Cuisine of Ikaria Island for gourmets. Places for dinner - best restaurants

You can’t plunge into the culture of a country without trying its national dishes. You should definitely miss a couple of meals at your hotel and visit the local taverns. It is easy to find a tavern on the island. Locals have a special ritual. They meet with friends and family in a tavern and spend an evening chatting, drinking local alcohol and eating traditional food under folk music. Original Greek dishes can be found in taverns located far from touristic spots and oriented on local inhabitants. It can be difficult to find a free table in a tavern, its service differs from the European but you will definitely taste traditional dishes made according to original recipes.

You will never find «Greek salad» in the menus of truly Greek taverns. Greeks call it «village salad» or horiatiki salad. If you have found «Greek salad», you are in a tavern for tourists. Horiatiki salad doesn’t have a particular recipe. There are many variations of this dish, but it usually includes olives, cheese, tomatoes and pepper. The salad is not seasoned with olive oil, you can find a bottle of it on a table of a tavern and add it to your taste. You should taste the salad in different taverns and compare its taste. Don’t pass by tzatziki, a yoghurt sauce with garlic and cucumber which is usually served with mutton or pita.

Are you looking for a place to have a quick bite? Souvladziko is the best place for you. Souvladzikos serve delicious souvlaki which was known even in ancient times. It is a local variant of kebab. Souvlaki can be made of lamb, chicken, seafood and even vegetables. It is grilled on a skewer and usually eaten straight off the skewer. Souvlaki is often taken away and eaten on the go. Souvlaki with vegetables, sauce and fries in a pita is called gyro. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

However, meat is not only a part of fast food dishes on Ikaria. Definitely try paidakia, Greek lamb chops. Try stewed beef stifado. Moussaka is a delicious layered dish with ground meat, potatoes and eggplant. Pastitsio is pasta with ground meat and bechamel sauce. Loukaniko sausages, dolma (grape leaves stuffed with meat) and tefteli also deserve your attention. All the dishes made of turkey, rabbit and rooster will please gourmets.

The best seafood delicacies can be found in psarotaverns close to the sea. A great variety of fish and seafood dishes is served here. Pay your attention to different indications in a menu, «*», «k» or «kat» indications show that the dish was made of frozen imported fish. While ordering a dish, ask a waiter about the price. The price can be specified for a portion, 100 grams or a kilo. Moreover, you can bring your cath to a tavern and ask o cook it at a low price. Do not pass by taramasalata, a paste made of caviar, a grilled monkfish and gilt-head bream. Psarotaverns also serve kakavia, local fish soup.

Fasolada is a traditional Greek soup, which was known in ancient times. Vegetarians will definitely like chickpea revithia. True gourmets should try creamy chicken avgolemono. Fruit and eastern desserts like baklava, lokum and nougat are popular in Greece. Greeks usually eat heavy desserts such as keik me giaourti (a honey cake with yoghurt), galaktoboureko (custard baked between layers of phyllo) or Greek rice pudding rizogalo in winter months. Some Greeks prefer to eat yoghurt with honey, fruit and nuts for dessert. Coffee and juice are common soft drinks on Ikaria , you can find them in every tavern. But tea is used only as a remedy for a cold. Be sure to try local wine and local chilled retsina, which can be found in refrigerators of supermarkets. The most popular hard drinks are anise vodka ouzo, grape vodka grappa rakia and local metaxa cognac.