Chef Ben Palmer from Yamas restaurant in Looe, Cornwall agrees adding: “A traditional Greek restaurant won’t ever sell anything other than local produce and local dishes. You won’t ever be given a menu as they have daily specials that they make. When it’s gone, it’s gone!
“Anywhere you see with pictures of dishes outside, or a fully-fledged long menu with multiple international cuisines on, will not be a genuine Greek restaurant.”
Instead of receiving a printed menu, the chef explains that diners will be told what the waiter is serving.
And Ben’s business partner executive chef Nikos Oikonomopoulous reveals the one dish you should check out to tell if the restaurant is authentically Greek or not.
He said: “The easiest spot is to look at their Greek salad, as a traditional Greek salad has no lettuce.” And he adds: “If they give you olives that are non-pitted (with stones still inside), then you know it’s a genuine Greek restaurant. ‘Most authentic restaurants harvest their own in Greece.”
Experts say the best Greek restaurants to find on holiday are usually off the beaten track. Their menus are simple and uncomplicated, focusing on fish or meat using local produce grown or caught locally.
Another good sign is when you see locals dining there so listen out to hear plenty of Greek-speaking diners.
The dishes that are Greek and recommended are ‘antikristo grilled lamb’, a speciality from mountainous areas of Crete, with the lamb slow-roasted on skewers, ‘stifado’, a beef stew in a rich tomato sauce, fresh vegetables like courgettes, wild greens (horta), broccoli, beetroots, stuffed cabbage leaves – served with local grilled or oven-baked meat, such as lamb chops or goat.
Handmade savoury pies, maybe filled with courgette or pumpkin and fresh fish, are also good genuine dishes to look out for.
But what else to avoid? Fake plants, over-the-top decor, and “barkers” trying to entice you inside from the street.
Plate smashing might also be best avoided. While smashing plates is authentically Greek, this tradition has faded out over the years, and it’s not to the extreme that tourists might expect. Popular in the 1960s and 1970s, it is now seen as a naff tourist attraction rather than a traditional Greek custom.
