RawBata.

Polychronis "Chronis" Damalas spent two decades building a reputation before opening anything under his own name. He started at Nobu in New York in his early twenties, then spent years moving through the restaurants that shaped modern pan-Asian cooking in Greece — Sea You Up, Kiku, Gaspar, Ovac at Cavo Tagoo, Cash, Izakaya. RawBata, opened in June 2024 on Lakonias Square in Ambelokipi, is the first place that's entirely his.

The name fuses raw with robata, the Japanese charcoal grill that anchors the kitchen — but the cooking leans more Greek than the name suggests. Damalas builds the menu around what's available that morning at the Panormou street market directly outside, dusting largely Greek ingredients with Asian technique rather than the reverse. Two dishes regulars return for: a 250-gram grilled gamba with butter, thyme, and fresh truffle, and a robata-charred beef diaphragm served over fava with vanilla beans and chard, also market-bought.

The room was built to match Damalas's own temperament — unfussy, glass on most sides, bare tables, a handful set out on the square itself under the trees. He spent months getting the space right before opening, wanting something that felt more like an extension of the neighbourhood than a destination restaurant dropped into it.

It runs as a family operation in the most literal sense. Damalas's wife and young child are regularly in the room; his mother can often be found at a back table cleaning herbs before service. None of this is staged for effect — it's simply how the place operates, and it shows in a dining room that feels lived-in rather than designed to look that way.

Closed Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday evenings only, Thursday through Saturday from early afternoon, Sunday for lunch. The kitchen runs on what the market provides that day, which means the menu shifts — worth asking what's good before ordering rather than fixing on a dish in advance.