Greece
Sunlight, olive oil and the sea — cooking that trusts a few good things and a long lunch.
Lunch is a taverna with its feet almost in the water, a paper cloth clipped against the breeze and a table that fills faster than you can order. The waiter waves you into the kitchen to point at what you want — a tray of gemista, a fish on ice, a pot of something slow — and brings a carafe of cold house wine nobody asked the price of.
It’s a cuisine built on sunlight and restraint: olive oil by the tumblerful, tomatoes that taste of August, oregano crushed between your fingers, a slab of feta under a slick of oil. The mezze come first and never quite stop — tzatziki, charred octopus, dolmades rolled tight — before the shared plates land: moussaka baked until it sets, lamb kleftiko falling off the bone, a whole bream off the grill with lemon. Leave room for thick yoghurt drowned in thyme honey, and don’t be surprised when the owner brings it over himself, on the house, and pulls up a chair.
- moussaka (baked aubergine & lamb)
- souvlaki
- grilled octopus
- Greek salad (horiátiki)
- spanakopita (spinach & feta pie)
- loukoumades (honey doughnuts)
