Athens remains an epicentre for ambitious dining, with a steady run of high-profile openings adding to an already fast-moving scene. In the city centre, restaurants continue to set the pace, shaping trends, raising standards and keeping the conversation lively. This year, a renewed focus on tradition, alongside the continued rise of the modern gastrotaverna, is back in the spotlight.
AKRA
GASTROTAVERNA
12 Amynta, Pagrati
+30 210 7551116
€50-75 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Giannis Loukakis, one of the early standard-bearers of Greek bistronomy with Mourga and +Trofí in Thessaloniki, joined forces with leading pastry chef Spyros Pediaditakis to open Akra in Pangrati, where they continue to enjoy sustained success. The almost daily changing menu is marked by creative spontaneity and an experimental approach to Greek produce that, in most cases, delivers with precision. The standard rises even further when it comes to desserts.
ALERIA
CONTEMPORARY GREEK CUISINE
Megalou Alexadrou 57, Metaxourgeio
+30 210 5222633
www.aleria.gr
€100-140 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating, private parking and a particularly charming setting or décor.
At one of Athens’ most atmospheric and consistently popular restaurants, Gikas Xenakis continues to reinterpret Greek cuisine in a distinctive, personal and creative way, placing him among the leading figures of its contemporary expression. The wine list is particularly interesting, the level of service remains high, and during the summer months the garden setting offers an especially delightful backdrop.
ASWTOS
MODERN BISTRO
Aminta 6, Proskopon Square, Pangrati
+30 210 721 3720
www.aswtos.gr
€50-75 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
At Aswtos, Michalis Merzenis cooks with intensity and generosity, his gaze set on a cuisine that is both exuberant and deeply flavourful, a metropolitan fusion of Greece and the East. Carefully sourced ingredients, layered flavours and dishes with energy come together to shape a contemporary, cosmopolitan table full of character. The wine list is equally compelling.
ATENO
CONTEMPORARY GREEK CUISINE
Aeolou 52 & Miltiadou, Athens
+30 2103223223
€50-75 per person
Open all year
round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Over the past year, Nikos Karathanos’s gastronomic vision has become increasingly evident at Ateno. Classic Greek recipes have become the basis for meaningful refinement: greater precision in technique, heightened attention to balance, stricter selection of ingredients and a deeper understanding of the ingredient itself. The cuisine has retained its distinctly Greek character while gaining structure and gastronomic confidence, elevating it to a markedly more demanding level. In recent months, Ateno has introduced, alongside its à la carte offering, an eight-course tasting menu, a rich and substantial proposition that allows diners to experience the kitchen’s work in a concentrated form.
BIRDMAN
FUSION & ETHNIC
Skoufou 2, Plaka
+30 210 3212800
www.birdman.gr
€50-75 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Aris Vezené’s Japanese gastropub, on the edge of Syntagma and Plaka, continues to pulse with energy, its atmosphere electric and vibrant. Now that Ekiben has moved to a new location, the focus has sharpened even further on nigiri and yakitori.
BRASSERIE LORRAINE
EUROPEAN CUISINES
Spessipou 1A, Kolonaki
+30 2107253009
www.brasserielorraine.gr
€75-100 per person
Open from September to May
Restaurant with outdoor seating.
Brasserie Lorraine remains one of the most beautiful and charming restaurants in Athens, while its kitchen has continued to evolve in both quality and technique, further strengthening the already solid profile of this elegant bistro. Variations on classic French ideas are never the easiest of challenges and, although they still run through the menu — now with greater restraint — chef Ilias Dimelis, supported by committed foodie and co-owner Giorgos Melissaris, places increasing emphasis on technique, expressed most clearly in the sauces and accompanying preparations. This approach appears to be bearing fruit, guiding the restaurant’s cuisine towards a more substantial and rewarding direction.
BRUTUS TAVERN
MEAT RESTAURANT
Leventi 3, Kolonaki
+30 210 7240453
www.brutustavern.gr
€75-100 per person
Open from October to May
Particularly charming location or décor
The kitchen at Brutus in Kolonaki has evolved impressively since last year, with strong signature dishes and a very interesting selection of cuts that lend a more mature and rounded character to the overall experience. Chef Stefanos Rizos is at the helm of what has become the most accomplished meat restaurant in the city centre. The wine list is better than ever, with more accessible pricing and a balanced structure that focuses on leading wine regions and grape varieties, perfectly supporting the restaurant’s meat-driven identity.
COOKOOVAYA
CONTEMPORARY GREEK CUISINE
Chatzigianni Mexi 2a, Athens
+30 210 7235005
www.cookoovaya.gr
€75-100 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Remaining a passionate advocate of Greek tradition and one of the country’s foremost authorities and craftsmen of seafood cuisine, Periklis Koskinas keeps Cookoovaya on a steady course, serving a refined, pared-back cuisine of a high standard, built on outstanding ingredients.
CTC
GREEK HAUTE CUISINE
Plateon 15, Kerameikos
+30 210 7728812
www.ctc-restaurant.com
€100-140 per person
Open all
year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating, private parking or valet service
At CTC, Alexandros Tsiotinis expresses one of the most personal and mature gastronomic universes in Athens. His cuisine combines technical depth, discipline and precision, with executions that reveal complete control and clarity of flavour. Outstanding ingredients and the Greek culinary tradition form its core, yet they pass through the filter of haute cuisine and are transformed into compositions that are complex, balanced and meaningful. Each dish bears the signature of a chef who has explored the roots of Greek cuisine and continues to evolve them with precision, knowledge, at times a playful spirit and a refined aesthetic.
DRY & RAW BY DRAKOULIS
MEAT RESTAURANT
Filikis Eterias Square 14, Kolonaki
+30 2107221188
www.drakoulis.gr/restaurants/el/dry-and-raw
Over €140 per person
Open all
year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
With its signature wall where light filters through bricks of mineral salt, the interior of Dry & Raw in Kolonaki is steeped in shadow, set against a backdrop of luxury that is both evident and tangible. Dark musical selections, carried by subtly psychedelic beats that energise the atmosphere without overwhelming it, further define the character of a restaurant that easily becomes a place to be for those with a passion for exceptional meat.
EX MACHINA
FUSION & ETHNIC
Empedokleous 34, Pangrati
+30 2107560362
www.exmachinagreece.com/el/restaurant
€100-140 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating.
At the consistently packed Ex Machina, Adam Kontovas continues to showcase his dynamic, boundary-pushing cuisine, with fusion ideas delivered at full pace. The restaurant clearly bears the signature of its chef-owner, from the philosophy of the menu to the character of the dishes, which express a strongly personal and highly compelling style.
GALLINA
MODERN BISTRO
Markou Mpotsari 49, Koukaki
+30 210 92374256
www.gallina.gr
€75-100 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
In Koukaki, Filippos Tsagkridis’s artistic restaurant continues to evolve steadily, shaping a cosmopolitan comfort cuisine marked by depth and intensity of flavour. Its foundations are French, the perspective contemporary, and the approach naturally bridges the classical school with modern gastronomy. The experience is completed by an exceptionally well-priced wine list, offering both breadth and substance.
GB ROOF GARDEN
CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL CUISINE
Grande Bretagne Hotel, 1A Vas. George, Syntagma Square
+30 210 3330766
www.gbroofgarden.gr
Over €140 per person
Open all
year round
Excellent wine list, restaurant with outdoor seating, restaurant with a particularly impressive view
GB Roof Garden, one of Athens’ all-time classic restaurants with its breathtaking view of the Acropolis, preserves its timeless allure through a fully renewed identity. Asterios Koustoudis, together with chef Giannis Rokanas, now sets the tone for a menu that is more refined and lighter in style, with clean and elegant flavours moving between Greece and the Mediterranean. The space has been thoughtfully redesigned, from the bar and lighting to the marble finishes and the small details that enhance the overall experience.
HERVÉ
INTERNATIONAL HAUTE CUISINE
Trion Ierarchon 170, Ano Petralona
+30 210 3471332
www.herve-restaurant.com
€100-140 per person
Open all year round
After a six-year absence abroad, acclaimed chef Hervé Pronzato returned to Greece to open the first fine dining restaurant in the neighbourhood of Petralona bearing his name, a venue that quickly gained a devoted following among Athens’ food lovers. Guests take their seats on the comfortable stools at the counter facing the open kitchen, where the culinary performance unfolds before them. Pronzato’s time in restaurants in Malaysia and Bahrain, along with his extensive travels across Asia and America, has shaped a rich culinary perspective. Together with head chef and co-owner Grigoris Kikis, he channels these influences into an 18-course tasting menu that traces a fascinating gastronomic journey.
HYTRA
GREEK HAUTE CUISINE
Petrou Kokkali 1, Ampelokipoi
+30 210 331 6767
www.hytra.gr
€75-100 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating and valet service
One of Athens’ most enduring gastronomic restaurants, Hytra relocated last year to the Athens Concert Hall, where it now shares the space with Fuga, while continuing to serve a refined and contemporary Greek cuisine, with an emphasis on clarity of flavour, technical precision and balance.
IODIO
FISH RESTAURANT
Loukianou Street 36, Kolonaki
+30 2130263656
www.iodioathens.gr
€75-100 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
The former “iron lady” of Funky Gourmet appears at Iodio in a completely different role. In this packed and elegant seafood hotspot, Georgianna Hiliadaki is not confined to the kitchen. She moves naturally among the tables, serving, explaining dishes and engaging with guests. It is her most open and approachable side, almost unexpected for those who remember her in the more austere environment of Funky Gourmet. Her collaboration with Haris Spyrou has brought to Kolonaki a seafood restaurant that has established itself as a point of reference for Athenian fish cuisine. In the kitchen, her long-time and highly talented collaborators Danae Voridou and Erasmia Balaska hold the line, while the excellent desserts bear the signature of Manolis Stithos.
JERAR
MODERN BISTRO
Agias Varvaras 55, Dafni
+30 2109755764
€50-75 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
The gourmet bistro of Charis Nikolouzos and George Kavaklis in Dafni has firmly found its place on the Athenian dining agenda, with a kitchen that continues to evolve over time and a compass that turns, with measured confidence, towards bistronomy. The setting blends the warmth of Parisian neo-bistros with a Scandinavian aesthetic, enriched by warmer elements throughout the space and the presence of an open kitchen.
KAFENEIO
TRADITIONAL GREEK CUISINE
Loukianou 26, Kolonaki
+30 210 723 9600
€50-75 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
The historic Kafeneio in Kolonaki, one of the most emblematic meeting places of the 1990s for politicians, actors and figures of the intellectual world, returns with renewed energy while preserving the sense of familiarity that defined it in the past. Behind this revival stand Giorgos Melissaris, Giannis Morakis and Thomas Grupac, people who deeply understand what genuine hospitality means in practice. In the kitchen, Kyriaki Fotopoulou’s dishes combine technical knowledge, a memory of tradition and a contemporary perspective, restoring to Kafeneio the warmth and gastronomic substance it deserves.
MAKRIS ATHENS
GREEK HAUTE CUISINE
Astigos 10 & Ermou 19, Athens
+30 2160047777
www.makrisathens.com
Over €140 per person
Open all
year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating, restaurant with a particularly impressive view, private parking or valet service, exceptional wine list
Petros Dimas continues to evolve Makris Athens, and this is evident in every detail. His privately owned farm in Ancient Corinth shapes the flavour, seasonality and structure of the menu. Vegetables harvested the same day, herbs that reach the plate with their natural intensity, ingredients whose origins he knows from the very root. The dishes often begin with green, vibrant notes and are built with enviable precision: textures that alternate, acidity that brings clarity, richness that adds depth and persistence. A cuisine that is lively, expressive, structured and refined, advancing with remarkable confidence and admirable consistency.
MANARI
MEAT RESTAURANT
Agion Theodoron Square 3, Athens
+30 215 2153804
www.manaritaverna.com
€50-75 per person
Open all
year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
In this latest project, Aris Vezené, together with Lelos Georgopoulos and Sokratis Toulias, sets out to create the ideal taverna–grill, drawing on the all-time classic playbook while ensuring quality at every level. From the cinematic setting to the food, there are no twists or reinterpretations. At Manári, diners enjoy all the beloved flavours and small delights that define the Greek grill tradition, with one key difference: the ingredients are exceptional, the grilling is spot on, and the atmosphere is a pleasure to behold.
METROPOLIS ROOF GARDEN
CONTEMPORARY GREEK CUISINE
Electra Metropolis Athens
Mitropoleos 15, Athens
+30 214 1006200
www.electrahotels.gr/hotels/electra-metropolis-athens/restaurants/metropolis-roof-garden
€75-100
per
person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating, restaurant with a particularly impressive view
On the tenth floor of the Electra Metropolis Athens hotel, in one of the city’s most charming rooftops with enchanting views of the sacred rock of the Acropolis, chef Charis Zevgoulis presents his own cosmopolitan yet deeply personal interpretation of Greek cuisine, appealing equally to the restaurant’s loyal Greek clientele and its international audience. The à la carte menu also includes several interesting vegan options. The wine list is well considered, with a clear point of view and a very good price–quality ratio.
NTYLAN
MODERN BISTRO
Agias Zonis 38, Athens
+30 210 866 8899
Up to €35 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
It is not only the kitchen utensils that pass through the hands of talented chef Vaggelis Veis, but also the guitars that hang on the wall. A lover of classic rock and a devoted fan of the world’s two most famous Dylans, he named his first restaurant venture Dylan. The cuisine is flavourful, with intensity and substance, drawing inspiration from Greece without being confined by it.
NYX
FUSION & ETHNIC
Academias Hotel, Akadimias 38 & Omirou, Athens
+30 2103670000
www.nyxrooftop.com
€75-100 per person
Open all year
round
Restaurant with outdoor seating, restaurant with a particularly impressive view
With Dimitris Kotsalis at the helm of the kitchen, Nyx delivers a vibrant, multi-layered performance that blends a sense of fun with a cosmopolitan flair. The energy of the dining room meets a cuisine that is both alluring and precise, with dishes that have rhythm and a clear identity. The sushi stands out for its technique, balance and the quality of its ingredients, while the rest of the specialities move effortlessly between international influences and contemporary flavours. Each dish has personality, flavour and finesse, composing an experience that balances pleasure and aesthetics in equal measure.
OSTERIA MAMMA
EUROPEAN CUISINES
Salaminos 64, Kerameikos
+30 693 660 7794
www.osteriamamma.gr
€75–100 per person
Open all
year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
At the very charming Osteria Mamma, Eleni Saradi interprets Italian cuisine with a personal style that respects tradition while confidently filtering it through her own perspective. At first she approached this more cautiously, but she has now found her balance. She selects excellent ingredients and follows a measured creativity that never overshadows the dish itself, clearly demonstrating finesse, solid technique and consistency.
OX MEAT TAVERNA
MEAT RESTAURANT
Chatzigianni Mexi 9, Ilisia
+30 210 710 7070
www.ox-restaurant.gr
€50–75 per person
Open all
year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
A contemporary Greek grill in an urban setting that embraces classic flavours and hearty intensity, yet is equally capable of moving into more modern culinary territory. This is OX, one of the most successful meat restaurants in Athens. It nods to the steakhouse tradition, but its DNA is unmistakably Greek, and proudly so.
PHARAOH
TRADITIONAL GREEK CUISINE
Solomou 54 , Exarchia
+30 2103808412
www.pharaoh.gr
€50-75 per person
Open all year round
With its popularity remaining at a peak and its cuisine constantly evolving, Pharaoh is a restaurant that has won over the public while continually renewing the bond of trust with its guests. After all, it secured first place last year in The List by FNL Best Restaurant Awards. Here, Greek tradition shines and moves you. The food is deeply flavourful, honours locality, embraces the seasons and confidently holds its ground in the contemporary dining landscape. Papoutsakis shows remarkable agility in incorporating specialities from different parts of Greece into the menu, refreshing the restaurant’s offerings with notable frequency. What does he do with these dishes? He does not modernise them, nor does he pass them through a creative filter of experimentation. Instead, he delves deeper into their flavour and refines them through technique and exceptional produce. In this way, he brings them into the present while ensuring that authenticity and tradition remain firmly at the heart of the plate.
RAWBATA
FUSION & ETHNIC
Lakonias 33, Ampelokipoi
€35-50
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Chronis Damalas opened his own restaurant in Ampelokipoi, infusing the menu with his deep love for Greek cuisine, complemented by subtle Asian touches. The result? Dishes of generous flavour, outstanding ingredients that shine with freshness, careful cooking and very reasonable prices. The menu changes almost daily, as the cooking relies entirely on what the market has to offer. Damalas shops at his local street market, which he treats almost as a sacred ritual, and I must admit I find that wonderful. What else makes Raw Bata so distinctive? All the elements that elevate a tavern into something gastronomic: excellent seasonal ingredients, clever pairings, exemplary cooking and a touch, for now at least, of Japanese fusion “madness” that can give the food a slight gourmet edge without overloading it with unnecessary elements or pushing it in an overly ambitious direction.
SEEDS
CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL CUISINE
Oumplianis 14 & Diocharous 27, Ilisia
+30 2107235116
www.seedsrestaurant.gr/en/
€100-140 per
person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
The first restaurant by Dimos Samourakis and Alexandros Bellonias is evolving impressively and continues to surprise with its refined yet deeply flavourful cuisine. The space that housed CTC for five years has been renovated: wood softens the atmosphere, earthy tones rest the eye, which is drawn only to a few works of art and directly to the open kitchen, from which Samourakis and his team move in and out, personally serving almost every course of what is now the restaurant’s single tasting menu. On the plate, the flavours occasionally nod to the minimalism of contemporary Scandinavian cuisine. Yet no dish leaves the kitchen without a delicate flourish, a thoughtful contrast of textures or a carefully crafted sauce that enriches and deepens the flavour.
SENSE
CONTEMPORARY GREEK CUISINE
Dionysiou Aeropagitou 5, Athens
+30 210 9249954
www.athenswas.gr
€100-140 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating, restaurant with a particularly impressive view
This season, the cuisine of Alexandros Charalampopoulos at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant draws its inspiration from the traditions and roots of Greek cooking. The chef uses traditional Greek cuisine as a constant canvas, on which he quite literally embroiders his dishes, presenting it with finesse, a personal style and deep flavour. In doing so, he adapts classic recipes to the present day through his own distinctive interpretation.
SIMUL
MODERN BISTRO
Ypsilantou 63, Kolonaki
+30 2107224737
www.simul.gr
€50-75 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
The flavours of Nikos Thomas at Simul continue to evolve, keeping our interest fully alive. The talented chef-patron of the atmospheric Kolonaki restaurant delves ever deeper into the essence of bistronomy, without ever letting flavour fall out of focus. Alongside him, Alexandra Gasparinatou and Triantafyllos Louzis ensure that what arrives on the plate is matched by exemplary service, elevating the overall experience to the next level.
SOIL
GREEK HAUTE CUISINE
Ferekidou 5, Pangrati
+30 210 7513505
www.soilrestaurant.gr
Over €140 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
A two-storey neoclassical building from 1925 in Pangrati has been tastefully renovated to become the new home of Tasos Mantis. The nature-loving chef, with rare technical precision, presents creative specialities through two tasting menus that strongly express his garden-to-table philosophy, enriching the flavours with herbs, fruits and flowers grown in his own garden in Alepochori. Mantis’s dishes combine finesse with subtle variations in intensity and a clearly defined, earthy depth of flavour that makes them shine. The wine list is also highly commendable.
SPONDI
INTERNATIONAL HAUTE CUISINE
Pyrronos 5, Pangrati
+30 210 7520658
www.spondi.gr
Over €140 per person
Restaurant with outdoor seating, private parking, exceptional wine list
Arnaud Bignon’s creations at Spondi, which remains a cornerstone of gastronomy in Greece, always focus on an ingredient of exceptional quality, cooked to perfection. Around it, carefully considered elements create a complex, refined and harmonious sequence of flavours and textures. The cuisine is currently in a new, intensely creative phase, expressed through a rare balance between elegant, almost lyrical dishes and more daring gastronomic compositions that convey a sense of greater freedom, with fewer protective filters. There is a growing confidence in the combinations: more aromatic layers, more intricate garnishes and a bolder use of herbal and acidic elements. Bignon uses textures almost as punctuation marks: velvety components that carry the sauce, crisp notes that awaken the palate, and warm and cool contrasts that create beautiful counterpoints. In short, he is at the top of his game. Service remains consistently at a high level, while the wine list is noteworthy.
STOU LOU
GASTROTAVERNA
Konstantinoupoleos Ave.104, Athens
+30 210 444 9362
www.stoulou.com/en/
€50-75 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Before deciding to open his own restaurant, Alexis Loumiotis had already clocked up many miles in the hospitality industry, working in a variety of roles. Lou is a character, someone you are unlikely to forget. Nor does he hide his enthusiasm for the wine cellar he has built in the restaurant’s basement, with 260 labels from Greek and international vineyards offered at very reasonable prices, many of which can also be purchased to take home. In the kitchen, chef Giannis Galanopoulos presents his first menu, always under the close supervision of Alexis Loumiotis, who places Greek cuisine firmly at the centre of the restaurant’s flavour profile. The preparations are largely classic, but presented with a more contemporary approach, while preserving the authentic flavours and sense of nostalgia that accompany them.
SUSHIMOU
FUSION & ETHNIC
Skoufou 6, Plaka
+30 211 4078457
www.sushimou.gr
€50-75 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Antonis Drakoularakos searches daily for ingredients that shine with freshness and handles them with ease and solid technique. For the diners seated at Sushimou’s twelve-seat wooden counter, as well as at the few standing tables on the pavement, he prepares delightful nigiri, sashimi and donburi as part of an omakase experience that has both charm and rhythm.
TAVERNA OIKONOMOU
TRADITIONAL GREEK CUISINE
Kidantidon 32, Ano Petralona
+30 210 346 7555
www.tavernaoikonomou.gr
Up to €35 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
It is housed in the same building, dating back to 1918, which once served as the home of Giannis Oikonomou. The taverna, however, was originally called Zephyros and began operating as a mageireio, a traditional home-style eatery, in 1930. Having weathered many changes and passed through different hands over the years, it eventually found its way to people who not only respected its history but never took even half a step back from the legacy they inherited.
Today, the now legendary Taverna tou Oikonomou is better than ever in every respect. You will still find many of the traditional dishes that were served here decades ago, with the deeply flavourful vegetable stews cooked in olive oil remaining the true cornerstone of the kitchen. Greek wine now also plays a prominent role at Oikonomou, with a list of more than one hundred labels, largely focused on low-intervention producers.
TAVERNA TON FILON
GASTRO TAVERN
Argous 66 , Colonos
+30 2105127506
www.tavernatonfilon.gr/
€35-50 per person
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Giannis Mousios and Giorgos Kontorizos have revived an old taverna in Kolonos, which over the past year has been consistently packed. The atmosphere is warm and convivial, the cooking very good and respectful of tradition while bringing it naturally into the present. Add to that a very well-priced wine list and generous, open-hearted hospitality. Taverna ton Filon has come back to life and looks set to stay.
TELEMACHOS ATHENS
MEAT RESTAURANT
Panepistimiou 10, Syntagma
+30 2103613300
www.telemachosathens.gr
€50-75 per person
Open
all year round
At the Athenian outpost of Telemachos, Giorgos Tsiligiris has long focused on high-quality meat cookery, shaping an abundant menu that moves between Greece and Italy, as he has access to excellent cattle breeds from both countries. The restaurant exudes the elegance and old-world charm of another era, while the wine list features a wide selection of labels from both the Greek and international vineyards.
THE ZILLER’S
CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL CUISINE
The Ziller’s Boutique Hotel
Mitropoleos 54, Athens
+30 2107754246
+30 2103613300
www.thezillersathens.com/rooftop-gastronomy/
Over €140 per person
Open all
year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating, restaurant with a particularly impressive view.
On the rooftop of The Zillers Boutique Hotel, with the Acropolis just a stone’s throw away, Vasilis Roussos’s cooking shows clear quality and interest. The Greek foundation remains evident, expressed through precisely finished sauces, well-judged cooking and balanced acidity that brings intensity to the dishes. At times, however, this intensity can come at the expense of the finesse one might expect from the presentation. Overall, it is a contemporary proposition, marked by technical consistency and steady quality, making good use of its urban setting without relying solely on the view.
TOPA
GASTROTAVERNA
Fokionos Negri 43, Kypseli
+30 210 866 0889
www.topa.cool
€35–50 per person
Open all year
round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Topa means “cheers” in Basque, though it also playfully echoes the Greek phrase “sta ’lega” (“I told you so”). It is a name that carries the immediacy of good company and the sense that everything that happens around a table becomes a moment in which people remember who they are when they share. That is precisely the philosophy the Oinoscent team brings to Kypseli with their new venture, which made an immediate splash thanks to the bold yet deeply satisfying cooking of Giannis Tsikoudakis: a high-end kafeneio that brings together the Cretan culture of meze with the Spanish logic of tapas, giving a starring role to wine and vermouth, curated, of course, by Aris Sklavenitis.
TSIFTIS GASTROKOUTOUKI
GASTROTAVERNA
Sevasteias & Michalakopoulou, Ilisia
+30 210 775 4246
www.tsiftisgastrokoutouki.com
€50–75 per person
Open all year
round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Sifis Manouselis, together with Babis Kazanas and Vaios Koromilas, opened their first restaurant in Athens on a pedestrian street in Ilisia, and from day one it has been packed. Using very good ingredients and letting his imagination run freely, the talented chef presents an open-hearted, relaxed yet deeply flavourful take on the Greek gastrotaverna. The wine list features many hidden gems from both the Greek and international vineyards.
TUDOR HALL
INTERNATIONAL HAUTE CUISINE
King George Athens Hotel, Syntagma Square
+30 210 3330265
www.tudorhall.gr
Over €140 per person
Open all year
round
Restaurant with outdoor seating, restaurant with a particularly impressive view, particularly charming location or atmosphere, excellent wine list.
The aristocratic Tudor Hall has raised the bar higher than ever, and the bold decision by Asterios Koustoudis to upgrade the restaurant by choosing the more demanding path is proving increasingly successful day by day. His vote of confidence in the highly talented Nikos Leivadias has also been fully justified. The high-level compositions are executed with precision: the sauces are excellent, the combinations of ingredients work harmoniously, and the ideas behind the dishes captivate, sometimes through their classicism and at other times through a more creative perspective.
VEZENE
MODERN BISTRO
Vrasida 11 (Hilton area)
+30 210 7232002
www.vezene.gr
€100-140 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Aris Vezené’s ability to tune into the very pulse of a more democratic and relaxed form of gastronomy, one that still retains discreet touches of luxury, is almost proverbial. The same applies to his access to ingredients of exceptional quality, even now that around seventy per cent of the menu is devoted to seafood and fish. Vezene is becoming ever more timeless, without ceasing to evolve and excel. It is deeply enjoyable and flavourful to the core, and more beautiful than ever.
WINTER GARDEN
MODERN BISTRO
Hotel Grande Bretagnei
1 Vasileos Georgiou A, Syntagma Square
€100-140 per person
Open all year round
The Winter Garden remains the timeless all-day “salon” of Athens, a space long associated with the city’s urban life. In recent years, under the gastronomic direction of Asterios Koustoudis, it has gained renewed energy and greater substance in its culinary offering. From its larger-than-life brunch and the ritual of Afternoon Tea to the refreshed à la carte menu, which the chef has enriched with a variety of urban specialities that are deeply flavourful, the Winter Garden is experiencing one of the most dynamic periods in its history. An iconic venue that continues to evolve within the city’s most emblematic hotel.
The arrow pointing up next to the awarded stars marks those restaurants that are moving towards the upper end of their rating and we think are more likely to move up to the next rating level in a subsequent review
