Greek desserts are mostly syrup-based, mostly ancient, and mostly available within a ten-minute walk of Victoria Square. This is the field guide to the seven you should not leave Athens without trying.
Read articleThree apps cover almost every restaurant in Athens. Here's which one to use for what, how to register a foreign phone number, and the tips locals use to dodge surge fees.
Read articleCretan cuisine — dakos, antikristo lamb, raki, snails — is its own world inside Greek food. A few restaurants in central Athens, including Kriti just north of Omonoia, do it properly.
Read articleGreek Orthodox fasting tradition means half the country eats vegan for forty days a year. This is how to translate that into restaurants, tavernas and supermarket aisles in central Athens.
Read articleTen minutes from Victoria, Exarchia hosts Athens' densest cluster of specialty coffee roasters and weekend brunch spots. Here are the places worth the walk.
Read articleBefore flat whites and freddos there was the kafeneío — a tiny, mostly-male, smoke-stained coffee house with two tables on the pavement and one on the kerb. A handful still exist in central Athens.
Read articleGreeks drink more coffee per capita than almost anyone in Europe and they take it personally. This is the no-jargon glossary of frappé, freddo espresso, freddo cappuccino and the original Greek coffee.
Read articleThe Varvakeios Agora has been Athens' central meat, fish and vegetable market since 1886. It's loud, theatrical and home to some of the cheapest, most authentic tavernas in the city.
Read articleAthens does not really sleep on the food front. Attica Bakeries on 3rd September Street, Biteat on October 28th and a couple of 24-hour souvlaki spots keep the neighbourhood fed at 3am.
Read articleHotel breakfast buffets are not Greek breakfast. Here is what a real one looks like — strapatsada, koulouri, Greek yoghurt, paximadi — and where to order it without ending up in a tourist trap.
Read articleThe Venetis on October 28th Street opens at 6am and is half breakfast spot, half takeaway lunch. This is what every glass case at a Greek bakery actually contains, in plain English.
Read articleGreek coffee culture runs on three or four homegrown chains that have nothing to do with Starbucks. Here's what to order at each — and why Mikel on Heyden Street is the local favourite.
Read articleForget the tourist gyros chains. From Kalamaki tis Kyra-Sofias to the late-night spots on Patission, here is where the Victoria neighbourhood actually goes for souvlaki.
Read articleA no-frills, third-generation family taverna on Aristotelous serving real homemade Greek food at lunchtime prices that haven't caught up to 2026 yet.
Read article