Last week I wrote about some of the restaurants and shops (and one fabulous hotel) I visited while I was in Athens. Welcome to Part 2 of that report!
I’ve already mentioned Coeliac Greece’s extremely helpful language card. There’s also an article in English on the site, explaining that while Greek cuisine has many naturally gluten-free options, there are some things to watch out for (sauces, as always, but also breadcrumbs to add crunch to certain dishes). Here’s the rest of my list of places I visited and recommend.
Greek Stories: Located across the street from the Acropolis Museum, this is the rare Athens restaurant where literally every item on the food menu is gluten-free. (There are a couple of beers on the drinks menu that aren’t, but there’s also wine, cider, and gluten-free beer.) I had the best evening there, savoring fried saganaki cheese with fig jam, a fava-bean dip with capers and caramelized onions paired with pita bread, and a traditional moussaka with ground beef and béchamel sauce. For dessert, I went with a classic baklava, which was amazing. Later, it hit me that this was the first time I’d had baklava since my celiac diagnosis. You can check out the menu in advance, and there’s even a Facebook group.
Balcony Restaurant & Bar: Another great find that’s close to the Acropolis Museum — only instead of dining at street level, this spot is atop an early 20th-century building with a small elevator inside a wrought-iron cage. You can dine indoors, but the balcony itself is so much more inviting. The menu promises modern Greek cuisine inspired from traditional regional dishes, and offerings change frequently because the chef relies on seasonal produce. Gluten-free dishes aren’t marked on the menu, so I ended up chatting with a couple of waiters and with the manager about what I could have. In the end, I started with a modern version of a traditional Greek salad with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, fermented shallot, sea fennel, and anevato cheese; it required the most minor of modifications (no croutons), while the roasted lamb with a potato puree required no modification at all.
2Mazi: This was our splurge meal in Athens, and let me say upfront that it was worth it. The location was extraordinary: after you pass through the wrought-iron entryway, you find yourself in an incredible indoor/outdoor room. What does that mean? Well, you’re in a dining area bracketed by walls — decorated with art and books and other items — and there are a few sections of ceiling that hold tiered crystal chandeliers. But the dining room itself is open-air. (2Mazi also has an enclosed dining room, for inclement weather.) There is a tasting menu — which can be prepared gluten-free — but since I ate nonstop in Athens, I ordered à la carte. My starter salad of greens with almond-encrusted goat cheese was drizzled with balsamic vinegar and honey, and my main-course sea bream was the best fish dish I ate on the trip. For dessert, I had a passion-fruit mousse served in a meringue with mango coulis. While the menu wasn’t marked with gluten-free options, the staff was well-versed in options and careful about preparation.
Avocado: This vegetarian restaurant’s tagline is “Food for life,” and it offers a carefully annotated menu that clearly marks gluten-free items as well as noting vegan options. I really enjoyed the salad of oven-roasted beets served with goat cheese and sheep cheese. The pasta dishes can all be prepared gluten-free, and I opted for the Penne Avocado, which mixed zucchini, mozzarella, Kalamata olives, capers, and avocado in a cream sauce.
4 Seasons Organic Food Market: Just down the block from Avocado on Nikis Street is this excellent shop. The array of gluten-free products was the best I saw in my week in Athens, and included Schär, Santiveri Noglut, Freee, Bezgluten, Kookie Cat, and others. There were also plenty of dairy-free, nut-free, and other allergy-aware supplies on the shelves. On weekdays, this shop keeps unusually long hours (8:30am to 9:30pm), but they also offer a delivery service in case you can’t make it there in person.
Bonus recommendation: Last week, after Part 1 of this post went live, I heard from Rebecca Williams, who writes Reset Inflammation, a Substack filled with recipes that are both gluten-free and plant-based. She was in Athens at the time and recommended Veganaki, a 100% gluten-free vegan restaurant. It looks terrific, and I’ve added it to my own list of places to try next time I’m in Athens.
PS You already know that my day job is writing crime novels, but did you know that I also lead workshops and reading groups for Brooklyn’s legendary Center for Fiction? My next course is about Unreliable Narrators, starting October 9th via Zoom. For more information, click here!