Feyrouz
This street corner is where I eat most often in Athens, perched on a stool dribbling baba ganoush down my chin. There’s always a queue for this Levantine street food spot, which is delicious and phenomenally good value. The Bosphorus rice with curried chicken, chickpeas, spicy pepper relish, and a dollop of yoghurt sells out almost as soon as it emerges from the kitchen at 2pm. Plentiful meat-free options include a beetroot soup with apple, carrot, ginger and orange, and a wholegrain lahmacun loaded with eggplant, lentils, chickpea and cumin. Named after the cheery matriarch who runs the kitchen, Feyrouz is a heartfelt tapestry of the Kiltsiksis family’s recipes and memories from Antakya, Istanbul, and Athens. They treat every customer as a traveller needing sustenance and kindness. There’s nothing more comforting than a steaming glass of cardamom coffee and a kunefe made with Cretan mizithra cheese and heather honey at their sweet shop across the street.
Address: Karori 23 & Agathonos 1, Athina 105 5
Website: feyrouz.gr
Ta Kanaria
Like all the best fish tavernas in Athens, Kanaria has no sea view. Located on a nondescript suburban street, the setting is straight out of the 1950s, when the Argyropoulos family set up shop: terrazzo floors, shiny oil paint on the walls, white paper tablecloths, and plain wooden chairs. There’s no menu because the basic kitchen only produces a handful of dishes: pan-fried prawns, grilled red mullet, snapper, bream or sole, served by the kilo and accompanied by a ripe tomato salad garnished with a bit of grated tomato and onion, with feta and olives on the side, and warm bread for mopping up the peppery olive oil. The vine-shaded garden feels a million miles from the hustle of downtown Athens. Service is slow, and prices are steep, but this is a place to savour. Beware: Ta Kanaria closes for July and August when its star ingredient, fresh prawns, are not in season.
Address: Kanari 119, Moschato 183 44, Greece
Website: takanaria.gr
Phita
This gastro-taverna sparked the revival of Neos Kosmos, a downtown neighbourhood with plenty of grit. Beside the tramline and surrounded by rundown housing projects, the corner site is spare but inviting, with high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows. The focus is on the open kitchen, which turns out a market-led menu that slants towards seafood. The seasonal specials change daily, which is why so many Athenians from far and wide have become regulars. Recent visits were rewarded with round potato chips for dunking in silken taramasalata, stuffed vine leaves topped with fish tartare, butterflied sardines on baked elephant beans, a mound of crunchy, lemony horta (greens). Go for a late lunch on Saturday after hitting the fantastic farmer’s market up the road, where the chefs, who are incredibly finicky about provenance, source many of their ingredients.
Address: Phita, Ntourm 1, Athina 117 45, Greece
Website: instagram.com
Akra
Yannis Loukakis is considered a guru by a young generation of Greek chefs who picked up their passion for seasonality at his two Thessaloniki bistros, Mourga and Syntrofi. Pastry chef Spyros Pediaditakis honed his technique at Michelin-starred Spondi and his cult patisserie, Ourse. Their first joint venture, Akra in the hip Athenian suburb Pangrati, is a modest space that suits the minimalist but flavour-dense dishes: the menu changes daily but expect a tangle of marinated vine shoots, whole roast courgettes stuffed with fish cheeks, and silky fish soup. Almost everything is smoked, grilled, or roasted over an open fire, which is the focal point of the intimate dining room. Cooks and servers work around the rapt diners with methodical, almost meditative precision. Mains can be hit and miss, but the desserts are phenomenal. Simmered strawberries are poured from the pan over milk ice cream, cherries and lilac flowers are swirled through goat’s yoghurt, and caramelised brioche comes with hazelnut praline and stale bread crumble. You can take away a selection of pastries and sourdough bread from the streetside counter.
Address: Akra, Amynta 12, Pangrati 11635
Website: instagram.com
