The Saronic Gulf Islands Restaurants
We’ve compiled the best of the best in The Saronic Gulf Islands - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in The Saronic Gulf Islands - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
Set right on Mikro Kamini, a leisurely 15-minute walk from the port (or 5 minutes by mule or couple of minutes by water taxi), this fully renovated 18th-century fortress is a popular bar-restaurant offering some of the most fortifying dining on the island. Castello is the only place where you can find sushi, or if you are craving a snack, try the catch of the day served with wild greens and saffron. Its multilevel café serves breakfast, coffee, drinks, and snacks and is the ideal spot for enjoying Hydra sunsets over the best apple martini on the island. Renting a sun bed for the day on the beach right in front of Castello will set you back €5.
The charming young trio of owners—Yiannis, Kostas, and Alexandros—have imbued this beach taverna just 100 feet from Vlichos Beach with energy and attentive service. The traditional taverna fare includes favorite Greek dishes like ntakos, prawn linguine, and lively salads, which all go perfectly with a glass of house wine or a cold beer. The all-white surroundings (with cool-blue undertones) contrast gloriously with the injection of color from the surrounding pink bougainvillea. At the back of the taverna, you will find the headquarters of the Hydra Diving Center.
Spetses's best restaurant has been morphing and evolving since it first opened 25 years ago, and the owner, Giorgos—a local who grew up on the island working in his father's taverna—still loves what he does and it shows! Everyone from fishermen to Hollywood headliners know him by his first name, and a meal here is not to be missed, not only for the innovative upscale Mediterranean dishes and thoughtful wine list, but also for the dreamy seafront setting and candlelit tables on a little pier jutting into the bay.
This spot where Aristotle Onassis and Maria Callas once danced is a vision in minimalist island stone and white. The restaurant/bar is set in the high-ceilinged Hydra Nautical Club and the deck outside, which affords an exquisite sea view. Gourmet sefood dishes, and lively salads are the light standards that will help ensure you keep the energy levels up if you choose to stay on and dance the night away as the night time revelry kicks in and cocktails start flowing
The go-to taverna for the islanders, Tholos is nestled in the pine forest spilling down from the temple of Afaia on the road down to Ayia Marina. The wonderful views through the trees down to the sea are complemented by the flavorsome rustic dishes served at this establishment. Meat grilled to your taste is the staple here. The veal in a rich herby tomato sauce with macaroni is another favorite, and most of the vegetables are either home grown or locally sourced.
Don't leave Hydra without some traditional almond macaroons in your suitcase. The Tsagkaris family, led by octogenarian matriarch Anna Tsagkari, have been lovingly making them in their workshop for more than 70 years.
Delightful patisserie-cum-coffee shop in Dapia serving fresh cakes, chocolates, and the quintesentially Greek island almond macaroons.
Ask a local to name the best restaurant in Aegina, and the response is invariably Vatzoulias. In summer the garden is a pleasant oasis, scented with jasmine and honeysuckle; in winter, nestle inside the cozy dining room to dine on expertly prepared taverna classics. Eggplant in garlic sauce or zucchini croquettes are can't-go-wrong starters. Continue with a dish such as veal in red sauce; thick, juicy grilled pork chops; or moussaka, oven-baked eggplant and potatoes with ground meat enlivened with cinnamon and a wonderfully fluffy béchamel. In winter try the hare stew. A 10-minute walk from Aegina Town center gets you to this rustic taverna where only dinner is served, and only on four evenings a week, usually Wednesday and weekends.
Enjoy a meal at this down-to-earth—well, almost in the sea—Greek taverna. As the beach location would suggest, seafood dominates the simple menu, and it is prepared to perfection by the chef. After settling and ordering a cool refreshment and a couple of meze, head to the kitchen to handpick your fish (as with any fish taverna in Greece, make sure you get a price per kilo for each type to avoid any surprises). The only music here is the rhythmical waves bursting over chiming pebbles.
Seafood is the word at this famed taverna run by Antonis and his sons, and the octopus grilled in front of the establishment lures bathers and other visitors who tuck into options ranging from teeny fried smelt to enormous lobsters. People-watching is as much of a draw as the food, since the tables afford a view of all the comings and goings of the harbor's small boats as well as some sleek yachts. Other than splurging on the bouillabaisse here (expect to pay around €50 euros per kilo for sole, mullet, grouper—you name it), most dishes here, such as the veal and onions or briam ("vegetables in the oven") rarely exceed €12.
This harbor-front establishment has something for everyone. Service starts in the morning with coffee, juices, and breakfast, then on to brunch, lunch, and snacks, extending into the evening and night time with easy dining, drinks, and cocktails. Tea lovers rejoice! Isalos has you covered with a range of high quality and properly prepared Oriental and European beverages.
No Greek experience is complete without a quick gyro pita on the hoof. And if that's what you're after pop into Kai Kremmidi for the best of that ilk on Hydra. Also try the tasty lahmacun, an Arabic-style mini pizza with spiced mince meat and a dash of lemon. It's located a couple of blocks up from the harbor.
This seafront taverna, the oldest and most established one in Ayia Marina, has been here since 1950, when Kyriakos Haldaios brought out a gas stove and started frying fish and fries under the pine trees for local sunbathers. Today, it is owned by his grandson, also named Kyriakos, and offers traditional Greek specialties like moussaka, the famous dish of layered eggplant and ground meat, and plenty of fresh fish, especially gilthead and sea bass. In the summer these are served in the spacious veranda overlooking the crystal-blue waters.
Kodylenia's Taverna looks like a whitewashed fisherman's cottage on a promontory overlooking the little harbor of Kamini, with a veranda terrace charmingly set with folkloric pennants and communal tables—it's the perfect perch to catch some sublime sunsets. It is also an irresistibly alluring (if a little pricey) place that has enraptured town folk and off-duty billionaires alike. When there, peek into the kitchen below the terrace to see what's cooking: a whole fish may be chargrilling and, when available, order kritamos (rock samphire), the urchin salad, or share an order of fresh-caught grilled squid in tomato sauce.
This familly-run taverna, passed from father to son, is set in a typical Hydriot walled garden, down one of the anonymous winding alleyways in town. Adding to the allure, Andreas, who runs the show, has a double life as a fisherman, and the cook expertly serves up his catch of the day. Apart from the supremely fesh fish you can enjoy a plethora of mezedes like the fava dolmades and kolokithokeftedes (fried courgette balls). Take note the house wines go down very easily.
This highly regarded restaurant and music "boit" is right on the water in Dapia and is the all-time classic bar and nightclub of Spetses (running since 1975). The food in the restaurant is pretty decent, too, and it's probably one of the better choices on the island. Lounge in the veranda's comfy armchairs surrounded by maritime antiques and savor the predominantly Mediterranean cuisine and cool cocktails, accompanied by piano music and a romantic view of the yachts moored in the quaint old port.
Since 1945 O Skotadis has been serving a large selection of mezedes for starters and mostly fresh fish mains (a good option is the fried katsoula fish, cleaver wrasse), usually to be accompanied by ouzo, the classic Greek anise drink. See if you can snag a table (reservations are best) on the second-floor terrace with its panoramic view of Aegina's harbor. Don't forget to try the large fresh salad with caper leaves.
Sit on the waterside veranda and savor seafood mezedes and fresh fish right from the sea in one of the more affordable restaurants on this sometimes overpriced (for Greece) island. As the very friendly waiters will tell you, the house specialties are the fish soup, astakomakaronada (lobster with spaghetti), and a kind of paella with mussels, shrimp, and crayfish. Magirefta (oven-baked dishes) include stuffed aubergines; oven-baked lamb; and roast scarpine fish with tomato and garlic. Expect to pay around €50 per kilo for the fresh grilled fish (compared to €60 in other fish tavernas). The chef makes a mean baked apple for dessert, but before you order, know that mini portions of baklava, karydopita, and spoon sweets with yogurt are on the house.
One of the oldest tavernas on the busy harbor strip of Aegina Town, Pelaisos is now in the capable hands of Vagelis, the third generation. His father still cooks in the morning, preparing such homey dishes of the day as stuffed zucchini, usually locally sourced, but fresh fish is the mainstay of this old-school establishment, from affordable grilled sardines to the more expensive sea bass or mullet priced by the kilo. Another thing to try (also by the kilo) is the very drinkable retsina wine that has long been enjoyed, along with the food, by the island's renowned artistic community.
The half-Greek, half-Danish host of this taverna in Kamini, the second-largest village in Hydra, likes to cook for and entertain all his visitors himself. Being the life of the party that he is, by the time you leave after a heartening dinner, you will feel as if you've made a new friend. Theo cooks Greek and international dishes with a twist, as evidenced by the chicken souvlaki marinated in lemon and sage, and the pork fillet with Roquefort cheese sauce.
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