Occasion
25 Greek Taverna Favourites
The dishes you actually order on holiday, done properly at home: saganaki, grilled octopus, gyros, fried courgettes and cold retsina.
These are the dishes people order on holiday and then try to describe when they get home. Pork souvlaki grilled hard over charcoal. Gyros, which can be done at home without a vertical spit. Paidakia, the lamb chops. Bifteki with feta melted inside it. Fried baby squid, whitebait and red mullet.
A taverna meal is ordered for the table, not for each person. Something grilled, something fried, a salad, and loukoumades at the end if anyone has room.
The drinks are part of it, so the list includes how to serve retsina, tsipouro, Metaxa and mastiha. Charcoal makes the biggest difference to the meat. If all you have is the grill in your oven, get it as hot as it will go.
Every recipe on Kalliopi's Kitchen carries the dish's Greek name and a pronunciation, its region where that is meaningful, ingredient quantities in both metric and imperial, and an honest note on what commonly goes wrong. Nutrition figures are calculated estimates and are labelled as such.
1. Pork Souvlaki
Souvlaki · Σουβλάκι · soo-VLAH-kee
Little skewer is what the word means, and to a Greek it is the meat, not the wrap. Order one in Athens and two bare skewers may arrive with bread, lemon and raw onion. The meat is nearly always pork, and shoulder has the fat to survive a hard fire. Beef barely comes into it.
Yiayia’s tip: Leave gaps between the cubes. Meat packed tightly against itself on a skewer cannot brown on the touching faces. Small gaps let the fire get in and give you crust on all sides.
Make Pork Souvlaki2. Loukoumades
Λουκουμάδες · loo-koo-MAH-des
Possibly the oldest dessert Europe still eats: honey tokens much like them went to the winners of the ancient games. The batter is wetter than any dough you could handle, and that water becomes the steam that blows the middle hollow. They do not keep. Within twenty minutes of the fryer they are soft.
Yiayia’s tip: Keep the spoons wet. The batter sticks ferociously to anything dry. A bowl of water beside the pan, and dipping the spoons between every single puff, is the difference between this being easy and being maddening.
Make Loukoumades3. Pork Gyros
Gyros · Γύρος · YEE-ros
Nobody has a vertical rotisserie at home and nobody needs one. Marinated pork slices are pressed onto an upright skewer in a tin and roasted as one piece, so the fat runs down and bastes what is below. Then the meat is sliced thin and crisped in a hot pan. Most home versions skip that.
Yiayia’s tip: Freeze briefly before slicing. Forty minutes in the freezer firms the joint enough to slice thin and evenly. Trying to slice soft pork shoulder thinly is genuinely difficult.
Make Pork Gyros4. Paidakia
Παϊδάκια · pah-ee-THAH-kee-ah
Thin lamb rib chops, among the most ordered dishes in any Greek taverna. There is almost no technique in them, so the lamb you buy and how hot the grill gets decide everything. A grill that is not hot enough gives grey, steamed chops. Leave them alone, two to three minutes a side.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not over-marinate. Beyond about four hours, the lemon's acid begins to cure the surface of the meat rather than simply flavouring it.
Make Paidakia5. Bifteki
Μπιφτέκι · bif-TEH-kee
More a steak shaped by hand than a burger, and it takes a knife and fork, not a bun. Grated onion, herbs and, in some kitchens, a little soaked bread make it softer and juicier than plain beef. Many versions hide a core of feta. Medium-high heat, not fierce, so the centre cooks through.
Yiayia’s tip: Seal the edges properly. A poorly pinched seam lets the feta leak out onto the grill as soon as it melts. Press and smooth the whole edge firmly closed.
Make Bifteki6. Spit-Roasted Pork
Kontosouvli · Κοντοσούβλι · kon-doh-SOOV-lee
The name means short spit. It is the souvlaki idea stretched from minutes to hours: large chunks of marinated pork on a thick skewer, turned over the coals for two to three hours. The fire should be moderate and steady, never fierce. Without a motorised spit, somebody turns it by hand every few minutes.
Yiayia’s tip: Choose shoulder, not loin. The fat content in shoulder is what survives hours of slow cooking without drying out. Lean cuts are the wrong choice for this method.
Make Spit-Roasted Pork7. Thessaloniki Kebab with Yogurt and Tomato
Giaourtlou · Γιαουρτλού · yah-oor-TLOO
Thessaloniki owes this to the refugees who came from Asia Minor after 1922, with a pairing of yogurt and grilled meat the mainland did not have. It is layered, not mixed: torn, toasted pita, then minced meat kebabs, then warm tomato sauce, then garlicky yogurt. The meat takes cumin, where mainland grills use oregano.
Yiayia’s tip: Add the yogurt last, straight from the fridge. The contrast between the cold yogurt and the hot meat and sauce is the entire point. Adding it early loses that completely.
Make Thessaloniki Kebab with Yogurt and Tomato8. Pontic Boat-Shaped Cheese Bread
Peinirli · Πεϊνιρλί · peh-nir-LEE
An open boat of leavened bread, brought to Thessaloniki and other northern cities by Pontic Greek refugees after 1922. The top stays open so the cheese bubbles and colours in the oven's heat. Cheese alone is the classic filling, though ham, sausage or an egg are common. It wants the hottest oven setting there is.
Yiayia’s tip: Pinch the ends firmly. A loose seal at the points lets the melted filling leak out during baking. Press and pinch properly to close them.
Make Pontic Boat-Shaped Cheese Bread9. Cabbage and Carrot Salad
Lachanosalata · Λαχανοσαλάτα · lah-hah-noh-sah-LAH-tah
The plain cabbage salad that sits beside souvlaki or grilled chicken in tavernas all year. Cabbage, carrot, olive oil and either lemon or vinegar, made by feel, never measured. It is not politiki salata, the Constantinople version made around Christmas. Keep the dressing sharp and plain, which is why it works next to grilled meat.
Yiayia’s tip: Shred it fine. A thick, rough chop leaves the cabbage tasting raw and tough even once dressed. Fine and even is what gives a proper slaw texture.
Make Cabbage and Carrot Salad10. Warm Raki with Honey and Spices
Rakomelo · Ρακόμελο · rah-KOH-meh-loh
Crete's raki is a clear spirit distilled from the skins, stems and seeds left after the grapes are pressed. Warmed with cinnamon, clove and honey it turns into a winter drink, taken slowly in small cups. Households turn to it when a cold or sore throat is starting. Use plain raki, never an aniseed one.
Yiayia’s tip: Never let it boil. Boiling drives off the alcohol along with much of the aroma. Keep the heat low throughout.
Make Warm Raki with Honey and Spices11. Fried Baby Squid
Kalamarakia tiganita · Καλαμαράκια τηγανητά · kah-lah-mah-RAH-kyah tee-gah-nee-TAH
Squid can be cooked well two ways: for a minute or two, or for an hour or more. Anything in between turns it to rubber. Frying is the fast way, so sixty to ninety seconds in hot oil is enough. Few plates are ordered more at a Greek seaside taverna.
Yiayia’s tip: Flour it only right before frying. Squid releases moisture as it sits, and a coating applied too early turns gluey rather than staying light.
Make Fried Baby Squid12. Yogurt-Marinated Chicken Souvlaki
Souvlaki kotopoulo me giaourti · Σουβλάκι κοτόπουλο με γιαούρτι · soov-LAH-kee koh-TOH-poo-loh meh yah-OOR-tee
Chicken breast dries out fast on a hot grill, and yogurt is the fix. Its mild acidity tenderises the surface and helps the meat hold moisture, which oil alone does not do. Lemon, garlic and oregano do the flavouring. Shake off the excess before grilling, or it drips and flares.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not skip the marinating time. At least two hours is what lets the yogurt actually tenderise the chicken, rather than just sitting on the surface.
Make Yogurt-Marinated Chicken Souvlaki13. Fried Whitebait
Marides tiganites · Μαρίδες τηγανητές · mah-REE-thes tee-gah-nee-TES
Tiny fish, fried whole and eaten whole: head, tail and bones in one bite. Nothing to fillet, and nothing to clean beyond a rinse. The oil must be hot enough to crisp them in a couple of minutes, or they sit and drink it. Tavernas sell them constantly, with ouzo or cold white wine.
Yiayia’s tip: Dry the fish thoroughly before flouring. Any surface moisture stops the flour sticking properly and causes dangerous spitting in the hot oil.
Make Fried Whitebait14. Fried Red Mullet
Barbouni tiganito · Μπαρμπούνι τηγανητό · bar-BOO-nee tee-gah-nee-TOH
Often the most expensive fish on a taverna menu, and one that needs very little done to it. Whole red mullet is floured lightly and fried in a hot pan, and that is the classic preparation. The flesh is delicate and slightly sweet, nothing like common white fish. Turn it gently or it breaks.
Yiayia’s tip: Freshness is essential. Red mullet's delicate flavour and texture do not forgive a fish that has been sitting for days. Buy from a source you trust.
Make Fried Red Mullet15. Retsina Serving Guide
Retsina · Ρετσίνα · reh-TSEE-nah
White wine flavoured on purpose with pine resin. The taste goes back to resin-sealed clay amphorae, and Greek winemakers kept it after better seals arrived. It divides people, and it should be judged with food, not alone: the sharp edge is made for salty, oily meze and seafood. Drink it young.
Yiayia’s tip: Serve it properly cold. Colder than a standard white wine. This tempers the resin's sharpness and makes it genuinely refreshing.
Make Retsina Serving Guide16. Lobster with Pasta
Astakomakaronada · Αστακομακαρονάδα · ah-stah-koh-mah-kah-roh-NAH-thah
The showpiece of the Cyclades, and of Mykonos above all, where the taverna price follows what lobster costs that season. The name joins astakos, lobster, to makaronada, pasta. At home a smaller lobster, frozen tails or langoustines will do. The lobster needs eight to ten minutes in the sauce, no more, or it turns rubbery.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not rush the tomato sauce. A full twenty-five to thirty minutes is what gives it the rich, concentrated depth this showpiece dish needs.
Make Lobster with Pasta17. Tsipouro Serving Guide
Tsipouro · Τσίπουρο · TSEE-poo-roh
A strong, clear spirit made from what winemaking leaves behind: the skins, stems and seeds after pressing. It is the mainland's counterpart to Crete's tsikoudia. Unlike ouzo it takes no water, only ice or nothing at all, and tastes fuller and earthier for it. Some, from Tyrnavos especially, carry anise and come closer to ouzo.
Yiayia’s tip: Serve with real food, not alone. Tsipouro is genuinely built to be drunk alongside a spread of small mezedes, particularly in Thessaly and Epirus, where the two are considered inseparable.
Make Tsipouro Serving Guide18. Metaxa Serving Guide
Metaxa · Μεταξά · meh-tak-SAH
Cognac is distilled from grapes alone. Metaxa is not: it blends aged grape brandy with Muscat wine and its own mix of botanicals, which makes it sweeter and more aromatic. The stars on the label mark the age, three being the youngest. Try it after dinner with dark chocolate.
Yiayia’s tip: Match the serving style to the grade. Younger Metaxa suits ice well; older, more refined grades are better appreciated neat, warmed gently in the glass.
Make Metaxa Serving Guide19. Mastiha Liqueur Serving Guide
Mastiha · Μαστίχα · mah-STEE-hah
The flavour comes from mastic, a resin gathered by hand in small hardened tears from trees that grow only on Chios. For centuries the island held close to a monopoly on it. The liqueur is sweet, faintly piney and resinous, nothing like ouzo's anise, and takes no water. It is a digestif, poured small.
Yiayia’s tip: Keep it properly cold. Mastiha is genuinely best served very chilled, unlike some spirits that are fine at room temperature.
Make Mastiha Liqueur Serving Guide20. Tripe Soup
Patsas · Πατσάς · pah-TSAHS
The soup of the small hours. It is ordered late, after a long night out, at the few tavernas still open. Tripe simmers for hours until tender and the broth turns rich and gelatinous. It is finished with avgolemono stirred through, or with ladoxido, a sharp sauce of garlic and vinegar, spooned over each bowl.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not skip the initial blanch. It removes much of tripe's strong initial smell before the long, main simmer, giving a considerably cleaner finished broth.
Make Tripe Soup21. Sausage and Pepper Stew
Spetzofai · Σπετζοφάι · speh-tzoh-FAH-ee
This comes from Pilio, a mountain and forest peninsula in Thessaly with an old reputation for sausage. Sliced sausage, plenty of red and green peppers, onion and tomato cook down in one pan until thick and sticky. There is no long braise and no careful technique. Taste before salting: the sausage is already seasoned.
Yiayia’s tip: Use a proper coarse Greek country sausage. Its specific spicing, often orange zest and fennel or coriander, is what genuinely defines this dish. A bland substitute gives a flatter result.
Make Sausage and Pepper Stew22. Mussels in Tomato and Feta Sauce
Mydia saganaki · Μύδια σαγανάκι · MEE-thyah sah-gah-NAH-kee
Saganaki here is a way of cooking, not the fried cheese: a fast tomato sauce with garlic, and feta melted in at the end. Prawns are the familiar version on taverna menus, and mussels take the same sauce without any change. They need only minutes in the pan, and longer turns them tough and rubbery.
Yiayia’s tip: Discard any mussels that do not open. A mussel that stays firmly shut after cooking was not alive before cooking and should not be eaten.
Make Mussels in Tomato and Feta Sauce23. Kitro Liker Serving Guide
Kitro · Κίτρο · KEE-troh
Naxos makes this and nowhere else does. It is distilled from citron leaves, not the fruit, so the fragrance is fresh and citrusy but unlike any lemon liqueur. Three versions exist: clear is the driest, yellow sits in the middle, green is the sweetest. It is a digestif, sipped very cold and never over ice.
Yiayia’s tip: Try all three versions if you can. Comparing the clear, yellow and green versions side by side is the traditional way to appreciate the full range of sweetness this liqueur offers.
Make Kitro Liker Serving Guide24. Whole Baked Sea Bream
Tsipoura psiti · Τσιπούρα ψητή · tsee-POO-rah psee-TEE
Few fish are eaten more often in Greece than sea bream, and this is how coastal tavernas serve it: whole, baked with little more than oil, lemon, garlic and herbs. The plainness is deliberate, since good fresh fish wants no sauce on top. Timing is the only skill: overcooked, it turns dry.
Yiayia’s tip: Score the skin before baking. This helps the fish cook evenly and lets the oil and lemon flavour the flesh a little more than an unscored fish would allow.
Make Whole Baked Sea Bream25. Fried Bogue
Gopes tiganites · Γόπες τηγανητές · GOH-pes tee-gah-nee-TES
A cheap, everyday fish of the Greek coast. Bogue is bigger than marides or anchovies, smaller than an ordinary eating fish, and no prize the way barbouni is. Fishing communities have long eaten it as a staple. Scaled, lightly floured and fried whole, it costs a fraction of the sought-after fish at a seaside taverna.
Yiayia’s tip: Dry the fish thoroughly before flouring. Any surface moisture stops the flour sticking and causes dangerous spitting in the hot oil.
Make Fried Bogue
More Greek Taverna Favourites
37 more, 62 in all.
MoussakaMousakas ΜουσακάςMain Courses · 1h 55m · serves 8
TzatzikiTzatziki ΤζατζίκιDips and Sauces · 15m · serves 6
Greek SaladHoriatiki salata Χωριάτικη σαλάταSalads · 12m · serves 4
SpanakopitaSpanakopita ΣπανακόπιταBreads and Pies · 1h 30m · serves 8
Smoky Aubergine DipMelitzanosalata ΜελιτζανοσαλάταDips and Sauces · 45m · serves 6
Cretan DakosDakos ΝτάκοςSalads · 12m · serves 4
KeftedesKeftedes ΚεφτέδεςMeze and Appetisers · 45m · serves 6
SaganakiSaganaki ΣαγανάκιMeze and Appetisers · 15m · serves 4
TiropitaTiropita ΤυρόπιταBreads and Pies · 1h 15m · serves 8
Grilled OctopusHtapodi sta karvouna Χταπόδι στα κάρβουναMeze and Appetisers · 1h 30m · serves 4
Prawns with Feta and TomatoGarides saganaki Γαρίδες σαγανάκιMain Courses · 37m · serves 4
Grilled HalloumiHalloumi ΧαλλούμιMeze and Appetisers · 11m · serves 4
Courgette Fritters with FetaKolokithokeftedes ΚολοκυθοκεφτέδεςMeze and Appetisers · 55m · serves 6
Cypriot Sausages in Caul FatSheftalia ΣεφταλιάMain Courses · 45m · serves 6
Cypriot Pork in Red Wine and CorianderAfelia ΑφέλιαMain Courses · 1h 30m · serves 4
Cretan Fried SnailsHochlioi boubouristi Χοχλιοί μπουμπουριστοίMeze and Appetisers · 35m · serves 4
Corfu Spicy Fish StewBourdeto ΜπουρδέτοMain Courses · 55m · serves 4
Smyrna-Style Cumin Meatballs in Tomato SauceSoutzoukakia ΣουτζουκάκιαMain Courses · 1h 10m · serves 6
Grilled Sardines with Lemon OilSardeles ladolemono Σαρδέλες λαδολέμονοMain Courses · 25m · serves 4
Olive Oil and Lemon SauceLadolemono ΛαδολέμονοDips and Sauces · 5m · serves 6
Fried Smoked Cheese from EpirusSaganaki Metsovone Σαγανάκι μετσοβόνεMeze and Appetisers · 18m · serves 4
Cretan Smoked Marinated PorkApaki Kritis Απάκι ΚρήτηςMain Courses · 40m · serves 8
Cured Spiced Beef from Asia MinorPastourmas ΠαστουρμάςMeze and Appetisers · 40m · serves 10
Ouzo Serving GuideOuzo ΟύζοDrinks · 5m · serves 4
Sausage Braised in WineLoukaniko krasato Λουκάνικο κρασάτοMain Courses · 50m · serves 4
Thessaloniki Baked Feta with PeppersBougiourdi ΜπουγιουρντίMeze and Appetisers · 35m · serves 4
LakerdaLakerda ΛακέρδαMeze and Appetisers · 45m · serves 10
Cypriot Salted Yogurt DrinkAyrani ΑϊράνιDrinks · 5m · serves 4Get one proper Greek recipe a week
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