Dining at Vegera
Greece Travel Secrets eats at Vegera in Zaros and finds a cheap but
wonderful feast of meat, fish and vegetarian dishes cooked daily with fresh
local food.
The Vegera Restaurant in Zaros
We were staying in Zaros on Crete at the lovely Keramos
Studios, where they only serve breakfast, so we walked a minute round the
corner and found the Vegera Restaurant. It had been recommended to us by our
Cretan guide, Isi from Go Crete, who we knew by now could be relied on to find
the best eating places around.
Vegera is run by the vivacious Vee-Vee, who is part of the family that also runs the Keramos Studios. Not only is vee-Vee quite a character, we were soon to discover that she is also quite a cook.
Part of our Feast at Vegera
Dining at Vegera –
the Menus
Vee-Vee doesn’t have a regular menu, but three basic set-price menus and you choose one of these: Full Menu with Fish, Full Menu with Meat, or Full Vegetarian Menu.
When the restaurant opened in 2011 they decided they would only serve food cooked fresh that day. Zaros doesn’t get many visitors so it’s difficult to have a big menu and make everything fresh. They didn’t want to serve people yesterday’s moussaka but instead cook like you would cook at home.
We ordered some red and white wine and told Vee-Vee we would eat anything, so she offered us a mix of all menus. She then disappeared into the kitchen, where somehow she managed to conjure up a feast for each of the several tables that were full.
The Feast at Vegera
Lentil Soup
Stuffed Tomato, Stuffed Zucchini, and Moussaka
Vee-Vee Makes Great Pies Too!
Stuffed Cabbage and Stuffed Vine Leaves
We started with a dish of lentil soup, which smelled and
tasted fantastic. Then some cheese pies arrived, followed by spinach pies, a
plate of wild greens, some cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, some stuffed vine
leaves, a green salad, stuffed zucchini, stuffed tomatoes, stuffed peppers, several
mini moussakas, and finally a main
course which was a bigger dish of
beef, onion and rice.
Beef Stew
We thought that was it, but no. Finally came a whole trout,
which the town is noted for as there's a trout farm here. It’s one of only two
places on Crete where they farm trout. To round off the meal, Vee-Vee produced
a bottle of raki, and a piece of chocolate cake. When we came to pay I think
Vee-Vee simply made up a figure. As it was a remarkably small figure for such a
feast, we didn’t worry.
Local Trout
Dining at Vegera
Vee-Vee is very enterprising and also gives cookery courses,
organises cooking and wine-tasting holidays, and can arrange for people to eat
with the locals. Find out more on the website for the Vegera Restaurant
in Zaros.
And Finally (Really) Chocolate Cake!
Our Pick of the Crete Guides
Other Crete pages
The most famous Cretan writers and artists include the painter El Greco and the author of Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis.
Is someone from Crete a Greek or a Cretan? They are both, of course, but most will tell you that they are Cretan first and Greek second.
The best things to do on Crete and top things to see include the Samaria Gorge, the Minoan Palaces at Knossos and Phaistos, the towns of Chania and Rethymnon.
Greece Travel Secrets visits Visual Arts Crete who offer accommodation and run art courses at their home and studio in the village of Kastellos near Rethymnon.
Visiting Knossos near Iraklion is one of the best things to do on Crete, and this page has a history of the site with visitor information.
Greece Travel Secrets chooses ten of the best beaches on Crete including the beautiful beaches at Vai and Elafonisi.
This Amari Valley drive in southern Crete starts and ends in Ayia Galini, takes four to five hours and cover 100 kilometres or 62 miles.
Maleme near Chania is where the people who died during the battle of Crete are buried, in the German War Cemetery with the Commonwealth War Cemetery nearby.
Greece Travel Secrets visits the Zacharioudakis Winery near Ancient Gortina in southern Crete, and does a vineyard tour arranged by our guide from Go Crete.
Greece Travel Secrets recommends where to stay in western Crete, including both luxury and inexpensive hotels in Chania, Rethymnon, and Paleochora.
The Samaria Gorge is one the longest gorges in Europe and doing the hike is one of the best and most popular things to do on Crete.
Driving on Crete is the best way to see Greece’s biggest island and here is our driving advice and some information about Greek driving regulations.
Keramos Studios in Zaros on Crete is an inexpensive two-star hotel/guesthouse with one of the best breakfasts on the island using food from the family’s farm.
Matala Beach on Crete is a guest blog for Greece Travel Secrets from the We Love Crete website, inviting you to Awaken Your Inner Hippy in Matala, Crete.
Margarites is known on Crete for its pottery, with ceramics shops and workshops lining the streets of this charming small town not far from Rethymnon.
Agios Nikolaos is a pretty and popular town on the north coast of Crete and this page on Greece Travel Secrets covers its history, museums and beaches.
Crete festivals and events include Carnival Easter, Whitsun, Christmas, many other religious feast days and public holidays.
The Battle of Crete during World War 2 inspired several books and took place with an airborne invasion over Maleme on the north coast of the island.
Greece Travel Secrets recommends where to eat in Eastern Crete including restaurants and tavernas in Elounda, Agios Nikolaos, Sitia, and Kato Zakros.
Greece Travel Secrets visits the Cretan Botano herbs and spices shop near Matala in southern Crete in search of the herb man of Kouses.
The largest of the Greek islands, Crete has four ENUESCO sites, which are Sitia, Psiloritis, Asterousia, and the Gorge of Samaria.
Ancient Gournia is a Minoan archaeological site between Agios Nikolaos and Sitia in Eastern Crete where the visitor can see evidence of a maze of back streets.
Crete’s wildlife and landscape are two of the island’s attractions, including gorges for hiking, rare raptors like the lammergeier, wildcats and ancient trees.
The area east from Paleohora along the south-west coast of Crete includes resorts like Agia Galini, gorges like the Imbros Gorge and quieter towns like Sfakia.
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