What to eat in Athens: 10 dishes and where to find them

What to eat in Athens starts with souvlaki eaten standing up and ends, a few hours later, at a taverna table under the Acropolis. The city runs on grilled meat, slow-cooked lamb, fried seafood and syrup-soaked pastry, and none of it needs a tasting menu to prove its point.

Athenian cooking draws on the mountains and the sea at once: olive oil, lemon, oregano and feta on one side, octopus, sardines and cuttlefish on the other. Ottoman-era trade left cured meats and spice stalls behind; refugees from Asia Minor after 1922 brought bougatsa and grilled meat on skewers with them. The result is a city where a €4 souvlaki pita and a €60 tasting menu both count as the real thing.

Souvlaki and gyros at Thanasis, Monastiraki

A €4 souvlaki pita and a €60 tasting menu both count as the real thing in Athens.

Thanasis, at 69 Mitropoleos Street, has grilled pork souvlaki on an open flame since the 1960s, a few steps from Monastiraki Square. The pita is thin and slightly charred, filled with seared pork, onion, tomato and parsley, no yoghurt sauce to get in the way.

A takeaway skewer runs €4-5; a sit-down plate with fries and salad is €10-15. Queues build fast at lunch, so go either side of 1-2pm.

Kleftiko and gigantes plaki at Platanos Taverna, Plaka

Platanos, on a quiet corner at 4 Diogenous Street, has been cooking in the same Plaka courtyard since 1932. Lemon-roasted lamb kleftiko, baked until the meat falls off the bone, sits alongside gigantes plaki, giant beans stewed in tomato and dill, and octopus braised until tender.

A full meal runs €18-30 a head. The terrace under a plane tree is the draw in warmer months; book ahead on weekend evenings.

Moussaka at The Old Tavern of Psarras, Plaka

Psarras, at 16 Erechtheos Street, has served Plaka since 1898 and still bakes moussaka the traditional way: aubergine layered with minced lamb ragu and a thick béchamel that sets as it cools. Grilled octopus and saganaki cheese round out the table.

Expect €25-35 a head. Readers who want to cook the dish at home can follow Amuse's own moussaka recipe, built the same way: baked aubergine, a dry-reduced ragu, béchamel set with egg yolk.

Pastourma at Karamanlidika tou Fani, Plaka

This deli at 1 Sokratous Street specialises in the cured meats Asia Minor refugees brought to Athens a century ago. Pastourma, air-dried beef coated in a paste of fenugreek, garlic and paprika, is the one to order, alongside soutzouki sausage and aged cheeses.

A meze spread of cured meats and cheese runs €25-35 for two to share. It works as a sit-down lunch or a stop to buy a few hundred grams to take home.

Barrel wine and meze at Diporto Agoras, Monastiraki

Diporto has no sign, no menu and no name on the door; regulars just call it Diporto, tucked below street level near Sokratous and Theatrou, a few minutes from the central market. It has served the same short rotation of dishes, chickpea stew, grilled sardines, horta, since the 1880s, poured from barrels behind the counter.

A meal with house wine costs €12-18, cash only, and the kitchen closes around 6pm, so this is lunch, not dinner.

Fried seafood at O Lolos, Koukaki

O Lolos, a few streets back from the Acropolis Museum in Koukaki, fries squid and small fish to order and keeps a long list of dips, from taramasalata to fava. The room is plain and the tables turn over fast, which keeps the oil fresh and the fish out of the fryer for only a minute or two.

A shared plate of fried squid with a couple of dips and a carafe of wine lands around €20-25 a head.

Loukoumades at Krinos, Monastiraki

Krinos, at 87 Aiolou Street, has fried loukoumades since 1922 and makes nothing else: deep-fried dough balls, crisp outside and airy within, drenched in honey syrup and dusted with cinnamon and crushed walnut. A portion costs around €6-8.

It is a sit-down counter, not a bakery window, so leave ten minutes to eat them hot, which is the only way they work.

Bougatsa at Kostas, Plateia Agias Irinis

Kostas, on Plateia Agias Irinis, bakes the savoury, minced-meat version of bougatsa, filo pastry wrapped tight around spiced beef and baked until the top blisters. It is open mornings only, Monday to Friday, 10am to 6pm, closed weekends, so plan around it rather than the other way round.

A portion costs about €4-6 and is sized for breakfast, not dinner.

Breakfast at Varvakios Central Market

The market at 42 Athinas Street has traded since 1886: a meat hall on one side, a fish hall on the other, and spice and dried-goods stalls running south along Evripidou Street. It opens early, roughly 7am to early evening, Monday to Saturday, closed Sunday, and is still used daily by Athenian chefs and home cooks rather than built for visitors.

Walk it before 9am to see the fish laid out on ice, then buy a bag of dried oregano or mountain tea from one of the Evripidou spice shops on the way out. Olive oil runs through nearly everything on this list, and Greek olive oil prices have fallen sharply this harvest, reason enough to bring a bottle home.

Tasting menu with a view at Strofi, near the Acropolis Museum

Strofi, at 25 Rovertou Galli Street, sends modern versions of classic Greek dishes up to a rooftop with a straight sightline to the Parthenon. A tasting menu runs €60-90; à la carte averages €40-55 a head.

It is the one booking in this guide worth making weeks out, specifically for a table at sunset. Two-Michelin-star chef Christos Karagiannis cut his teeth in kitchens across the same city before taking his own restaurant to that rank, proof the fine-dining end of Athens has caught up with its tavernas.

Markets, neighbourhoods and when to go

Athens rewards a short walk off the main tourist strip between the Acropolis and Syntagma Square. Prices drop and cooking improves the further uphill or sideways you go.

• Plaka: the oldest district, tavernas from 1898 onward, busiest at dinner.
• Monastiraki: souvlaki, the flea market and Varvakios Agora, best before noon.
• Psyrri: ouzeri and meze bars, livelier after 9pm with weekend rebetiko.
• Koukaki: quieter, residential, newer kitchens near the Acropolis Museum.
• Varvakios Agora: Monday to Saturday, roughly 7am to early evening, closed Sunday.

Is Athens expensive to eat in?

Is Athens expensive to eat in? Not by Western European standards. A souvlaki lunch costs under €10, a full taverna dinner with wine runs €20-35 a head, and only the rooftop tasting menus push past €60.

What is the signature dish of Athens? Souvlaki, specifically the pork version grilled on an open flame and wrapped in pita, though moussaka and gigantes plaki are close behind for taverna meals.

When is the best time to visit for food? April-May and September-October bring warm evenings for taverna terraces without the August heat, when some kitchens close for the month.

Is Athens good for vegetarians? Yes. Greek Orthodox fasting traditions left a wide repertoire of meat-free meze, gigantes plaki, horta, fava, dolmades, standard on almost every taverna menu.

Where to book first

Platanos Taverna, 4 Diogenous Street, Plaka, for lamb kleftiko under a plane tree. Strofi, 25 Rovertou Galli Street, for the Parthenon view and the tasting menu. The Old Tavern of Psarras, 16 Erechtheos Street, Plaka, for moussaka in a dining room that has not changed its approach since 1898.