Ten Best Dishes in Greece
Greece Travel Secrets lists the ten best dishes to try in Greece, especially if it’s your first visit, and also discover the best places to find them.
Greece is a culinary paradise, offering a rich tapestry of flavors rooted in its history, geography, and culture. If you’re visiting Greece for the first time, here are ten must-try dishes, along with the best places to try them.
Ten Best Dishes in Greece
Moussaka
1. Moussaka
This iconic Greek dish layers eggplant, minced meat (often lamb), and
béchamel sauce, baked to perfection. It’s a hearty comfort food
that embodies Greek cuisine. We've even devoted a full page to moussaka, with its history and a recipe.
Best Place to Try: Head to Ariston in Athens, a historic bakery and
restaurant known for its traditional moussaka and other Greek
classics. It's at Voulis 10.
2. Souvlaki
Souvlaki consists of skewered and grilled meat (usually pork or
chicken) served with pita bread, tomatoes, onions, and tzatziki. It’s
Greece’s answer to fast food, but far more flavorful. Many people have voted this the best souvlaki in Athens. The address is Filellinon 7.
Best Place to Try: Visit Kostas in Athens, a legendary spot that has
been serving souvlaki since 1950.
3. Spanakopita (Spinach Pie)
This savory pastry is made with layers of phyllo dough filled with
spinach, feta cheese, and herbs. It’s a popular snack or light
meal and is definitely one of the best dishes in Greece. We eat it all the time!
Best Place to Try: Try it in Thessaloniki, the culinary capital of
northern Greece, where bakeries like Terkenlis are famous for their
spanakopita.
A plate of dolmades
4. Dolmades (Stuffed Grape Leaves)
Dolmades are grape leaves stuffed with rice, herbs, and sometimes
minced meat. They’re often served as an appetizer or meze. If made fresh they're delicious but some places serve tinned versions. You can tell the difference.
Best Place to Try: Sample them in Pelion, a region known for its
fresh, locally sourced ingredients and traditional recipes.
5. Gyros
Similar to souvlaki but made with rotisserie meat, gyros are served
in pita wraps with tomatoes, onions, fries, and tzatziki. They’re a
street food staple.
Best Place to Try: Enjoy gyros at O Thanasis in Athens, a popular
restaurant famous for its juicy, flavorful gyros. You'll find it at Mitropoleos 69.
6. Pastitsio
Often called Greek lasagna, pastitsio features pasta, minced meat,
and béchamel sauce. It’s a comforting, oven-baked dish.
Best Place to Try: Try it anywhere on Corfu, but the best we've had was at Taverna Ninos at Sevastianou 44 in Corfu Town.
Mmmmm... tzatziki!
7. Tzatziki
This creamy dip made from yogurt, cucumber, garlic, and olive oil is
a refreshing accompaniment to many Greek dishes. We've devoted a page to tzatziki, with its interesting history and a recipe to make your own
Best Place to Try: Enjoy it in Crete, where the yogurt is
exceptionally rich and creamy. Many tavernas in Chania serve homemade
tzatziki.
Octopus drying on Mykonos
8. Seafood (Grilled Octopus and Calamari)
OK, so we cheated as this could be any of several dishes, but in
Greece all seafood is a highlight. Grilled octopus and calamari are
particularly popular, often served with lemon and olive oil.
Best Place to Try: Head to the island of Santorini or Mykonos, where
seaside tavernas like Dimitris Ammoudi Taverna in Santorini serve
fresh, expertly prepared seafood.
A tray of baklava
9. Baklava
Hard to pick out just one Greek dessert, but it has to be the
ubiquitous baklava. This sweet dessert is made with layers of phyllo
dough, nuts, and honey syrup. It’s a decadent treat with Middle
Eastern influences.
Best Place to Try: Sample baklava in Thessaloniki, where places like Trigona Elenidi (Dimitriou Gounari 13) make fantastic desserts, including the best baklava.
10. Gemista (Stuffed Vegetables)
Gemista are tomatoes, peppers, or other vegetables stuffed with rice,
herbs, and sometimes minced meat. They’re a staple of Greek home
cooking. Our favourite is stuffed peppers, which we often have at
home but stuffed with feta cheese rather than rice.
Best Place to Try: Try them in Meteora, where local tavernas use
fresh, organic produce from the surrounding farms.
Our Pick of the Guides to Greece
Ten Best Dishes in Greece
Greek cuisine is as diverse as its landscapes, with each region
offering unique flavors and specialties. Whether you’re exploring
the bustling streets of Athens, the idyllic islands, or the serene
countryside, these ten dishes will give you a true taste of Greece.
Pair them with a glass of ouzo or local wine, and you’re in for a
treat!
Other Food and Drink Pages
Greek alcoholic drinks include distinctly Greek drinks such as ouzo, Metaxa, retsina, raki, tsikoudia and tsipouro, but also Greek wines and Greek beers.
Studies have shown the Cretan Diet as one of the healthiest in the world, involving lots of fresh fruit, vegetables, fresh fish, and moderate amounts of wine.
Greece Travel Secrets visits Crete and learns about making rakomelo from Jorgos Kourmoulis in Agouseliana.
What is a Greek Salad – a Greek Salad is made up of tomatoes, cucumber, onions, green pepper, olives, and feta cheese.
What is Metaxa? Metaxa is an amber Greek spirit combining brandy made by distilling wine, sweet wine from Samos and a secret recipe of Mediterranean botanicals.
Athens Food Tours are being introduced by new company The Greek Fork, and will include tours of the Central Market, and the best street food.
Raki is an alcoholic drink made with distilled grapes and anise, and popular in Greece and other Mediterranean countries, including Greece’s neighbour Turkey.
For a Crete olive oil tour Greece Travel Secrets visits Biolea, one of the few olive oil factories on Crete that you can visit.
Two of the best cocktail bars in Athens, MoMix Kerameikos and The Clumsies, are making creative cocktails using that most Greek of Greek spirits, Metaxa.
Antonis Maroudas is a Zakynthos winemaker who lives on the 'wine road' and is one of the people who make Zakynthos.
Greek feta cheese is the most popular cheese in Greece, usually made from sheep’s milk, with a soft texture and salty taste and used to top off a Greek salad.
Greece Travel Secrets tells the history of the classic Greek dish tzatziki, with a recipe for making your own yogurt and cucumber dip.
Greece Travel Secrets explains the long history of the Greek dish of dolmades, or stuffed vine leaves, which goes back to ancient Greece, and provides a recipe.
The Goules Taverna in Goulediana, south of Rethymnon, has been called one of the best tavernas on Crete and Greece Travel Secrets recently visited them.
Athens culinary tours are among the food walking tours offered by an unusual company, Culinary Backstreets.
The Stilianou Winery near Knossos on Crete uses only Cretan grape varieties, with every bottle numbered, and aims for quality rather than quantity.
How to make Petimezi, the sweet Cretan syrup made from wine must, is explained to Greece Travel Secrets.
Greece Travel Secrets tours the Lyrarakis Winery on Crete and learns about Crete grape varieties such as plyto, dafni, vidiano, vilana, mandilari and kotsifali.
The Greece Travel Secrets guide to tipping in Greece from two Greece travel experts, including when to tip, what to tip and when not to tip.
Visiting Santorini wineries is a popular activity on this Greek island in the Cyclades, whose volcanic soil provides a distinctive terroir.
Greek food and drink is a highlight of any visit and Greece Travel Secrets brings you info about food and drink from all over Greece, from Athens to Zakynthos.
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