The countdown has begun for the restaurants of Athens and Thessaloniki. On Monday, 2 March and Monday, 9 March, respectively, the FNL Best Restaurant Awards committee will announce the restaurants awarded a star this year in Athens and Thessaloniki.
As always, the official awards ceremony, honouring restaurants from across Greece, including those in Athens and Thessaloniki, as well as the Special Awards and, of course, The Skinos List by FNL Best Restaurant Awards 2026, will take place in May at the Athens Conservatoire, specifically on Monday, 4 May.
This year marks a significant milestone: the FNL Awards celebrate their tenth anniversary, while FNL itself turns fifteen. To mark these dual anniversaries, a series of special initiatives and events is planned throughout 2026.
This year, the international expansion, first introduced in 2025, continues and will be further developed. At the same time, the evaluation process will formally incorporate the possibility of adjusting a restaurant’s final score by plus or minus 10 per cent, depending on what we have termed “Authenticity of Experience”.
Beyond the intrinsic quality of the dishes, the produce, the conceptual approach and the execution, the committee will also assess, particularly in the case of restaurants in the regions and in major tourist destinations, how convincingly each concept is realised, how well it aligns with its location, and how authentic its gastronomic proposition truly is.
This notion of “Authenticity of Experience” also underpins a new initiative undertaken by FNL, with the support of Skinos, arguably Greece’s most iconic spirit, to promote the idea of a Greek Spirits List. The central premise is simple: Greek spirits, much like Greek wines, should form an integral part of the offering at Greek restaurants across the country.
Beyond the FNL Best Restaurant Awards, which remain the annual culmination of our work, we will, in the coming weeks, also publish a series of special lists marking the fifteen years during which FNL has monitored and evaluated both the restaurant and bar scene in Greece.
Stay tuned!
