Food
Lunch and dinner are eaten late in the day in Greece. Order some bread and tzatziki (yoghurt, cucumber and garlic dip) to get you started but then try dolmades (stuffed vine leaves) or kololythakia (deep-fried zucchini). If you’re not too hungry try a Greek salad. A tasty, cheap traditional way to have lunch is to drop by a gyros stand. Like a kebab shop, the meat is cooked on large skewers and scraped off when done. The meat is then served in pitta bread with salad and perhaps a side of chips/fries.
Seafood is the culinary highlight of the Greek islands. Often it comes in the form of ‘mezedes’, traditional appetisers, hot and cold, which can make a delicious and inexpensive meal when treated as a smörgåsbord. Look out for these tasty local dishes…
Sardeles pastes Fresh sardines, salty and swamped in olive oil and served with chunks of lemon. Good for anchovy fans.
Octopodi Grilled octopus is reputedly the best mezze twinned with aniseed-flavoured ouzo. Succulent and tender, some tavernas pre-boil then grill it, and serve it with oil, lemon and herbs such as oregano.
Saganaki These bite-sized delights take their name from the small frying pan they are cooked in, the sagani. The most common ones are made from sharp, kasseri cheese, deep-fried and seasoned with lemon. Others consist of little casseroles of mussels, shrimps and prawns.
Bourekakia Small filo pastry envelopes stuffed with feta cheese, and sometimes nuts and spinach.
Loukaniko Grilled spicy sausage
A common main dish is mousaka (eggplant layered with mince, zucchini and potato).
Don’t leave without annoying your dentist with a stickly stab of baclava — layers of pastry filled with nuts and honey.Drink
Order a one litre jug of the house wine to accompany your meal. It’s cheap but only occassionally nasty and after two glasses you won’t notice anyway.
Drink
Order a one litre jug of the house wine to accompany your meal. It’s cheap but only occassionally nasty and after two glasses you won’t notice anyway.
Greece’s favourite alcoholic drink is ouzo – made from pressed grape skins, herbs and berries. It’s ideally drunk straight and sipped slowly with friends over plates of mezze.
Water
The tap water is usually fine to drink but check first. Bottled water is readily available.