Not too long ago, Giraffe sent me on a whirlwind food tour of Athens to celebrate the introduction of some incredible Greek dishes to their new menu; falafels, olives, halloumi, feta, tzatziki, hummus, et al!
I was privileged to have the incredible Johanna (of FoodJunkie) by my side to introduce me to Athens and the best Greek food it has to offer.
Enjoy the results – photos, adventures, and vlog – below!
Having woken up at 2am to catch my flight, it was incredionly necessary to kick things off with an Athens-style iced coffee (espresso, local milk, foam, and ice) from an unnamed kiosk en route to stop one.
To start, we sat al fresco to enjoy the best Greek yogurt in town (topped with honey, of course) and a cinnamon-filled seasonal Greek dessert.
With lunch fast approaching, we walked through the closing hours of the Varvakios Agora (also known as the Central Market), soaked in the delicious scents of the spice stalls, and ran to nearby Sokratous Street to pick up some healing-renowned Greek mountain tea.
Our mezze-heavy lunch haunt was Karamanlidika – just a stone’s throw away on the corner of Sokratous and Evripidou. Though it doesn’t look like anything special from the outside, the restaurant served a faultless selection of mezze as well as my first-ever taste of tsipouro (an ouzo-like Greek brandy).
Though delicious, we only allowed ourselves a few bits of sweet carrot-topped greek yogurt (infinitely better than it sounds) as our next stop was Krinos for Loukoumades – traditional Greek doughnuts, fried and served with honey and cinnamon.
Potentially my new favourite dessert in all the universe.
Needing more than a bit of a walk to assist our food babies, we spent a few hours browsing the streets around the Acropolis, chatting, and stopping for a Greek coffee (served with a little local truffle) in the courtyard at TAF (The Art Foundation).
After a whirlwind of a day on our feet and forks, we wrapped the food adventure up at Kriti – local gods of Cretan cuisine and a restaurant that truly brings Greece’s largest island to life on a plate.
My advice? Try a little bit of everything. The daily specials were as good as the menu’s favourites.
Over the next few days, I took time out to explore Athens as a solo female traveller, but we’ll get to those escapades in the next blog…