The Table

Where Athens Eats.

Restaurants and cafés where the city's culinary discipline meets its architectural sensibility.

Plyta

Plyta sits on Plateia Ambrosiou Plyta in Pangrati — a proper neighbourhood square with a covered terrace that runs from lunch through to the last round. The kitchen handles grills, salads, and honest food that makes sense alongside a glass of house wine.

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Ergon Group

Taverna Ermou

Ergon's first fish-led taverna, opened September 2025 on the ground floor of Ergon House Ermou — the group's hotel, still under construction above. Culinary director Panagiotis Xanthis builds the menu on classic Athenian seafood references, served from an open kitchen with a small stone courtyard and a soundtrack of old Greek songs. Heavy on retsina and Greek vineyard wine, including a house white made with the Manolesakis estate. Daily, 10:00 to midnight.

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Monastiraki

Feyrouz Athens

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Kerameikos

Focu Sauvage

Focu Sauvage opened in June 2026 in a 1930s stone building in Kerameikos, where the Nomade et Sauvage team settled after years of nomadic pop-ups. Everything is cooked over fire — meats, fish, vegetables, legumes, wild foods — in wood-fired ovens or over open flames. Bar by Michalis Stelio; Greek wines at sensible prices.

Metaxourgeio

Seychelles

A building that's fed Athens since King Otto's stables stood here, later a tripe-soup kafenio called Bahamas. Seychelles opened in December 2013 and made Avdi Square a destination; closed quietly in 2023 and returned months later under founding chef Fotis Foteinoglou (now also of FITA) alongside Kleomenis Zournatsis and Yannis Markadakis. Same beloved dishes — handmade papardelle with kavourmas and galotyri leads the menu — sourced now from small producers across Greece, with service rebuilt from the ground up. Open daily from 13:30.

CURATED STAYS

Sleep Well.

Hotels chosen for their architecture, their quiet, and their position.

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The terrace of Papaioannou seafood restaurant overlooking the marina at Mikrolimano in Piraeus, boats and the sea in the background

Vouliagmeni

Papaioannou Restaurant

The Kavouri branch of the Papaioannou seafood family, set on a former Mythos by Divani site since 2021, with a deck that runs almost to the water. Chef Giorgos Papaioannou applies the same Doric simplicity that built his name at Mikrolimano — restraint over embellishment, the fish doing the talking. Widely considered the most precise of his three Athens kitchens, even at full capacity. Daily, 13:00 to 23:30.

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Ex Machina

Ex Machina opened in 2023 on Empedokleous in Pangrati under chef Adam, serving sharing plates built on Greek produce — dayboat seafood, Ibérico pig from Ancient Olympia, eggs from Messinia — fused with Asian and Middle Eastern technique. Spices sourced directly from Cairo's Khan el-Khalili market. Open Monday to Saturday from 18:30.

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Syntagma

Meat the Greek

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Ano Petralona

Taverna Oikonomou

A 1930 magheirio on the corner of Troon and Kydantidon in Ano Petralona, now in its third stewardship: founder Yiannis Oikonomou, then Kostas Diamantis for over two decades, and since 2023 Filippos Tsangridis, who bought it intent on changing as little as possible. The same cook, Garoufallia, has run the kitchen for twenty-five years. Fifteen to twenty stewed dishes daily, no microwave, paintings by Alekos Fasianos on the walls, olive trees over the outdoor tables. Closes in on its hundredth year in 2030.

Ambelokipi

RawBata

Chef Chronis Damalas's first solo restaurant, on Lakonias Square in Ambelokipi since June 2024. Two decades of pan-Asian pedigree — Nobu New York, Cavo Tagoo, Izakaya — turned toward Greek ingredients bought each morning at the market outside, finished on a robata charcoal grill. A family operation: his wife and child in the room, his mother cleaning herbs at a back table. Closed Monday and Tuesday.

BARS & APERITIVO

Drinks After.

Where the evening goes after the last plate is cleared.

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Psyrri

One Burger

One Burger at Agathonos 7 keeps it simple: three options (classic, spicy, vegetarian), a house sauce, and crispy fries. The interior — unusually considered for a burger place — is consistently praised alongside the food. Open daily noon to midnight.

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Kolonos Local

Taverna ton Filon

A 1958 grill taverna in Kolonos, abandoned for a decade, brought back by chef Yiannis Mousios and sommelier Giorgos Kontorizos. They kept the room as it was — the same chairs, the same two paintings on the wall — and rebuilt the kitchen around seasonal Greek dishes and a wine list devoted entirely to the Greek vineyard. Evenings only, Tuesday through Sunday.

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Koukaki

Mani Mani

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New

Syntagma

Aigli Zappeiou

Aigli Zappeiou reopens as an all-day bar-restaurant, an open-air cinema, and three event spaces inside a building that has served the National Garden since 1904. Chef Chrysanthos Karamolegkos runs the kitchen at Aigli Zappa, folding Greek staples into a wider register. The cinema alone justifies the walk through the gardens from Syntagma.

Kerameikos

Armando Pizzeria

Armando Pizzeria on Salaminos in Kerameikos runs coffee in the morning and Neapolitan pizza in the evenings. Long hours, honest price, and a pistachio cream pizza that people order without being told to.

THE PEOPLE

Meet the Chefs.

The founders and faces behind the restaurants in the edit.

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Neos Kosmos

Amphibian

Amphibian occupies the sixth and seventh floors of Onassis Stegi, an open kitchen run by chef patron Tasos Mantis and the team behind Soil. The menu moves between Mediterranean and international, built for sharing, shaped by what local producers bring in that week. The rooftop clears to the Acropolis on one side, the city on the other.

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TOPA

Topa sits on the pedestrian street Fokionos Negri in Kypseli — a high-end kafenio by the Oinoscent team: co-founders Danis Agapitos and Aris Sklavenitis, with chef and co-owner Giannis Tsikoudakis, born in Chania. The name means 'cheers' in Basque. The menu places Cretan meze and Basque tapas side by side without forcing a fusion. Wine and vermouth curated by Sklavenitis. Walk-in only; no reservations.

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Kolonaki

Iodio

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Glyfada

Ekiben Kitchen South

Ekiben's second Athens chapter, on Laodikis in Glyfada. The same bento-driven kitchen that built a loyal following near Syntagma, housed now in a 205-square-metre Flux Office design built around a glass-brick façade that filters daylight and glows amber after dark. Open kitchen, counter seating that runs straight through the façade onto the street, a take-away window for anyone in a hurry. Daily, 13:00 to midnight.

Exarchia

Ama Lachei

Ama Lachei sits in a converted neoclassical building on Kallidromiou, the main pedestrian street cutting through Exarchia. The menu is traditional — oven-roasted chickpeas, taramosalata, seasonal grills — and the crowd is local. Open from lunch until the neighbourhood winds down.

FROM THE JOURNAL

The Greek Pantry.

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Monastiraki

Manári

Manári takes the cooking over live fire — lamb chops, whole fish, seasonal vegetables from the charcoal. The setting is Plateia Agion Theodoron, a quiet square off the edge of Monastiraki. Part of the Birdman group alongside Ekiben and Vezene, with the same rigour applied to the grill.

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NewOpen Kitchen

Philos Athens

Eight tables and an open kitchen on Solonos 32 in Kolonaki. Organic produce, a menu built around serious brunch and light lunch — wild mushroom scramble, Salmon Philos Royale, fresh-squeezed herbal juices. The room reads as assembled over time: murals, vintage wood, worn surfaces kept. Reservations essential at weekends. Closed Mondays.

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Moschato

Ta Kanaria

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Piraeus

Dourabeis

Dourabeis has been on the Piraeus waterfront since 1932 — one of the last of the old Mikrolimano fish restaurants that hasn't been smoothed into a tourist destination. The catch is bought daily, the menu changes with the season, and the terrace looks out over the harbour.

New

Pangrati

Akra

All-day dining spot in Pangrati run by chefs Giannis Loukakis and Spiros Pediaditakis, where the menu changes daily and almost everything passes through a wood-fired oven. A small room with a counter facing the open kitchen, a bakery section at the front, and a Michelin Bib Gourmand to back it up.

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Ano Petralona

Hanky Panky

Hanky Panky landed in Ano Petralona with a menu of smash burgers, a neon-lit dining room, and the kind of energy that keeps people queuing. Street food with cosmological ambitions.

New

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The Journal

Athens, in long form.

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Where Athens Eats.

Plyta

Taverna Ermou

Feyrouz Athens

Focu Sauvage

Seychelles

Sleep Well.

Papaioannou Restaurant

Ex Machina

Meat the Greek

Taverna Oikonomou

RawBata

Drinks After.

One Burger

Taverna ton Filon

Mani Mani

Aigli Zappeiou

Armando Pizzeria

Meet the Chefs.

Amphibian

TOPA

Iodio

Ekiben Kitchen South

Ama Lachei

The Greek Pantry.

Manári

Philos Athens

Ta Kanaria

Dourabeis

Akra

Join theCollection.

Hanky Panky

Athens, in long form.

Dig Anywhere. Find Everything.

Four Eyes in the Sky

The City That Sounds Like This Now

Join the
Collection.