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

Feta cheese, wine, olives, vegetables, seafood, and meat are the most important ingredients of Greek cuisine. On Patmos, as well as on all other resort islands, there is a big difference between food for tourists and dishes "for their own". Therefore, if you want to touch the Greek cuisine in its original form, it is best to find a tavern away from the port areas, where most of the visitors will be the local Greeks. The service in such places is usually not too fast but they cook here according to the traditional recipes and there is less risk of finding "extra" dishes in the bill or facing not fresh food.

The easiest way to understand if you are in a "tourist" tavern or not is to look at the menu. If you see there "home" or "rural" and not "Greek" salad – it means that here they cook for their own. Tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, onions, olives – that's far from a complete list of ingredients included in the village salad. In every place they make it in different ways, and so you can safely order this dish in different taverns for comparison. Another traditionally Greek dish is moussaka, which includes layers of eggplant, potatoes, and minced meat with bechamel sauce. Pasta with minced meat with the same sauce is called pastitsio. It is also worth trying aubergine salad melitzanosalata and thick yogurt with cucumbers and garlic tzatziki.

If you prefer fish to meat, then go to psarotaverna. They mostly serve fish courses here. Usually, such establishments are located near the coastline. In the local cuisine, not only fish but also mussels are very popular – they are often eaten raw, with lemon juice, and octopuses – they are added to fried eggs, salads, cooked with other seafood or served as a self-sufficient meal. Squid and cuttlefish are also popular. The fish here are fried, boiled, and steamed, and baked. They even make a paste of caviar. The latter, by the way, is called "taramasalata". Note that if in the menu in the dish you like is labeled "kat", "k" or has an asterisk, then it will be cooked from imported, frozen fish. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

In the taverna-psistaria, you can usually order only meat roasted on charcoal or on a skewer. Here you should try pork chops called bisola, and paidakia lamb ribs, and bifteki cutlets. Kotopoulo chicken also has an unusual taste. If you want to have a quick bite, then it is worth to go to shish kebab souvlatzidiko. They usually cook here for take away, and the main dishes giros, which is something similar to shaurma, and souvlaki shish kebab. Those who like sweets should pay attention to the local yoghurt, which many eat as a separate dessert with honey and nuts. Baklavas, loukoumades, galaktoboureko (custard pie) or nuts in honey kataifi will become a wonderful dessert. On the island, they mostly drink coffee in a variety of types and fresh fruit juice.

If you want to have a glass or two of local anise vodka ouzo, then it's worth going to the ouzeri. In fact, besides ouzo, they serve there a lot of snacks under the general name of mezedes. In addition to ouzo, you should pay attention to grape vodka rakia and local wines, which you will not find outside Greece. Retsina, Assyrtiko, Muscat, robola, savanjato, moschofilero, mantinia, nausea – the assortment is huge, you should just choose a drink to your taste. If on the previous day, you spent too much time tasting the alcohol, then patsas will help you get rid of unpleasant consequences. This soup is served in patsatzidiko, which are working around the clock. Patsas is not only a traditional but also quite a healthy dish.