Cooked

The Greeks were not under Turkish domination for nothing: it is in the kitchen that the oriental influence is most felt.

Most taverns do not serve dessert, except, in the best of cases, karpouzi (watermelon), peponi (melon), yogurti me meli (honey yogurt), halva or any other pastry, which are then offered at the end of the meal (no dessert menu).

– Greek salad (khoriatiki): tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, onion, olives, and feta, with more or less olive oil. The almost unavoidable entry, inexpensive and in which we pick with many.
– Mélitzanosalata: eggplant salad (a slight burnt taste indicates that it is not industrial).
– Tzatziki: yogurt, cucumber and crushed garlic with olive oil and dill.
– Feta: feta is not eaten only in salads, but can also be eaten fried, with sesame seeds and served with honey.
– Octopus (khtapodhi in Greek, octopus in English): is eaten in various forms, for example as an appetizer (mezedes) at the start of the meal, such as mussels (mydhia).
– Calamari (kalamaria): fried (most often) or grilled, the portions are generally more generous than those of the octopus and less expensive. Fresh squid (freska) is now quite rare.

– Moussaka: minced meat arranged in a layer with eggplant, all covered with a béchamel. Oven-baked. Some recipes include potatoes, but this is not necessary.
– Pastitsio: the aubergines are replaced by macaroni. Quite overwhelming.
– Mélitzanès papoutsakia: aubergines stuffed with meat and au gratin. – Kolokithia tiganita: zucchini cut into small slices and fries. – Domatés or pipériés (yémista): tomato and / or pepper stuffed with rice. – Dolmadès: stuffed grape leaves. They are only fresh in season (early summer); if not, we can easily find it canned, it’s a cold starter.
– Chorta (pronounced “horta”, almost “rhorta”) and vlita: cooked herbs from the mountains.

Meat
It may be useful to know the terms indicating how the meat is prepared: vrasto (boiled), psito (roasted), sti skara (on the grill), sti souvla (on the spit), sta karvouna (charcoal barbecue) , tiganito (fried).

– Souvlaki: its reputation is well established: most often in the form of a large skewer of pork or beef.
– Brizola: pork or beef ribs.
– Païdakia: lamb chop.
– Bifteki: it is meat, but not steak. Chopped and seasoned, it looks more like a hamburger, better, because most often flavored with herbs.
– Keftédès: flavored with mint and oregano, they are also based on minced meat but in the form of dumplings. The cooking method is different: the keftédès cook in the oven or in a pan, the steak is a dishtis oras (per minute) which is prepared on the grill.
– Kokoretsi: liver and sometimes offal cooked on a spit, a specialty of mainland Greece.
– Spetsofaï: country sausages (spicy) in pieces and with peppers. Regional dish, specialty of Pelion.
– Stifado: minced meat (rabbit or beef) with onions. The term is also used for stews of fish or seafood.
– Sofrito: beef or veal prepared in a garlic sauce. Specialty of Corfu.
– Bekri Mezze: the drinker’s mezze! Pieces of pork in a wine sauce.

Fish
Fish except gavros, the BEPGs and other Atherina all eaten fried, is not at all cheap. Or, you have to buy it on the port in the early morning and cook it yourself. In restaurants, most often, it is offered by weight.

– Glossa: sole.
– Barbounia (red mullet): red mullet or bearded mule.
– Tsipourès (mullet / giltheads): sort of sea bream. – Xifias (sword fish): swordfish, excellent in steak or kebabs. – Lavraki (bass): bar. – Garidès (shrimp): shrimp. – Kolios: mackerel. – Sardella: sardine. – Lithrinia (mullet): pageot.

Unfortunately, the “real” fish is in short supply: farmed fish, in particular gray sea bream (tsipourès), may be offered to you – and it is only to taste that you will realize it! As for shrimp, squid and octopus, it must be specified on the menu if they are frozen or fresh.

Vegetarian dishes
– B riam: a kind of ratatouille (potatoes, zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes).
– Imam Baidi: a dish of Turkish origin, like so many others (eggplant stuffed with onions, tomatoes, and herbs).
– Yémista (orphana): when the tomato and the pepper are stuffed but without meat (with rice), they are humorously called orphana (orphans).

Pastries
The pastries that are called “oriental” by us are omnipresent in Greece, Turkish heritage requires (baklava, kadaifi).
For the rest, you will mainly come across rizogalo (rice pudding sprinkled with cinnamon), halva (sesame cream), galaktobouréko (flaky pastry filled with a kind of semolina), revani (or ravani ; a very spongy semolina cake), and bougatsa , cut into small pieces sprinkled with cinnamon. Not bad either, the amigdaloto (almond and sugar paste), specialty of several islands.

Drinks
Even if the French often disgust their first sip of resin (retsina), remember that this has long been the most typically Greek and cheapest table wine.

There are many unresined wines. Greece is a “young” country in terms of wine, but constant progress has been made in recent years, which have made it possible to obtain high quality wines (Peloponnese wines, like those of Nemea, in Argolida, or those of Élide, or the Macedonian wines of Naoussa).
The reds, in particular, display beautiful and deep dresses and are revealed for some very rich without being overpowered. Many restaurants also have interesting maps, reflecting the growing offer of Greece.

There are also some very famous sweet wines, such as samos or mavrodaphni. Depending on the region, typical local wines: robola in Kefalonia; dry and sweet wines ( assyrtiko , nykteri and vinsanto ) produced on volcanic lands of Santorini; a wine from Lesbos, methymneos , also produced on volcanic lands; the zitsa , dry and sparkling white from Epirus.
BE CAREFUL, wine (even white) is often served at room temperature.

The ouzo is the local pastis, to go fast. It is obtained from marc flavored with anise. It is served by the glass or in a small bottle (karafaki), accompanied by mezedes. Do not confuse with the tsipouro, which is similar to the Cretan raki or the Italian grappa, that is to say a non-aniseed grape brandy. The best ouzo would come from Plomari, in Lesbos.
In Corfu, you will taste koum-kouat, liqueur of small bitter oranges.

Remarks
– Coffee = Turkish coffee (with marc). If you want good local coffee, the word used there is nescafé. But it is absolutely not comparable to Turkish coffee. Also, avoid saying “Turkish” coffee, you might be frowned upon. We ask for a “Greek” coffee (ena helliniko, parakalo!); or, if you prefer a filter coffee, ena kafé filtrou or ena kafé galliko.

Also try the refreshing iced coffee, which is called smoothie. It’s excellent. Like Greek coffee, we order it very sweet (glyko), moderately sweet (metrio), dry (skéto) or with milk (me gala).
The freddoccino or the frapuccino, these last years, strongly compete with the smoothie. Coffee should always be served with a glass of water (a practice which unfortunately tends to disappear, or which is sometimes billed separately).

– PLEASE NOTE, when ordering orange juice, specify a portokaliou chemo (pressed oranges); if not, we will bring you a soft drink with orange (portokalada). If in doubt, make it clear that you want it fresko.

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