Diporto

Diporto Review

It's the savvy local's treasured secret. Through the years, everyone in Omonia has come here for lunch—butchers from the Central Market, suit-clad businessmen and lawyers, artists, migrants, and even bejeweled ladies who lunch (and they're often sitting at the same tables when it gets crowded). Owner-chef Barba Mitsos keeps everyone happy with his handful of simple, delicious, and dirt-cheap homemade dishes. There's always an exceptional horiatiki (Greek salad), sometimes studded with fiery-hot green pepperoncini; other favorites are his buttery gigantes (large, buttery white beans cooked in tomato sauce), vrasto (boiled goat, pork, or beef with vegetables), and fried finger-size fish. Wine is drawn directly from the barrels lining the walls. As for decor, the feeling is authentic '50s Athens. There is no sign on the door: just walk down the staircase of this corner neoclassical building.