9 Tasty Stops in the Cyclades for Authentic Flavors

Kalamitsi, Kimolos

A tomato and cucumber salad with oregano, a Greek salad with samphire and olives, fava dip with uncooked onion, recent greens, boiled octopus, fried calamari and tiny shrimp, golden fried potatoes, okra, fried zucchini, and tables on the sand by the swaying tamarisk. This fish taverna is an homage to timeless simplicity. The homeowners catch their very own fish, normally small fry, and serve regionally sourced greens and cheeses. Right here, the zero-km ethos reigned supreme even earlier than the time period was invented. The service is pleasant and so are the costs.

O Tsitsanis, Paros

Tsitsanis, one of Paros’ oldest tavernas, has been in steady operation since 1969 and is now run by the Roussos household’s third era. Primarily based on one of the crucial widespread islands, they insist on providing easy, filling, and scrumptious cooking. Their legacy, moreover the restaurant, additionally included the farm and orchards as soon as owned by their grandfather in Lefkes and Molos. Besides throughout the peak vacationer season in July and August, the Roussos household declare they’re virtually completely self-sufficient. They make their very own cheeses and lift their very own chickens, which they serve stewed or grilled, whereas in the summertime they produce lengthy inexperienced beans and delightful ripe tomatoes. In addition they bake small portions of native chickpeas of their wooden oven. 

Rizes, Mykonos

Rizes is housed in a self-contained conventional property, which incorporates a number of outbuildings: dovecotes, a wood-fired oven, a chapel, a steady, a creamery, and a nicely. It’s positioned within the coronary heart of the island, serving as a reminder to the older generations and a lesson to the youthful ones of the genuine Mykonos of previous. Within the wooden oven, they bake migadi bread and onion pie utilizing their very own tyrovolia cheese, they fry eggs in lard, which is understood regionally as lera, and make mostra, barley rusks topped with native kopanisti cheese. They serve pork meatballs constructed from coarsely minced pork and zucchini leaves full of native cheeses, in addition to roast lamb, mutton, and suckling pig, all served at small tables within the courtyard with a view of the farm and backyard.

Mikro Karavi, Tinos

This Tinos restaurant serves up classes in hospitality, delectable greens roasted in oil, expertly made risottos, caramelized giouvetsi bakes, substantial stewed meat dishes, and innovation blended with frequent sense and humility. They solely use regionally sourced items, a majority of that are grown within the Tinos Eco Lodge’s natural gardens, and the wines within the cellar are additionally from the Cyclades. Dishes impressed by native substances, comparable to Tinos melon soup, native beans with oven baked tomatoes and pickled wild barberries, and cod with baked chickpeas, are served in a surprising inner courtyard.

Prekas Native Merchandise, Syros

Kostas Prekas, the proprietor of this retailer, is a residing connoisseur encyclopaedia of Syros, an inquisitive man who by no means stops discovering, reviving, and innovating. His grocery has been working since 1993 within the central market of Ermoupoli, on the positioning of a standard grocery that had been there since earlier than WWII, specialising in imported foodstuffs. Round 80% of the merchandise on the cabinets as we speak are produced within the Cyclades, whereas the proprietor has written a ebook of recipes from Syros and makes some merchandise himself, together with pastellaria (dried figs with juniper, cinnamon and sesame) and wild fennel paté. He additionally works with native producers to develop capers, samphire, herbs, tomatoes, and sesame, in addition to to make cheeses, “guaranteeing absolutely the high quality of substances and supporting native farming,” as he says.

Axiotissa, Naxos

Superbly introduced native recipes with out fussy strategies, utilizing native substances and served with Cycladic wines. Axiotissa is well worth the journey for anybody visiting Naxos. The taverna run by Yiannis Vassilas and Sophia Papadopoulou grew to become recognized by means of phrase of mouth. They’re recognized for his or her ardour for high quality native substances and the enjoyment they put into producing most of the merchandise they use within the kitchen, together with oil from particular olive varieties (throumboelies, askoudes, and koroneikes), and wine from native varietals comparable to Fokiano, Potamisi, Aïdani, Karabraïmi, and Monemvasia. In addition they serve specialties like fried inexperienced tomatoes, purslane salad, cockerell with okra, and pork baked with pink sauce and pasta, often called rosto.

Kafeneio Parva and Café-Bar-Restaurant Naftilia Nikou Preka, Amorgos 

The famed crispy meatballs saved at Parva, one of many city’s oldest kafeneia, which has been open since 1966, are accompanied by anecdotes informed by the older residents of Hora, Amorgos’ capital, who spend their time there. That is the place the island’s first phone was put in, the place the fishmonger and greengrocer bought their wares, and the place summer time guests had been welcomed. The golden fried potatoes topped with runny eggs, savoro (marinated fried fish), and freshly cooked steaming fava dip are ready in a small kitchen and served on an equally small terrace with just a few tables, using native produce and cautious, home-style cooking.

Guests are greeted in a similar method on the island’s different historic café, Naftilia Nikou Preka, which has been working since 1950. This sensible time capsule, a café-bar-restaurant that concurrently features as a ticket agent, is adorned with vibrant, weathered mosaics which have modified little over time “This kafeneio has recognized nice instances,” the homeowners reminisce. They speak about their a part of the world whereas serving pan-fried octopus with vinegar, herring salad, native xinomizithra and Amorgian kopanisti cheeses, in addition to honey-aged cheese, kavourmas (a sort of seasoned preserved meat) with oregano and lashings of native sweetened raki, often called psimmeni.

Araklia, Iraklia

After numerous culinary adventures, chef Yiannis Gavalas returned to his dwelling island, based a restaurant in his ancestral dwelling, remodeling his a part of the world right into a gastronomic vacation spot. Along with the menu, he leaves an inventory of his suppliers on the desk. Yiannis is pleased with his companions and promotes them at each alternative, as a result of he feels that their high quality substances, from Syros, Tinos, Naxos, Iraklia and different islands, elevate his recipes. Yiannis himself forages for substances that he makes use of with care and like to make recipes comparable to pickled barberries and cheese donuts utilizing native cheeses, child full of rice, liver and fennel, a typical Iraklia Easter dish.