Hi - Greece is my favourite place in the world and I visit every year.
Favourite cookbook currently using to transport me to Greece is Georgina Hayden's Taverna (even if it is based on recipes from Cyprus)
Athens Central Food Market
While London and Paris have converted their historic markets into tourist traps and shopping malls, Athens’ glorious Central Market is just as it’s been for decades. The sheer variety of fish and meat on sale in its grand, slippery-floored arcades is a sight in itself, but it’s also a good place to buy whole spices, cheese and olive oil. Four fine no-frills restaurants dole out tripe soup, supposedly a hangover cure.
Athinas Street, Mon-Sat 8am-6pm
With regards to eating out here are some restaurant recommendations:
Melilotos
Retooling traditional, local dishes at decent prices, Melilotos is at the forefront of an Athenian restaurant wave not unlike Britain’s gastropub boom. In a neo-rustic pistachio-coloured dining room, this restaurant near Syntagma Square serves excellent grills and unusual specialities such as one-year-old Cretan gruyère and aubergine salad with walnuts.
19 Kalamiotou, +30 210 32 22 458, melilotos.gr, €25pp
Kriti
The back of a humdrum shopping arcade may not sound like an obvious gastronomic hot spot, but Kriti has a reputation for serving the best Cretan food in Athens. Especially popular with local lawyers at lunchtime, this small taverna’s excellent menu includes such classic Cretan dishes as barley rusks topped with tomatoes and mizithra cheese and peppery sautéed wild greens.
5 Veranzerou, Kanigos Square, +30 210 38 26 998. Open Mon-Sat 11am-11.30pm, dinner from €20pp
Kosta
Late-night drinkers from Agias Irinis Square fill this classic souvlaki place, queuing for Kosta’s classic wrap of pork skewers or beef meatballs in pitta bread with salad, chips, tzatziki and hot tomato sauce. Quality is high and service is decent, given that you only need spend €5 to fill up here.
2 Agias Irinis Square. Open 6am until late, wraps from €2
Ama Laxei
It’s hard to imagine Ama Laxei’s beautiful courtyard, now packed with bougainvillea and palms, in its former role as the playground of a school. The food is a similarly attractive revamp of Greek tradition, with highlights including pork sausage with orange juice and mussels with ouzo.
69 Kalliodromiou, +30 210 38 45 978, €25pp