Made with top-quality local ingredients and in every variety imaginable, these sweets are not to be missed!

If you’re strolling along bustling Athinas St it’s easy to pass Lonis’ patisserie and miss out on a whole universe of homemade flavours. Today with three stores around Athens and catering to everything from birthday parties to weddings, the tiny shop is packed with technicolored sweets.

Here you’ll find chocolates, meringues, ice cream, cakes, cupcakes and almond confetti in every shade and shape, but the specialty here are the melt-in-your-mouth amygdalota (almond paste) biscuits. Although they are very similar to the classic French macaroons, these were originally called ergolavoi. Still using his great grandfather’s recipe from 1900, owner Panayiotis Lonis has created a grand selection of both old-fashioned and modern renditions of these macaroon-style delights.

The fluffy yet slightly crunchy and chewy biscuits are made with 75% Greek almond powder, 20% meringue from fresh eggs and 5% sugar. There’s an other-worldly selection of over 20 flavours, including hazelnut praline, serrano chocolate, bitter almond, coconut, walnut, mastic, caramel, banana, pomegranate, black forest, tiramisu and apple-cinnamon. All the jam fillings are made using fresh local fruit and there are no added preservatives. Up with the times, the patisserie also sells gluten and sugar-free versions of their best sellers.

Lonis Patisserie can be found at: Athinas 7 in Monastiraki, Kifissias Ave 92 in Maroussi, and Pringipisson 28 in Gyzi.