Work through the list in order. Hide the notes when you know what to do.
-
Eat souvlaki
Cubes of meat on a skewer with pita, tomato, onion and tzatziki, or all of it wrapped in the pita to take away. The basic Athens food at any hour.
Souvlaki in a pita and a portion of souvlaki are different orders: the second brings skewers on a plate. Chips go inside the wrap, and that is standard.
-
Try gyros
Pork or chicken from the vertical rotisserie in a pita with tomato, onion, tzatziki and chips inside. Cheap, filling and everywhere.
Pork gyros is the classic; chicken came later. Ask for apo ola, with everything, if you do not want to list the fillings.
-
Try moussaka
Layers of aubergine, potato and minced meat under a thick béchamel crust, baked until golden. It is served warm rather than piping hot, which is intentional.
A proper moussaka cuts into a slice and holds its shape rather than collapsing. Its menu relative is pastitsio, the same idea with pasta instead of aubergine.
-
Try horta and ladera
Wild greens boiled and dressed with olive oil and lemon, and vegetables braised in oil: beans, artichokes, peas. The fasting repertoire, which fills a whole menu section here.
Ladera are served warm or at room temperature rather than hot, and that is correct. Horta changes with the season and is noticeably tenderer in spring.
-
Try hortopita and spanakopita
A filo pie filled with wild greens or spinach and feta. Sold by the slice in bakeries from the morning and eaten on the move.
The pastry should flake and crackle rather than sit damp. Its neighbours in the case are cheese tiropita and sweet-custard bougatsa.
-
Order mezedes in an ouzeri
A dozen small plates for the middle of the table: tzatziki, fish roe dip, fried courgette, octopus, feta, olives. This is the dinner format rather than starters before a main.
You order in waves: a couple of plates, then more when they are gone. Ouzo and tsipouro arrive with the mezedes rather than the other way round.
-
Try grilled octopus
Tentacles tenderised and sun-dried, then grilled over coals and dressed with olive oil, vinegar and oregano. The classic partner to ouzo.
Tentacles hanging on a line by the door are a good sign rather than decoration. The octopus should be soft inside and charred outside.
-
Try horiatiki salad
Tomato, cucumber, pepper, onion and olives with a whole slab of feta on top, dressed with olive oil and oregano. No lettuce and no dressing beyond the oil.
The feta goes on as a slab rather than crumbled, and that is how you tell the real thing. The oil left in the bowl is mopped with bread, and that is part of the dish.
-
Try gemista
Tomatoes and peppers stuffed with herbed rice and baked with potatoes in olive oil. A summer home dish, served warm.
The meat-free version is as common as the one with mince. The potatoes around them soak up the juices and are often better than the filling.
-
Get a pie from the bakery
Cheese tiropita, koulouri sesame rings from street carts, and whatever is in the bakery window in the morning. The standard Greek breakfast on the move.
Buy koulouri from a cart in the morning; by lunch they have dried out. Bakeries open at six and sell fresh bread from the same counter.
-
Eat loukoumades Desserts and pastries
Small balls of fried dough in honey with cinnamon and walnut. Served hot and eaten immediately, while they still crunch.
The honey should be real and runny rather than syrup. The classic is honey and cinnamon alone, without chocolate or ice cream.
-
Try galaktoboureko Desserts and pastries
A semolina custard between sheets of filo, soaked in syrup after baking. The contrast of crisp pastry and soft custard is the entire dessert.
Served warm or at room temperature; straight from the fridge it loses its texture. Its neighbours in the case are baklava and kataifi.
-
Try yoghurt with honey Desserts and pastries
Thick strained sheep's yoghurt with thyme honey and walnuts. The simplest dessert, and in Greece better than most complicated ones.
Sheep's yoghurt is denser and noticeably sharper than cow's. Island thyme honey is the best edible souvenir from the country.
-
Drink a frappé Non-alcoholic drinks
Instant coffee whipped with ice and water into a dense foam, a Greek invention from the 1960s. Sweetness and milk are specified when ordering.
Say metrios for medium sweet or sketos for none, and me gala for milk. Its summer relatives are freddo espresso and freddo cappuccino.
-
Drink Greek coffee Non-alcoholic drinks
Finely ground coffee brewed in a briki and served with the grounds at the bottom. Sweetness is set during brewing, so state it when ordering.
The grounds are neither stirred nor drunk. A glass of cold water comes alongside and is drunk before the coffee.
-
Try ouzo Local alcohol
An anise spirit that clouds when water and ice are added. Drunk slowly with mezedes and water rather than in shots.
Water and ice always come with it as part of the serving. Its mainland relative is tsipouro, stronger and in some versions without anise.
