LASITHI
ANTHOS
TRADITIONAL GREEK CUISINE
Phaea Blue Hotel, Plaka-Elounda
+30 2841 065500
www.phaeablue.com/dining/anthos/
€75-100 per person
Restaurant with outdoor seating
The wonderful Phaea Blue, in Elounda, takes gastronomy and local culinary tradition very seriously. This is most evident in its central restaurant. The ingredients are excellent, full of freshness and aroma, and are cooked with knowledge, affection, care and memory. The result is an authentic Cretan gastronomic experience, executed with precision
ARGONAUT
CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL CUISINE
Elounda Beach Hotel & Villas, Elounda
2841063487
www.eloundabeach.gr/gr/dining-hotel-crete/restaurants
€50-75 per person
Open from April to November
Restaurant with outdoor seating, restaurant by the sea, private parking
On the beautiful terrace of Argonaut, with its wonderful sea view, Executive Chef Mauro Peressini presents an authentic expression of Italian cuisine, based mainly on fresh produce from the region. Alongside the classic Italian dishes, however, the menu also offers the chef’s more contemporary cooking.
IL BORRO TUSCAN BISTRO
EUROPEAN CUISINES
Elounda Peninsula All Suite Hotel, Elounda
2841 068250
https://eloundapeninsula.com/en/il-borro-tusan-bistro
€75-100 per person
Open from April to October
Restaurant with outdoor seating, restaurant by the sea, private parking or valet service
One of the country’s finest Italian restaurants is hosted within this luxury hotel in Elounda. Il Borro, the Ferragamo family’s Tuscan-born concept, is defined here, in its summer setting, by authenticity and precision of execution, whether you choose one of its flawless pizzas or one of its deeply enjoyable pastas and risottos.
DIONYSOS
CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL CUISINE
Elounda Beach Hotel & Villas, Elounda
€75-100 per person
Open from April to November
Restaurant with outdoor seating
https://www.eloundabeach.gr/gr/dining-hotel-crete/restaurants
Dionysos sets its tables beneath olive trees, in the inner square created by the hotel’s mercato, beside the hotel chapel. There, chef Albert Hazma proposes a well-crafted Mediterranean menu, with dishes such as Jerusalem artichoke risotto with gorgonzola and strawberries, more Cretan references such as sea bream with wild fennel and fresh peas, and creations inspired by his travels in Japan, including a deeply delicious lobster-filled gyoza in fish broth. A well-considered wine list, with international and Greek labels, together with refined service, gives real substance to the term “fine dining”.
HIONA SEAFOOD RESTAURANT
FISH RESTAURANT
Chiona Beach, Sitia
2843061228 & 6948829057
https://www.hiona.gr/gr
€30-60 per person
Open from May to October
Restaurant with outdoor seating
This traditional fish taverna has been renewed, but still sets its tables on the rocks, quite literally where the waves break, at one end of Chiona beach, just one kilometre from Palekastro. It is renowned for its kakavia and for the strong catches it secures whenever the weather allows, of course. It is also worth trying their fried octopus with ouzo, fennel, capers and chilli.
MÁKRIS FINE DINING ELOUNDA
CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL CUISINE
Domes of Elounda Hotel
Tsifliki, Schisma Eloundas, Elounda
2841 043500
https://domesresorts.com/domesofelounda/gastronomy/
€100-140 per person
Open from April to October
Restaurant with outdoor seating, restaurant by the sea, private parking or valet service
Petros Dimas, Executive Chef of Mákris, proposes both a menu dégustation and an à la carte menu, served in the evenings on the beautiful terrace of Domes of Elounda, overlooking the island of Spinalonga and its Venetian fortress. His dishes draw inspiration from local gastronomy but express it in fine-dining terms, using the island’s exceptional ingredients with imagination. The wine list also includes noteworthy labels from the Cretan vineyard.
OLD MILL
CONTEMPORARY GREEK CUISINE
Elounda Mare Hotel, Dimokratias 10, Elounda
2841068200
www.eloundamare.com/en/old-mill/
€100-140 per person
Open from April to October
Restaurant with outdoor seating, restaurant by the sea, private parking or valet service
The hotel’s fine-dining restaurant is set on a beautiful terrace by the sea. Its tables are arranged around an old millstone, from which it takes its name, and are surrounded by a flower-filled garden. Chef Stavros Kokkinakis presents contemporary Cretan cuisine based on fresh local ingredients, imaginatively weaving tradition into dishes such as a salad referencing the traditional palikaria, with Lasithi pulses, herb giouvarlakia and tarama mayonnaise, or rabbit leg cooked in a clay pot with carob honey, anthotyro and potato millefeuille. The wine list, curated by sommelier Babis Papadatos, is excellent too.
VΑΙ (Palm beach creative restaurant & seaside
cafe)
CONTEMPORARY GREEK CUISINE
Eparchiaki Odos Monis Toplou - Vai (Palm Forest), Sitia, Lasithi
2843 061129
https://www.vai-restaurant.gr
€40-70 per person
Open from April to October
Restaurant with outdoor seating
The Lilimpakis family’s restaurant is quite literally perched on the rocks surrounding the beach of the famous Vai palm forest. The menu focuses mainly on fish. It is worth trying the grilled sun-dried octopus with homemade apple cider vinegar, wild oregano and olive oil, as well as the excellent fisherman-style kakavia, the fresh fillet of the day’s open-sea fish, sautéed with celeriac cream, fresh tarragon and dill oil, and the local cooked dishes: Sautéed free-range lamb with French fries and Sitia xygalo (cheese spread), Cretan bulgur with snails in tomato sauce with Cretan herbs, and Cretan rooster in tomato sauce with skioufichta pasta and anthotyro.
HERAKLION
APIRI GREEK EATERY
CONTEMPORARY GREEK CUISINE
Kagiampi and Agion Deka 5, Heraklion
2810342228
€25-50 per person
Open all year round, daily 10:00-24:00, closed on Sundays
Restaurant with outdoor seating
This interesting gastro-bistro is set on a quiet, cobbled and shaded pedestrian street in the city centre, just steps from the church of Agios Minas. Chef-owner Stefanos Lavrenidis combines international and local ingredients, as well as ingredients he prepares himself, to present intelligent dishes with a contemporary aesthetic. His experience and knowledge come together in a modern Greek cuisine. Dishes such as grilled herb pie with carob pastry and galeni (Cretan cream cheese), beef tartare with burnt cabbage and avgolemono sauce, his onion dolmades, zygouri pasta or goat in tomato sauce with oriental pilaf and almonds, clearly express his culinary identity. Among the positives is a very interesting list of well-chosen Cretan and other wines.
BEACHCOMBER
HIGH END BEACH-RESTAURANT
Agiou Ioannou 11, Stalida
2897033626 289733847, 6972401801 & 6974410786
www.beachcomber.gr
€50-75 per person
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Beachcomber Bar & Restaurant sits directly above Stalida beach, in harmony with the natural landscape around it, while its music creates a unique atmosphere. Chef Apostolis Loukakis presents a wide-ranging menu that brings together, in a distinctive way, the fresh produce of Cretan land with the island’s meats, seafood and fish. The Asian sushi menu designed by sushi chef Evangelos Michalis moves in the same spirit, combining Japanese culture with Nikkei influences. The cocktails by Thomas Xekardakis, creator of Bartender’s Club & Bartending School-Consulting, are a must-try.
BONY FISH SEAFOOD RESTAURANT
FISH RESTAURANT
Abaton Island Resort & Spa, Themistokleous Avenue, Hersonissos
28970 26410
https://www.abaton.gr/dine/bony-fish-seafood-restaurant
€50-75 per person
Open from April to October, lunch and dinner
Restaurant with outdoor seating, restaurant by the sea, private parking or valet service
On a beautiful terrace right on the water, Executive Chef Giorgos Chronakis and his sous chef Konstantinos Papadopoulos, make the most of the ultra-fresh fish and seafood sourced daily by the restaurant, presenting a seafood expression of the island’s cuisine. Examples include fresh marinated anchovy with pickled okra and olive oil, sometimes with a light fusion touch, mainly in the raw section. The fried calamari with jalapeño mayonnaise is a must, as are the prawns saganaki with tomato sauce, basil and Selliano cheese. It is worth noting that most wines from the hotel’s excellent list are also served by the glass. The high standard is confirmed by the restaurant’s upgrade to two stars, while it also helped Abaton win the Special Award for Culinary Destination 2026.
CARAVEL RESTAURANT
TRADITIONAL GREEK CUISINE
Yanna Caravel Hotel, Dios 20, Ammoudara Beach, Gazi
2810824724
www.yiannacaravel.gr/
€50-75 per person
Open from April to October
Restaurant with outdoor seating, restaurant by the sea
The cuisine proposed at Caravel Restaurant by Executive Chef Christos Lapas is traditional Cretan, but with a small, more contemporary touch. This appears in dishes such as grilled savoury pies filled with stewed greens, handmade pastry and herb yoghurt, or grilled prawns with prawn ladolemono, chives and notes of smoked lemon. The wine list is also interesting, combining labels from local and selected international vineyards.
CREMNOS
CONTEMPORARY GREEK CUISINE
Acro Suites Hotel, Mononaftis, Agia Pelagia
2810 812240
https://acrosuites.com/nutrition/
€75-100 per person
Open from April to October
Restaurant with outdoor seating, private parking or valet service
At the hotel’s elegant restaurant in front of the pool, there was a change of chef this year, with Theodoros Koukoulis taking the place of Giannis Rokanas. The chef’s experience and ability, together with the hotel team’s commitment to quality, encouraged us to give it a vote of confidence and retain its star.
ELEMES CRETAN CUISINE
CONTEMPORARY GREEK CUISINE
Abaton Island Resort & Spa, Themistokleous Avenue, Hersonissos
28970 26410
https://www.abaton.gr/dine/elemes-cretan-cuisine
€50-75 per person
Open from April to October
Restaurant with outdoor seating, restaurant by the sea, private parking or valet service
Elemes, the hotel’s Cretan restaurant, serves breakfast until late and then dinner, which is of particular interest. In the evening, the kitchen becomes more contemporary, drawing inspiration from the culinary tradition of Crete but in a distinctive way. Executive Chef Giorgos Chronakis, with an experiential knowledge of his island’s cuisine, expresses it with respect, without moving away from its essence. He mainly uses ingredients that come directly from the area’s farmers and livestock breeders, resulting in dishes that are balanced and deeply delicious. Even when he uses staka, as in the cuttlefish in tomato sauce with handmade maggiri (traditional pasta), spinach and staka, or the french fries with staka cream, his hand remains light.
GALEA
CONTEMPORARY GREEK CUISINE
Castello Infinity Hotel, Agia Pelagia
2813021840
https://castelloinfinity.com/gastronomy/galea-restaurant-bar
€50-75 per person
Open from April to October
Restaurant with outdoor seating, restaurant by the sea, private parking or valet service
On the beautiful first-floor terrace, overlooking the entire bay of Agia Pelagia, chef Kostas Assargiotakis offers one of the most pleasant surprises in Crete. His cooking has clear Cretan influences, yet is at the same time cosmopolitan and engaging, full of inspiration, originality, intensity and flavour. His version of the Greek salad, a “wreath” with pickled bulbs, tomato, pickled onions, vegetables and feta, is perhaps one of his most characteristic and interesting creations.
LOGARI
GREEK CUISINE
Kato Gouves, Aposelemis, Heraklion, Crete
695 554 1740
€25-35 per person
Open from April to October
Restaurant with outdoor seating
In the Cretan dialect, logari means “hidden treasure”, and, as you will discover when you arrive at this old glebe converted into a taverna, the name fits perfectly. It is, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere, on the wooded banks of the Aposelemis, one of the island’s largest rivers. The tables are set beneath olive trees and the cuisine proposed is disarmingly simple and wholly Cretan. Perfectly fried courgettes or mushrooms, delicious dolmadakia, aubergine salad, lamb chops and various other grilled meats, all cooked to perfection. Special mention must go to the genuinely warm hospitality of the owners’ family: the chef is Michalis Giannakakis, assisted by his brother Nikos, while the third brother, Manos, is the soul of the service.
PESKESI
GASTROTAVERNA
Kapetan Charalampi 6-8, Heraklion
2810288887
https://peskesicrete.gr/el
€25-50 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
The restaurant is housed in the old stone mansion of Captain Giannis Polyxingis, the hero of Kazantzakis’ Captain Michalis. Its kitchen follows a farm-to-table philosophy, as owner Panagiotis Magganas has created a farm for this very purpose in Charaso, Hersonissos. Chef Christos Schoinarakis’ propositions are rooted in the island’s culinary tradition. Depending on the season, you may find an omelette with wild asparagus, legumes (manarolia and lupins), with spiny chicory, snails with artichoke beans, and local meats cooked with wild greens, such as lamb with golden thistle. It is worth trying their cheeses (Tripas cheese and Goat cheese matured for 12 months), as well as their interesting cocktails and Erontades, their own bottled soft drinks. Worth mentioning are the list of selected extra virgin olive oils and the wine list.
SARADARI FISH RESTAURANT
FISH RESTAURANT
Agiou Georgiou, Hersonissos (Saradari area)
2897025375
https://www.saradari.com
€50-75 per person
Open from May to November, daily 10:00-00:00
Restaurant with outdoor seating
The beautifully set and elegant Saradari, on the eponymous beach of Hersonissos, is a very strong proposition for seafood cuisine. The multi-layered fish-focused menu, designed by Executive Chef Christos Lapas and successfully executed by chef Angelos Markoulis, is based on premium fish cuts and therefore follows a nose-to-tail philosophy. At times, it is rooted in Greek tradition, approached with creative flair, as in dishes such as monkfish cheeks with fennel butter, Messolonghi bottarga and kakavia sauce. Elsewhere, it proposes various multi-ethnic raw preparations: sushi, sashimi, nigiri and ceviche.
SCALA PREMIUM SEAFOOD BAR
CONTEMPORARY GREEK CUISINE
Matala, Heraklion, Crete
28920 45489 και 698 138 8135
https://scala-fish-bar-restaurant.gr
€50–75
per person
Open from May to October
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Yes, in Matala there really is a restaurant that is worth the journey. Climb the steps leading to its tasteful terrace, where the view over the bay is stunning, and you will be rewarded by what comes out of the kitchen of Chara Tsavolaki and Pavlos Dibiakas, under the guidance of chef Christos Lapas. From marinated anchovy with seasonal greens and their different take on tsiladia, a fish jelly that Scala prepares in the traditional way but with prawns, to wine-braised octopus with Parmesan cream, various seafood pastas and rabbit stifado, everything is deeply delicious.
THE WALLS
GASTROTAVERNA
Zotou Kosma 6, Agios Dimitrios
2810 344348
www.thewalls.gr
€50–75
per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Hidden in the narrow streets of central Heraklion, in a square that is hard to find, The Walls describes itself as a gastro-bistro. It has international influences and an imaginative menu signed by chef-owner Manos Maniadakis. This does not mean there are no local references and influences in the dishes he creates. Standouts include squid with pesto, soft flatbread with beef ragù, traditional meat pie, tacos with fish fillet and avocado, and a different version of pastitsio with rooster. The dining room is small, with modern touches, and the few tables also extend onto the covered wooden deck.
WOW STEAK
MEAT RESTAURANT
Abaton Island Resort & Spa, Themistokleous Avenue, Hersonissos
28970 26410
www.abaton.gr/dine/wow-steak
€50-100 per person
Open from April to October, lunch and dinner
Restaurant with outdoor seating, restaurant by the sea, private parking or valet service
It is the third restaurant at the hotel to earn an FNL star, and this impressive accuracy has earned Abaton this year’s Best Culinary Destination Special Award. Executive Chef Giorgos Chronakis proves highly capable with meat too, proposing here one of the country’s most interesting meat restaurants. Excellent grilling, top-quality ingredients and superb recipes, creative in just the right measure, make Wow fully justify its name.
RETHYMNO
AVLI
CONTEMPORARY GREEK CUISINE
Xanthoudidou 22, Old Town, Rethymno
2831058250
www.avli.gr
€75-100 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Katerina Xekalou’s now historic restaurant, operating since 1987 in the old town of Rethymno, is housed in a 17th-century Venetian mansion with a beautiful multi-level courtyard. Chef Vasilis Leonidou proposes a creative, fine-dining expression of Cretan cuisine, drawing inspiration from traditional local recipes, working with local ingredients and placing particular emphasis on pairing them with different types of extra virgin olive oil. Typical examples of his take on contemporary Cretan cuisine include some of his emblematic dishes: squid confit with chickpeas, lamb tripe, coriander and tomato; rooster with bulbs, shallot, orange and corn; and his excellent gastrin with biscuit, nuts, yoghurt ice cream, carob, dried fruits and grape molasses.
ELAIA RESTAURANT
CONTEMPORARY GREEK CUISINE
Kapsaliana Village Hotel, Kapsaliana, Arkadi
2831083400
www.kapsalianavillage.gr
€50–75 per person
Open from April to November, daily 13:00-22:00
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Elaia, the restaurant of the boutique hotel Kapsaliana Village, is housed in one of the restored buildings of a 16th-century stone-built settlement, once a dependency of Arkadi Monastery. It stands beside the monastery’s old olive press and is surrounded by countless olive groves that once belonged to the monks. Perfectly in tune with the spirit of the hotel, the menu designed by chef Sotiris Evangelou is based mainly on ingredients from the restaurant’s own vegetable garden. Inspired by a spirit of sustainability, it follows a farm-to-table philosophy and beautifully combines Cretan culinary tradition with contemporary techniques.
HASIKA
GASTROTAVERNA
Agias Varvaras 11-13, Megali Porta (Porta Guora), Rethymno
2831021014
www.hasika.gr/en/
€40-50 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Chef-owner Michalis Hasikos, now joined by his three children in the kitchen, pastry section and service, has created a contemporary Cretan gastrotaverna on one of the pedestrian streets of Rethymno’s old town, just a few steps from the Great Gate. As he himself describes it, this is “Greece in bites”. The menu places emphasis on meat and seafood, hence dishes such as squid gyros or octopus moussaka. Other plates, such as tender seafood soutzoukakia with baby onions, stifado sauce and carob bread, or Haniotourta Pasta, homemade pasta filled with lamb, xinomizithra, pichtogalo, malaka, graviera and mint, recall memories of the island’s culinary tradition while taking it many steps further, fully justifying the restaurant’s two stars.
ILIOMANOLIS
TRADITIONAL GREEK CUISINE
Kanevos, Municipality of Foinikas (on the road from Rethymno to Sfakia, shortly before Kotsifou Gorge)
28320 51053
€30-35 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Iliomanolis taverna is located in Kanevos, shortly before Kotsifou Gorge. Its culinary scenario recalls an old mageireio, where customers would look into the pots before ordering. Today, Chrysoula Iliaki has taken over the kitchen baton, continuing the purely Cretan cooking alongside her mother, Maria. The meats they cook come from their family herds and the vegetables from their gardens. The galomizithra is also of their own cheesemaking. It is worth trying goat in tomato sauce, hen with okra, dolmadakia and courgette blossoms, goat in tomato sauce with orzo, cuttlefish with fennel and mizithra kalitsounia.
CHANIA
ALIBERTOS FOOD & WINE
MODERN BISTRO
Venizelou 91, Kounoupidiana
695 8058 404
www.alibertos.gr
€50-75 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Alibertos, Giorgos Badogiannis’ restaurant, sets its tables in a beautiful courtyard embraced by trees, as well as in its chic dining room, decorated with works by Greek artists. With ingredients of exceptional quality, this charming bistro focuses on contemporary European cuisine, while the menu also includes cuts from internationally renowned farms. The flavours are full and balanced, with elegant, refined intensity. Alibertos’ cellar, meanwhile, counts more than a thousand labels from the Greek and international vineyard, many of them particularly rare.
ALMYVITA
CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL CUISINE
Akti Tombazi 19, Old Port of Chania
2 8210 45640
www.almyvita.gr/en/
€50-75 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
The view over the Cretan Sea and the historic harbour lighthouse is reason enough to visit this elegant all-day restaurant in the beautiful Venetian harbour. Very quickly, however, the menu makes its own impression, as Head Chef Sotiris Matsoukas takes care of every last detail of the menu he has designed together with consultant chef Ettore Botrini. References from the repertoire of Chania’s cuisine, such as kakavia or Sfakian pies, sit alongside more contemporary dishes, including cod brandade with soutzouki, wild greens and tomato confit, or sea bass with cauliflower purée and Amatriciana sauce.
BIOLEA Astrikas Estate
CONTEMPORARY GREEK CUISINE
Astrikas, Kolymvari, Chania
2824 023281 , 6951 000100
www.biolea.gr
€45-100 per person
Open from April to October, Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00
Restaurant with outdoor seating
BIOLEA’s chef, Michalis Papadakis, proposes a tasting menu, the Chef’s Pairing Menu, focused on pairing dishes with olive oil and based on seasonality and quality ingredients from local producers. Alternatively, guests can combine the meal with a guided tour, through the Walk with the Owner & Chef’s Pairing Menu. There is also the option of choosing simpler, traditional kafeneio-style food, with meze, homemade soft drinks, coffee and cocktails. Later in the day, a more gastronomic menu is served: the Chef’s Table Gastronomy Dinner.
CHRISOSTOMOS
TRADITIONAL GREEK CUISINE
Deukalionos and Ikarou, Eastern Moat, Chania
+30 28210 57035
www.chrisostomos.gr
€30-50 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
The restaurant is located near the harbour warehouses, just a few steps from the Grand Arsenal and Porta Sabbionara, the Gate of the Sand. In its traditional wood-fired oven, they bake their kneaded bread and meats daily. Owner Chrysostomos Orfanoudakis, together with Inga Karatsaousidi, serves traditional Cretan cuisine, using ingredients sourced mainly from Sfakia and making the most of them. They serve wild-greens kalitsounia, Sfakian pies with mizithra or pichtogalo, eggs with staka, as well as rabbit in wine, lamb with stamnagathi when in season, and a wonderful mutton baked in parchment.
MATZENTA KUZINA DEL SOL
FUSION & ETHNIC
Elyrou and Polyrrinias 2, Koumpes, Chania
697 2406469
http://www.matzentakuzinadelsol.gr
€30-50 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
At this distinctive taqueria, in a pleasant space of vivid colours and Latin American touches that recalls a Mexican hacienda, chef-owner Dimitris Malandrenis proposes a Cretan-Mexican fusion with influences from Oaxaca. In one corner of the courtyard there is even a barbacoa, an underground wood-fired oven built with old Cretan firebricks more than 100 years old. Every Friday and Saturday, free-range lamb or kid goat from the mountains of Crete is slow-cooked there over olive wood, sometimes wrapped in fresh Cretan banana leaves, which give the meat a very distinctive flavour. These dishes are served with carob tortillas, pickled vegetables, salsa macha and a handmade hot sauce. Even in the desserts, the flan de queso is made with mizithra, spicy honey, blueberries and cinnamon crumble.
NTOUNIAS
GASTROTAVERNA
Drakona, Keramion
τηλ. 2821065083, 6974 989 248
https://www.ntounias.gr
€25-50 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
At his mountain gastrotaverna in Drakona, Keramion, about 45 minutes from Chania, Stelios Trilirakis has, for almost twenty years, been applying practices that today fully align with the philosophy of farm-to-table and Slow Food, something to bear in mind if you are in a hurry to be served. His wife, Evmorfili, cooks on wood-burning stoves and in casseroles using only their own organic produce, grown from old seeds, and meat and eggs from their farm, where they raise chickens, turkeys, sheep, goats and gidomouskara, a small native cattle breed that had nearly disappeared. Stelios serves and tends the hearths, standing like small totems at the entrance to the restaurant, from which his perfect fried potatoes emerge. Depending on the season, try the aubergines or cauliflower with hondros (Cretan bulgur), the stuffed courgette blossoms with their own yoghurt and cherry plum sauce, the kid goat tsigariasto, gardoumpakia, snails and courgette pie.
PANORAMA
TRADITIONAL GREEK CUISINE
Askyfou, Sfakia
2825095492
Up to €25 per person
Open daily all year round, 08:00-22:00
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Panorama taverna fully lives up to its name, as its terrace offers a unique panoramic view over the Askifou plateau. Equally singular is the cooking of Mrs Eleni Lentari, which steals the show with dishes of moving precision and delicacy. Although she is renowned for her tsigariasto kid goat, her rooster in wine and her syzouma pasta with billy goat, she is just as captivating with her airy, finely made wild-greens kalitsounia, in whose filling each green stands out distinctly, or, in winter, with a simple plate of wild stamnagathi, boiled to perfection.
SALIS WINE-BISTRO
CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL CUISINE
Akti Enoseos 3, Chania
2821043700
www.salischania.com
€50-70 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
Salis is a very particular wine bistro. Its list, running to more than 100 pages and around 1,800 wines from all over the world, awarded by some of the most respected international wine bodies, places emphasis on the Greek, French, Italian and Spanish vineyards. It also gives guests the opportunity to try lesser-known wines, personal discoveries of the experienced sommelier, chef and owner Afshin Molavi: wines that are different, new and exciting. The well-informed dining-room team is ready to answer questions and help with food pairing. The seasonal menu, beyond platters of carefully selected cheeses and cured meats, is based on local products.
VATALOS
TRADITIONAL GREEK CUISINE
Vatalos Beach, Frangokastello, Sfakia
+30 2825 092263 and +30 697 434 8071
www.vatalos.gr
€25-35 per person
Open all year round
Restaurant with outdoor seating
The Geronymakis brothers’ taverna is located at the western, most sheltered end of the vast beach of Frangokastello. On its menu, you will find all the meat meze beloved by Cretans: apaki fried in wine, smoked sausages, meatballs and grilled meats. Its reputation, however, rests on its pots: goat in tomato sauce, goat with mizithra or Sfakiano goat yiahni, and stifado with lamb liver or rabbit.
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