike our fast-paced lives, chess requires strategy and patience.
Getting there: Metro to Panepistimio (M 2); bus 21, 22, 54, 60, 100, 224, 608, 622 or 732
Hours: Daily 8am – 9pm (or later)
Tip: The old antenna atop the Law School Library on the corner of Solonos was used for Morse code transmissions to the government-in-exile in Cairo in World War II.
111 Places in Athens That You Shouldn’t Miss can be found at all major bookstores worldwide as well as online at Amazon.
Venture outside the tourist box to see how Athens’ ever-changing present syncs with its age-old past! The book ‘111 Places in Athens You Shouldn’t Miss’ was written to offer you exactly that.
This is just one of 10 unmissable places that even locals often miss, offered exclusively for IN+SIGHTS GREECE readers by the guide’s publishers EMONS.
From halfway down Apollonos Street you’ll start noticing a whole series of very different kinds of shops, their windows decorated with glittering religious bric-à-brac and paraphernalia. Look inside and observe jewel-encrusted crosses, hand-painted icons, and churchy candelabras. Prepare yourself to see around 20 such shops ahead; on both sides of the street, you can feast your eyes on a vast array of ecclesiastical accessories and elaborately hand-crafted cloths for liturgical garments.
Reflecting the massive influence of the Greek Orthodox Church in a country where religion is a core element of national identity, the shops stream all the way to Agia Filothei Street, right behind the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens. Some are modern and polished, while others belong to a long-gone era. The first such shop to open in 1926 belongs to renowned iconographer Konstantinos Zouvelos, whose work can be seen in churches around Greece as well as New York, San Francisco and Vancouver. With his wife and son, they create religious artefacts of all varieties; among their one-of-a-kind pieces are an elaborate, stone-encrusted silver brooch shaped like the Star of Bethlehem with an engraving of the Virgin Mary on mammoth tusk at its centre.
A little further down look out for Tasi, opened in 1986, which is jam-packed with hand-painted icons, incense burners and good luck charms featuring saints. See the many tamata, small metal plaques, each depicting an ailing part of the body and used as a votive offering, usually placed on a miraculous icon in a church. Also rewarding is a visit to Hilton, which centres its trade on handmade mate- rials for every echelon of the clergy, selling everything from basic €100 plain black cotton robes to intricately designed, hand-sewn cloths in bold threads like silver or gold on velvet, satin and silk, worth up to €500 per metre.
You’ll probably find decent, perhaps even great wine at most decent bars around Athens today. But if you want a place that specialises in wine and offers amazing varieties -that you can enjoy by the glass too – look no further than our guide! You’re welcome!
A For Athens
Vibe: Smart-casual, friendly, relaxed rooftop bar with stunning views of the Acropolis and city.
Wine List: Greek and foreign wines in a newly extended cellar that can house up to 2,500 labels.
Food: Anything from the restaurant’s dinner menu, from burgers and malt chicken to finger foods and meze dishes. The sommelier is happy to suggest foods that pair well with your wine of choice.
Location: Miaouli 2, Monastiraki
Baratin
Vibe: Cosy, casual-chic, friendly, all-day bar-restaurant with small tables as well as a large monastic bench and an outdoor square.
Wine List: Around 140 labels from Greece and abroad, 42 of which can be sampled by the glass. Baratin’s knowledgeable and friendly sommeliers are happy to help you imbibe on exactly what you desire.
Food? Try the carefully sourced Greek cheeses, salads, sea bream risotto and cold cuts for an ideal accompaniment.
Location: Dekeleias Avenue 120, Nea Filadelfia
BoBo
Vibe: Trendy, chic, hipsterish
Wine List: Around 200 labels from Greece and abroad as well as cocktails made using Greek wines (not easy to find elsewhere!).
Food? Indulgent accompaniments to share with your wine buddies include cevice, roast beef with truffle sauce and homemade mayo, stuffed figs with caramelised onion and creamy goat cheese and bruschetta with Greek cheeses.
Location: Anastasiou Zinni 36, Koukaki
By The Glass
Vibe: In an elegant arcade facing the Russian Orthodox Church, chic, buzzy.
Wine List: You can choose among 250 Greek and global wine labels, 50 of which can be served by the glass using the Coravin system.
Food? An array of modern Mediterranean platters and appetizers, many of them designed especially to be paired with their wines.
Location: Filellinon and Georgiou Souri 3, Syntagma.
Cava Vegera
Vibe: Friendly, laid back and smart-casual.
Wine List: Over 1000 Greek and foreign labels.
Food? A menu based on deli products that are seasonal and make for great accompaniments to your wine of choice. The menu changes every three months.
Location: Poseidonos 11 & Vas. Pavlou 61, Voula.
Cinque Wine Bar & Deli
Vibe: An ebullient ambiance usually pervades in this compact, cosy and familial locale.
Wine List: Very special because here you’ll find only Greek indigenous varieties passionately sought out by the wine-fanatic owners. The Monastiraki store organizes excellent wine tastings.
Food? Homemade chutneys, great platters of deli foods from Greece and abroad.
Location:Agatharchou 15, Psyrri & 10 Vorreou St Monastiraki
Fabrica De Vino
Vibe: Modern, upbeat, elegant but unpretentious. A-buzz during weekend nights.
Wine List: 600 labels by 150 producers from around Greece, 20 of which that can be sampled by the glass.
Food? Mainly fish and seafood (try the fish fillet sandwich), as well as some well-prepared meat dishes.
Location: Emmanouil Benaki, Exarcheia
Fiali Wine Bar
Vibe: Elegant, minimal and fresh décor with a laid back, chic crowd.
Wine List: Selective and lesser-known but good-quality labels from small wine producers around the world, 40 of which can be sampled by the glass.
Food? A gratifying selection of tasty, cold and hot Tapas, salads, pizza and other comfort food.
Location: Dekelias 108, Nea Filadelfia
Heteroclito
Vibe: Cultural, homey, low-key chic.
Wine List: Over 200 labels from Greece and abroad.
Food? Homemade quiches and pies, platters of cheese and cold cuts.
Location:Fokionos 2 & Petraki 30, Monastiraki
Kiki de Grece
Vibe: Elegant, upbeat, smart-casual.
Wine List: Around 60 Greek and foreign wine labels.
Food? From appetizers to mains, you’ll find a great selection of Greek-Mediterranean dishes.
Location: Ipittou 4, Syntagma
Materia Prima
Vibe: Contemporary, urban-chic and cosy.
Wine List: Over 500 wines from around Greece and abroad, including labels you won’t find in most other places. Expensive wines can be sampled by the glass using the Coravin method. Wines can also be bought to go.
Food? Breakfast and brunch during the day, finger foods and Mediterranean meals in the evenings.
Location: Falirou 68, Koukaki, across the EMST National Museum of Contemporary Art.
Monk grapes and spirits
Vibe: Arty post-industrial open terrace with a laid-back ambiance.
Wine List: 200 labels from 136 wineries in Greece and 16 countries, many expensive labels can be sampled by the glass via the Coravin method.
Food? Modern Greek cuisine.
Location: Aghias Eirinis Square, Monastiraki
Oinoscent
Vibe: Originally a wine shop that has now added seating, this is very much a wine-centric point in town for those who take wine seriously.
Wine List: Over 1000 labels from all over the world. Every week there is a new selection of wines that can be sampled by the glass.
Food? Cheese platters and Mediterranean dishes.
Location: Voulis 45-47, Syntagma.
Paleo
Vibe: Wine bottles line the high-ceilinged stone walls of what was once an old storehouse, and at the end of the room from top to bottom stands a large cava.
Wine List: Over 350 labels mainly from southern France, Spain, Italy and Greece.
Food? A decent range of Greek-Mediterranean cuisine, from appetisers to mains.
Location: Polidekous 39, Piraeus.
Scala Vinoteca
Vibe: Sophisticated, intense, stylish.
Wine List: Over 200 labels from Greece and abroad.
Food? Refined and contemporary Mediterranean dishes with influences from Latin America, Spain and Italy.
Location: 50 Sina str. & Anagnostopoulou, Kolonaki
Vinarte
Vibe: A stylish and classical-modern large open space ideal for work dos and larger gatherings.
Wine List: Over 250 labels from quality Greek winemakers and abroad, including a selection of hard to find Italian wines. Here you can try any wine you like by the glass via the Coravin method.
Food? Try the platter with aged cheeses and cold cuts, as well as other Mediterranean dishes.
Location: Marangou 18, Glyfada
Vintage
Vibe: A large, modern open space for smart-casual wining and dining with great service.
Wine List: The only place in Athens where you can choose among 600 labels to try by the glass – either a full glass or even just a half glass.
Food? Platters with quality cheeses and/or cold cuts, original Greek-inspired appetisers like Pastitsio croquettes and mains.
Location: Mitropoleos 66-68, Syntagma
Warehouse
Vibe: Sophisticated but unpretentious, laid back and indulgent.
Wine List: With a wine cellar stocked with over 500 Greek and foreign wine labels, Warehouse has become known for its quality selections and serves around 150 of them.
Food? Greek ingredients farmed by select small producers around the country, food platters and salads.
Location: Valtetsiou 21, Exarcheia
Wine Not
Vibe: Swing jazz music, after-work chill, industrial décor.
Wine List: Around 90 wine labels, 20 of which can be sampled by the glass.
Food? Try the cheese and cold cuts platter with homemade chutneys and jams.
Location: Kalogrezis 12, Halandri
Wine o’ Clock
Vibe: A tiny place with a few benches on the pavement where you can people-watch as you sip wine.
Wine List: Around 70 well selected wine labels, many of them from Greece and 20 of them that can be sampled by the glass.
Food? Small platters with flavoursome bites that are just what you need to accompany good wine.
Location: Lebessi 10, Makryianni
Wine Point
Vibe: Usually busy and lively, with occasional live gigs and a laid back, smart-casual crowd.
Wine List: Over 200 labels to choose from, and with a different Greek winery and its wines presented as a special every month.
Food? Finger foods and bites like bruschetta, olives, cold cuts and cheeses from around Greece.
Vibe: Jazzy (with occasional live gigs too) and easygoing with a chic twist. Beautuifully scenic outdoors with a view of the Parthenon to get drunk on.
Wine List: Regional wines from Greece that are really hard to find elsewhere, as well as top selections from foreign wineries. Around 160 labels of which 40 can be sampled by the glass.
Food? Choose anything you like from the Chocolat Royal Restaurant menu of contemporary Mediterranean cuisine.
Location: Apostolou Pavlou 27, Thisseio
Wine Up
Vibe: With a lovely outdoor garden, this is the ideal place to relax with friends in a casual set-up and simply enjoy great wine in the summer months, but gets a little more trendy and modern indoors during cooler months.
Wine List: Featuring over 200 Greek labels, many of which are organic and produced by small quality wineries around Greece.
Food? A variety of platters starring quality Greek seasonal ingredients from creamy cheeses and punchy olives to juicy tomatoes.
