Anama is a restaurant on the Gialova quay in Messenia, about 8km north of Pylos. It stands at the edge of the Gialova lagoon, the divari, which together with the island of Sfaktiria and the bays of Navarino and Voidokilia makes up a protected area of natural and cultural interest within the Natura 2000 network. The room is in the former winery of the Corinthian Raisin Cooperative, Gialova, and it takes its name from what was made there: anama, the sweet wine of communion.
It opened in July 2021. The chef is Chrysanthos Karamolegkos, who closed his run in the kitchens of Costa Navarino and chose to stay in the area and open a restaurant of his own. What held him was a region that still farms and produces, and a building with a memory. “Every time I cook, I am trying to combine traditional Greek recipes with flavours and ingredients from all over the world,” he says. Georgia Papaioannou is his partner in the business and Denisa Varcholova is the maitre. The kitchen took its first Golden Cap in 2022, scored high in a national field of 155 restaurants, and the 2026 edition of the same guide gives it 15/20 as contemporary Greek cuisine at Gialova, Messenia.
The conversion kept the plant. The old machinery stands where the cooperative left it, the metal frames are in plain view, and the sieves that once parted grapes from stems now hold the lights.
What the kitchen works with
Messenian greens, vegetables, herbs, meat and fish are the base of the card. Over them go spices, seasonings and techniques from the East and from Asia, and sour and hot notes carry through a meal. Karamolegkos hunts local Messenian varieties, works with growers and encourages producers to plant crops at risk of being lost. He also turns up recipes from the area that he thinks deserve to come back into use. He sets his menus by what the day’s catch and the gardens give, and the kitchen runs specials the printed card does not carry.
On the card
Among the main courses, the sea urchin ceviche risotto comes with kombu seaweed at 37 euros, and a slowly cooked lamb shank arrives with orzo in tomato water and aged graviera at 39 euros. Earlier in the meal the card leans on raw fish and the grill: sea bream ceviche with bottarga, grilled calamari in a tomato gazpacho, tempura sardines with sweet lemons. Lettuce rolls hold prawns, crayfish and fennel bulb in a saffron and dry martini sauce. A lemon tart under burnt meringue comes with turmeric, lemongrass, chilli and honey ice cream. A full meal with wine runs to 50 to 70 euros a head, counted as a starter, a main and a pudding with cover, water and half a bottle.
When the room is open
Service is dinner only, and Monday is closed. The published week runs Tuesday to Sunday from 6pm, to 10.30pm from Tuesday to Thursday and on Sunday, and to 11pm on Friday and Saturday. The season published in 2022 was a wider one: Daily evenings April to October; Friday to Sunday evenings in winter. Reservations go through the restaurant manager, by telephone or by email.
Who is this for
Anama suits a traveller who would rather spend a long evening in a chef’s own restaurant than in a hotel dining room, and who does not mind the short drive out of Pylos to find it. Tables spread along the pedestrian front at Gialova, so an early booking in summer buys the lagoon and the moored boats with the meal. It suits a large appetite for seafood and a tolerance for chilli and citrus, and it suits anyone who likes a room that shows its own history.
