Gastronomy

Fine dining, wine, and culinary heritage

The main dining room at Seeds: round oak tables with rolled white napkins and candles, conical pendant lamps, herringbone parquet, and the open kitchen at the far end beneath a mezzanine wine store.

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The cooks carry their own plates at Seeds

Dimos Samourakis spent years in other people’s kitchens before taking this corner in Ilisia, where the cooks leave the stove to set down their own plates and the menu is rebuilt every three months.

The courtyard of an eighteenth-century Catholic monastery at Fira lit at dusk, arcaded wings on both sides, a tiled fountain pool at the centre and dining tables set along the flagstones

GastronomySantorini

Selene, the table that taught Santorini to cook

Glazed rooftop terrace at SENSE under a dark slatted pergola, white-linen tables and woven chairs set along the window wall, the lit Parthenon and the Acropolis rock beyond the glass at dusk

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SENSE, the seventh-floor room where Greek dishes are taken apart and rebuilt

The cove of Agia Anna at dusk, the lit restaurant set under a rock overhang at the water's edge, with stepped terraces above it and rows of sunbeds along the beach beyond

GastronomyMykonos

At Agia Anna, Spilia keeps its shellfish alive in a pool among the tables

Lit restaurant deck seen from above at night, canvas canopies over tables of diners on a rock platform, underwater floodlights turning the sea beside it turquoise

GastronomyElounda

Sumosan, the Japanese table on the Elounda Peninsula waterfront

Round tables laid with white linen, wine glasses and candles under an old carob tree hung with two woven lanterns, with Mirabello bay and a headland behind at dusk.

GastronomyElounda

The millstone table in the gardens at Elounda Mare

A table laid for two on a stone-paved terrace under a colonnade, with clipped shrubs, cypresses and the hazy Argolic Gulf beyond.

GastronomyPorto Heli

The Restaurant at Amanzoe, Greek cooking above the Argolic Gulf

An open dining terrace of pale stone laid with raw-edged wood tables and black wire chairs, a low glass balustrade along its edge, the caldera and the sea stretching away under a bright low sun

GastronomySantorini

Throubi, the restaurant that grows its own Santorini tomatoes

The open-air dining terrace seen from above at sunset, white tables and chairs set on a pale deck beside a turquoise pool, with a rocky headland and the caldera water beyond

GastronomySantorini

The kitchen that sailed from Piraeus to Imerovigli

Long table laid with white plates and wine glasses under blue hydrangeas, a wall of racked wine bottles behind it, and a woman in black holding a clipboard

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Vezené, wood fire and whole-animal butchery on Vrasida Street

Teak tables laid under canvas sail awnings on a timber deck at the water's edge, with a motor yacht moored off a low stone jetty beyond.

GastronomyElounda

The Greek table on the cliff at Elounda Mare

The full length of a long infinity pool set above a dry rocky slope, timber-roofed dining pavilions along the far side, a bare cliff face and a white chapel rising behind

GastronomyMykonos

The summer house Zuma built above the Aegean

The main dining room at Aleria, with round and square tables under white and beige linen, a dark panel wall hung with an abstract canvas, and a rope-wrapped disc mounted beside the window

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Aleria, the Metaxourgeio mansion and its two tasting menus

A renovated neoclassical house on Megalou Alexandrou has held the same kitchen since 2012, where Gikas Xenakis cooks a modern Greek repertoire as two tasting menus, one of them wholly vegetarian.

Round tables dressed in white cloth with shaded cordless lamps, glassware and rolled napkins, seen past a hedge of dark green leaves in the garden at dusk

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Botrini’s Athens: a former schoolhouse in Chalandri, and a kitchen in its second generation

The restaurant came out of a television programme in 2011, with a brigade of 12 people who had never worked in a kitchen. Ilias Ntoukas joined as Executive Research and Development Chef in 2025.

A courtyard garden at dusk, a tree spreading over a round green-marble table laid for two, wrought-iron chairs on grey paving, white walls with a curved staircase and lit wall lamps, and a red wall behind.

GastronomyAthens

CTC in Athens serves one menu, and keeps it from the guest

Round tables with blue velvet armchairs stand on a crazy-paved stone floor beneath mirrored planters holding trees, behind a double-height glass wall looking out over a lit marina at dusk.

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Twelve stages on the fifth floor

Laid tables in white linen under a timber lattice ceiling, marble columns opening to the Acropolis rock and the Parthenon across the city, a lit bar at the right.

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GB Roof Garden cooks on the eighth floor of the Hotel Grande Bretagne

A long counter wraps the open kitchen, set with pads and glasses, bar stools along it, a bonsai at the far end and shelves of pans behind

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Herve: one menu of 14 courses, and a door that opens on a code

A marble table laid for two on the Makris terrace in Thisio, with the rock of the Acropolis and the Parthenon rising above the neighbouring rooftops in late afternoon light.

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Makris cooks above the Athenian agora

The two-floor neoclassical facade of Soil on Ferekidou Street, painted pale yellow with white pilasters, green shutters standing open and an iron balcony above the door.

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Soil, where the menu begins in the chef’s garden

The courtyard at dusk, square and round tables under white cloths and copper lamps, lemon trees against a pink rendered wall and an open door into a lit room.

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Spondi enters its 30th year in Pangrati

A rooftop restaurant terrace at dusk, tables laid with white linen and small shaded lamps, the lit Acropolis rising above the city rooftops beyond

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Above the cathedral, a kitchen with its own farm

The open terrace at Tudor Hall, tables laid in white linen under a retractable canopy, with the Parthenon on the Acropolis rock to the left and the sun setting over the hills beyond.

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Tudor Hall cooks seven floors above Syntagma Square

Covered terrace at Varoulko Seaside, tables laid in white linen with woven armchairs under a retractable awning, an olive tree at the edge, and yacht masts, the gulf and distant hills beyond

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Varoulko Seaside, the kitchen Lefteris Lazarou built on land