Ex Machina stands at Empedokleous 34, Pangrati, Athens 116 36, and the cooking there begins with Greek produce and carries it towards Asia and the Middle East. Dishes are cooked and served to order, and the table is meant to share them. The open kitchen is the centre of the room, the surfaces around it are industrial, and Adam Kontovas works in sight of the tables.
Much of the spice cupboard is bought at the Khan el-Khalili market in Cairo. The Iberico pork is from the Kermes farm at Ancient Olympia, the cockerels and eggs from the Izampo farm in Messinia, and the olive oil is harvested in the village of Gargalianoi. Dayboat seafood arrives at the door every morning. The carte carries the house manifesto, which commits the kitchen to small, responsible producers and a sustainable, multicultural approach to gastronomy.
The dish the room has become known by is an omelette built on blue crab from Katerini in an Asian bisque, at 21 euro, with caviar an optional 20 euro for 5 grams. The focaccia is matured for 48 hours and comes with the house umami butter and Messinian olive oil. From the grill there is black beef from Naxos, aged for 40 days, with peppercorn sauce, roasted bone marrow and Egyptian rice, sold by weight at 85 or 105 euro. The No Man’s pasta is whole wheat tagliolini in a smoked rockfish bouillabaisse. An earlier pasta here was a zero-waste dish, thick macaroni made for the restaurant and cooked in a broth of kumquat, bones and leftover fish.
The menu reads as the chef’s own biography: an Egyptian father and a Greek mother, cookery training in Athens, work in Ireland and the influence of Asian cooking. Kontovas pays homage to that dual heritage with Levantine flavours and Greek produce. His partners in the house are Karim Nabil, Ahmed Ganzouri and Marylise Michael. Konstantina Korda is the sommelier and runs the floor, and the wine list draws on Greek growers and on the international vineyard.
The room serves Monday to Saturday, 18:30 to 01:00, and closes on Sunday. Dinner comes to 50 to 60 euro before drinks. Late October 2023 brought the first service in Pangrati. Every gratuity goes to the Ex Machina team alone.
The Cloud Room
Private dining here is The Cloud Room, up to 12 people, on the first floor directly above the restaurant. By day it is the chef’s working room, so guests eat among small-batch ferments, preserves and other experiments, with his favourite books and the keepsakes of his travels on the shelves around them. For a larger party the main salon takes 20 guests. Up to 60 guests can have the whole restaurant on a buyout. Parking is settled at the door if you want it to be: an optional valet at 6 euro a car, parked nearby by the restaurant’s own staff.
The September 2026 menu
Three years after its first service, Ex Machina opened its next chapter in September 2026 with a revised menu the house calls Ex Machina 2.0. The premise holds: Greek produce, technique and influences from Asia, the Mediterranean and other cooking of the world. Among the newer plates are beef tartare with avocado, bottarga, Thai vinaigrette and a sourdough waffle; fried fish stuffed with wild greens, under green curry mayonnaise and fresh herbs; and guinea fowl marinated in coconut milk, with roasted apples and radicchio. Since September 2026 a Greek cheese and a Greek cold meat, each from a different producer and a different part of Greece, have joined the menu every month, to eat on their own or with a glass of wine. The blue crab omelette stays on the table.
Who is this for
This is a table for people who like to order widely and pass the plates along: raw fish of the day with cashews and the fruits of the season, cauliflower with espresso sauce and savoury granola, an eggplant tartlet with Egyptian pastry and aged gruyère, scallops with beetroot and the house bacon, then the whole fish of the day off the grill. Come for a long dinner, or for a bottle and one very good plate. The music is the restaurant’s own, and the room fills with Athenians and travellers alike.
