Dining out in Athens

On my recent trip to Athens I had the opportunity to eat at a variety of places. I enjoyed street food, visited many coffee shops and devoured amazing pastries. We also dined at three very different restaurants. I was really excited to try the different cuisines as I am a vegetarian and discovering new dishes to sample that were suitable for my dietary requirements is sometimes challenging when you are abroad but exciting too.

L'Audrion French Restaurant

On our first night in Athens we braved the metro and went to Plaka to sample the best French Cuisine in Athens at the award winning L’Audrion.  

Address: Plateia Filomousou 3 & Farmaki 1, Pláka Athens, Attiki, Greece Call +30 21 0324 1193

The restaurant is open Monday-Sunday from 5pm till 1am and they have live Jazz or French music on Wednesdays from 7:30-10pm. My first impression of the restaurant was the ambience, which was warm and very Mediterranean. On the menu there is large choice of French dishes that my friends voted as being super delicious. However, I did find the vegetarian options were limited but with a special request, the chef soon made me a couple of dishes to accommodate my dietary requirements. I had a salad followed by the risotto with truffle foam and eggs with asparagus. My friends also had a selection of wines that complimented the dishes to accompany each of the courses.

I think for me the best part of the meal was the wonderful array of desserts. They were simply delectable and mouth-watering. I had rice pudding with salted caramel sauce, whilst my friends enjoyed the Ile flottante (soft meringue on crème anglaise, caramel) and lemon fruit tart.

On request, L’Audrion, can organise a special event for you either in the main restaurant or in the cellar for your private event. For the party they will provide a dedicated menu prepared by their chef to pair with French/Greek wines.

 L’Audrion also offers special wine and cheese tasting events in their Cellar. We were given a tour of it and it certainly was impressive. Amongst the many wines from France and Greece there is a choice of Red, white, rose and sparkling wines. They have over 200 unique wines to choose from.

Kiouzin Greek Restaurant

During our stay we also visited Kiouzin, a Greek restaurant that serves Greek food with a twist! 

Address (Likavittou 16, Athens 106 73/Tel: +30 21 0364  7407)

The restaurant is open Monday – Saturday from 12:00 pm - 12.00 am and on Sunday from 13.00 pm - 19.00 pm when there is also live music, so it’s perfect for a family party. The restaurant is tastefully decorated in Greek style with some unusual artefacts such as hanging bicycles and wall hangings and pictures. The restaurant specialises in Greek cuisine with a twist.

I really enjoyed the palate refresher of warm vegetable soup that was served to us as we looked through the menu. There was  lots of dishes to choose from but finally we settled on Mediterranean spaghetti, zucchini balls with whipped yoghurt, triple fried Naxos potatoes with oregano and thyme, fava bean puree with warm Greek breads. My friends also tried the slow roasted lamb shank served on a bed of grains called Trachana a Greek Grain and voted it the best lamb dish they have eaten.

We finished the meal with Chocolate Ice cream, vanilla ice-cream with almonds, rice pudding mousse and an almond tart, all served with a dessert wine from the Island of Limnos.

Each and every dish was delicious and the flavours were all great. The service was excellent as was the ambience. This was a lovely dining experience.

Mironi Greek Restaurant

Another restaurant that we also visited was  Mironi- a traditional Greek restaurant offering local Greek food dining experience.

Address: Alexandrou 7, Athens 104 37/Tel: +30 21 0520 2339 

I absolutely loved the authentic look and décor of Mironi. It felt really Greek in atmosphere. Looking at the menu there was a good variety of Greek dishes to choose from. My friends and I decided to do a meze style dinner so that we could order a few different dishes and share. This way we were able to sample more dishes.

We enjoyed the Mironi salad with the house feta and fresh bread, fried zucchini, tzatziki, and tomatoes stuffed with rice. My friends also tried the goat dish. All the dishes were very authentic but my most favourite was the fried zucchini and I could have eaten the whole plate myself. We also had a house white wine from Alexandria to go with our meal.

We finished the gastronomical feast with a traditional little pastry drizzled with honey and sesame seeds called Galaktoboureko and a glass of Mastika, a pine flavoured liqueur very traditionally served in Greek Restaurants

My trip to Athens was amazing, the choice of vegetarian food was plentiful and I really enjoyed my dining experience at all the restaurants we visited.

You can follow my travels in Athens in a series of blog post that I am sharing. I have written a post about which hotels to stay at in Athens and things to do in Athens so do check them out if you are planning a trip to Athens. You can also read about my friend Heidi's post 48 hours in Athens.