5 Best Restaurants in Thissio, Athens

A stupendous, 15-course gastronomic journey based on the European, Middle Eastern, South American and Southeast Asian culinary endeavors of multi-awarded owner-chef Herve Ponzato awaits you. You'll arrive to a place that looks closed because all the windows are curtained. Entry is only accessible to dinner guests who punch in a code that's sent to their phone after booking. Inside, a slick chef's table with stools wraps around the action in the ultramodern kitchen, modern street-art inspired paintings hang on the wall and the lighting is low. The tasting menu is altered every season, with some standard classics always remaining, and is based on exotic (like foie gras and caviar) elements as well as local ingredients sourced from small producers around Greece. There are also tables around the bar and in a separate courtyard area that has an open roof during summer. One thing you can surely expect is to be delighted repeatedly, spending at least three hours on a memorable adventure in which every small gourmet dish is a beautiful surprise. The wine pairing (optional) offers some sublime tasting experiences.

With quality ingredients—everything from vibrantly colored flowers and aromatic herbs to olives and partridge meat—sourced from an organic farm in ancient Corinth and a full respect for zero-waste practices, this fine dining restaurant provides a rich gourmet experience with high conscience. In an elegant, peaceful setting over the Roman Agora, chef Petros Dimas creates exquisite dishes like mushroom cappuccino with a brioche for dipping, scallop with jamon Iberico, duck fillet with asparagus, and langoustine ravioli with truffle that are as incredible to taste as they are to look at. Staff is friendly and informative, and the polished space includes a rooftop dining area and a cellar with a glass floor through which you see ancient Athenian structures.

One of the best brunch spots in Athens, this cosmopolitan space has won international awards for its coffee roastery and baristas. A beautifully restored Neoclassical building with an airy atrium and a large outdoor yard is the perfect place on pretty pedestrian Iraklidon Street to start the day’s expeditions in the shadow of the Acropolis. The coffee is famously good, roasted daily at their factory in Gazi, and available to take home for home brewing, but the bar mixes a fine cocktail, too.  

For a fancy coffee (think espresso mixed with sambuca), sweet crepes, or an impromptu meal, stop at this restored Neoclassical-style mansion and watch the crowds on Apostolou Pavlou. The seating in the square in front of the restaurant bordering the ancient agora has one of the best views of the Acropolis in town.

Unpretentious and overall unremarkable, this restaurant is justifiably famous for its freshly grilled paidakia (lamb chops), to be eaten with unabashed gusto by hand. It's always busy and always a great escape from an increasingly modernized city, but avoid the hima wine, which almost certainly leads to a headache. Enjoy your lamb with thick-cut fried potatoes that might have come from your yiayia's kitchen and perhaps some tzatziki or fava bean spread. The meat taverna's popularity led to the opening of a second branch farther down the same road and an extension across the pedestrianized Eptahalkou Street into a garden area.