Syntagma
Ikigai Japanese Market.
Athens’ first new-generation Japanese market.
The first new-generation Japanese grocery and market in Athens, at Skoufou 15 near Syntagma. A Green Garlic Management venue — the same group behind Birdman, Ekiben, Vezené, and Manári — organised around three axes: delicatessen and pantry, butchery, and Japanese liquor. Alongside them: handmade ceramics by Greek and Japanese artists, kitchenware, cookbooks. Open daily 10:00 to midnight.
Ikigai is the Green Garlic Management venture that sits outside the restaurant format. Where Birdman, Ekiben, and Vezené are places to sit and eat, Ikigai is a place to take things home — a Japanese grocery-boutique on Skoufou 15, a short walk from Syntagma, organised around the idea that Japanese ingredients and culture deserve a serious, permanent address in Athens rather than a corner shelf in a generic deli.
The shop runs on three axes. Delicatessen and pantry: Japanese everyday staples and harder-to-find ingredients, from miso and dashi to vinegars, fermented pastes, and the kind of condiments that change the logic of a home kitchen. A butchery section, sourcing cuts specific to Japanese cooking. A liquor store stocked with sake, shochu, and Japanese whisky, alongside a wine selection. Threading through all of it: a substantial art de la table section with handmade ceramics by Greek and Japanese artists, kitchenware, cooking equipment, accessories, and cookbooks.
Reason for being. Japanese ingredients with a permanent address in Athens.
The name means “reason for being” in Japanese — the concept that sits at the intersection of what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. Ari Vezéné and the GGM team applied it here as a retail philosophy: a shop built around genuine obsession with Japanese culture, not a branding exercise in oriental aesthetics.
Open daily 10:00 to midnight. Online shop at ikigaimarket.gr for anyone outside Athens or unable to make it to Skoufou.
2022
Year
€€
Price
