The best places to eat in Athens
Cafés, restaurants, and bars to visit in the Greek capital.
While Athens hasn’t exactly been known as a culinary destination in the past, in recent years, the city’s food scene has undergone an astounding transformation. Now there are artisan coffee shops, fine dining establishments, and an ever increasing number of reasonably-priced, innovative restaurants. Select ingredients, primarily from the Greek isles, are utilized in the dishes, which are artfully presented. As there’s no shortage of fine restaurants, the biggest challenge you’ll face is choosing among them!
Modern simplicity
Linou Soumpasis kai Sia
Linou Soumpasis kai Sia is a worthy representative of Athens’ new food scene. The restaurant, which is named after the owners, opened in December 2021, serving modern Greek dishes prepared from whatever fresh ingredients the chefs happen to buy that morning at the market. The entrées often feature fresh fish, seasonal vegetables, and different varieties of local cheeses. Fish soup, the only constant on the menu, has been a staple since day one. Just as in Italian cooking, simplicity is paramount and only the best ingredients will do! While the decor has a no-nonsense industrial vibe, with terrazzo tile and aluminum chairs, the selection of exclusively natural wines is extraordinary – a point of pride with the owners. It’s truly an eclectic place – you can even buy homemade beeswax candles and enjoy an occasional concert in the dining room.
The “in spot”
Pharaoh
The trendiest restaurant at the moment is run by food and travel journalist Fotis Vallatos and his friends. Since Pharaoh opened just after the beginning of the year, it’s become a favored haunt for foodies, natural wine connoisseurs, and music-lovers. While the chefs cook classic Greek cuisine over an open hearth, a DJ is typically spinning vinyl behind the bar. The restaurant features dishes such as grilled liver with fresh seasonal vegetables, fava beans topped with anchovies, rabbit, lamb pilaf, leafy vegetables with fresh pungent cheese, or eggplant served atop feta cheese and local traxanas pasta.
Hipster heaven
Wine is fine
Wine is fine is a tiny wine bar and restaurant without any indoor seating. Instead, the wine cooler and open kitchen take up most of the space while every inch of the sidewalk outside is filled with tables of hip, young guests. The dishes are simple and uncomplicated: clams, ceviche, lamb with pita bread, and eggs topped with mayonnaise. The menu, which constantly changes, features everything from light appetizers to hearty entrées. It’s the place to go if you want to mingle with Athens’ jet set.
Greek coffee international style
Foyer espresso bar
This coffee shop, which was opened by brothers Makis and George Papantoniou in 2015, is the only one in Athens that exclusively serves foreign roasts. Many of them come from Scandinavia, such as Koppi (Sweden), Prolog (Denmark), and Coffee Collection. They make their own version of Greek iced coffee frappés with espresso instead of instant coffee. The reason? “Traditional frappés are nasty”, maintains Makis. Recently, the brothers moved into a new, larger space so that they’re able to bake more items in-house. While the desserts are primarily familiar American standards like carrot cake and brownies, they also serve a very popular babka. “Greek desserts don’t go very well with coffee,” explain the owners.
Relaxed and cozy
Fita
Fita is located at an intersection on a fairly quiet, nondescript residential quarter south of downtown Athens. As is the case with most small Greek tavernas, the market that dictates the daily menu is located right outside the door. When the restaurant opened its doors in 2019, the owners, chefs Fotis Foteinoglou and Thodoris Kassavetis, just wanted to serve customers simple, affordable meals. Classics such as taramasalata and fried potatoes are a mainstay on the menu, which otherwise primarily features the catch of the day (served whole) with fresh vegetables. While the food and the wood, stone, and cement decor are trendy, the atmosphere is homely and relaxed, and you’ll see plenty of locals around the tables.
Street food with a passion
The Black Salami Microbakery
On a busy corner, the employees inside this irreverent graffiti-painted microbakery and snack bar painstakingly bake the perfect sourdough bread. At lunchtime, customers order generous helpings of focaccia bread squares, filled with either salami, fresh cheese, and tomatoes or turkey, miso-flavored mayonnaise, and arugula. Sometimes, you’ll discover more experimental dishes such as innovative moussaka sandwiches filled with a tomato-based ragù, béchamel sauce, eggplant, and shoestring french fries. For just five euros, you can order a grilled sandwich in a paper bag and eat it standing on the sidewalk alongside all the other customers.
Local fine dining
Annie – Fine Cooking
Since energetic chef Stefanos Michalis assumed responsibility for the kitchen at Annie a year ago, he’s continued to push the envelope when it comes to Greek cuisine. The sustainably farmed ingredients come primarily from islands like Anafi and Naxos and the only meat that’s served is goat. The wines are all natural and several of them are produced on Anafi by Mr. Michalis himself, who’s an experienced winemaker. The menu is always a big surprise, both for the guests and the chef. He starts with what he has on hand that day and then concocts innovative dishes based on those ingredients. One of his signature dishes is goat cooked medium-rare instead of the more usual well done. The delicious bread that accompanies the meal is baked with 90-year-old yeast.
Artsy neighborhood bar
Eprepe Bar
In 2022, Time Out magazine listed Kypseli as one of Athens’ hippest areas. The neighborhood, which lies a good distance north of the downtown area, is a cultural and ethnic melting pot that’s frequented by creative types and up-and-coming young artists. This is where you’ll find the bar Eprepe, which serves Greek wines and delicious appetizers, for example, swordfish with XO sauce or polenta topped with tarama roe, shrimp, and agretti. A typical neighborhood bar, local residents often drop in on the spur of the moment to enjoy a glass of wine with an appetizer. Not far from the bar are a couple of artisan coffee shops, Kick and Williwaw, and a new bakery called Flake.
Exquisite seafood
Cookoovaya
When Cookoovaya opened in 2014, the restaurant had six owners, but after Head Chef Periklis Koskinas bought out the other five a year-and-a-half ago, he decided to redo the menu and concentrate more on seafood. His dream is in ten years for Greece to have the best maritime ingredients in Europe: “We have the quality, but we lack the know-how.” He prepares mouth-watering dishes such as raw shrimp and scallops in a tomato salsa, fish with a squid ink sauce, and his signature dish, bianco, a stew made from fish, potatoes, olive oil, garlic, and lemons. Simplicity is the word, and the spotlight is always on the top-quality ingredients. In spite of the uniformed waiters and white tablecloths, the mood is always relaxed.
A charming classic
Galaxy
Galaxy is a traditional bar where it’s hip to be square. This is where the local “graybeards” go to sip a cup of coffee or down a shot of liquor or a beer from one of the countless bottles on display behind the counter. Along with refreshments, you get free appetizers such as cheese, olives, and bread au gratin. Inside, the busy, packed bar is decorated in dark, hushed tones. The somberness is offset by the yellowing photographs of regulars juxtaposed with the odd bullfighting poster. While it’s hardly a place where hipsters will feel right at home, it’s a refreshing break from all the pretentious trendiness.
Text by Sara Berg