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Astypalaia Restaurants, Cafes and Bars
The cuisine in Astylapaia is outstanding, possibly due to
catering for the discerning Greek tourists (and not suffering from the
overload and dilution of mass tourism) but mainly – I think – coming
from a genuine desire to please with good ingredients and a home cooking
style, overall at a reasonable price. Horta (mountain greens, spinach,
dandelion etc in olive oil and lemon juice) is a staple of Greek meals
and I’ve often found it sold out or unavailable on many of the islands
we’ve visited, but not so on Astypalaia and always served in generous
portions. You can also find several traditional items such as Goats Head
soup, if that's your thing (and I don’t mean the 1973 Rolling Stones
album). The wine lists are often surprisingly extensive and (unlike many
of the ‘robust’ house wines we’ve had in Greece over the years) the
barrel wine/house wine was generally quite light and gentle on the
palate.
With a tremendous range of delights on offer it is well worth exploring the various tavernas and cafes, as well as soaking up the ambience in bars and ouzeries that attract tourists and local characters alike. The places that are featured on this page are just those that we discovered/had time to try out and there are still many more to be experienced.
CHORA
Aiolos
Just down from the windmills on the road west out of
Chora.
Yes it is a pizza restaurant doing eat
in, takeaway and a home delivery service, but their pizzas are excellent
and they also have a decent range of pasta dishes available. We decided
to sit outside with a view of the kastro and a steady flow of pizza
boxes passing by – a good sign in itself. I plumped for the ‘Greek’
pizza with Feta cheese and it was great, washed down with some Mythos
and a tzatziki starter.
Ageri (AYEPI)
Opposite the windmills, in the middle of the run of five
café/bar/tavernas.
Ageri have a tapas/mezedes-style approach which works equally well as a snack or as a main meal. We visited Ageri several times and had some excellent meals with very friendly service from the waitress who comes and sits at the table to take your order (one evening we left our shopping behind and she kindly took it into the back of the taverna for safe keeping until we remembered).
Over the course of several evenings we had fava (beans roughly mashed
with a fine sliced onion garnish and lemon), oregano-sprinkled fried
potatoes, a smoked herring fillet with lemon and oil, mussels in tomato
and onion sauce with saganaki-style cheese on top, peppers baked in
cheese, baked aubergine, Greek salad, spotted dogfish with skordalia
(mashed potato with oil and garlic), 4 cheeses (melted in an oval dish),
horta, zucchini balls, little shrimps (crunchy, tasty little prawns),
rolled eggplant (baked aubergine in tomato sauce with melted cheese) –
the bread had caraway/fennel seeds on the crust which was a nice touch.
Barbaros
Walk up into the Chora past the windmills and the ouzeri, turn right at
the gift shop and Barbaros is just there. If you walk through to the
back there are a few tables by large open windows that give a view over
Livadi bay (and the reflection of the moon on the sea); there are also
indoor tables and others gathered in the quiet courtyard at the front.
This is quite an upmarket restaurant that takes a great deal of care
over presentation and setting.
We had grilled vegetables (see picture): a tower of veg’ consisting of
baked aubergine/tomato layers covered in grilled red and green peppers
sliced to resemble an octopus/squid, with sliced/grilled courgettes,
topped with a grilled mushroom, garnished with parsley and dressed with
olive oil and balsamic vinegar. We also had three grilled red mullet
(barbounia) on a bed of lettuce, and baked chopped aubergine mixed with
bulghar wheat with a cinnamon and tomato dressing – very nice indeed. We
accompanied it with a half carafe of rose.
Meltemi
One of the bars opposite the windmills
(nearest to the internet café) they have a good range of deserts and
drinks. We had liminopitta (lemon cheesecake) and fruitosalata (fruit
salad) both of which were generous and delicious. With comfortable
surroundings and a mellow vibe we struggled to escape orbit and leave
the scatter cushions and padded bench seat.
Notos Café Bar
Next to the medical centre and handy
periptero (kiosk) they provide a good range of snacks and drinks, as
well as free WiFi and backgammon boards. A great place to watch the
comings and goings by that little corner.
777
Opposite the windmills, comfortable
seating, friendly service, good value and free backgammon boards – it
became a favourite late night haunt. A great place to go for dessert
after your meal, we had lemon cheesecake, yoghurt and honey, and various
cakes, as well as Mythos, wine and Metaxa (not all on the same night, I
hasten to add).
SKALA/ Pera Gialos
Aitherio (The Anglers Arms)
Just up from the bus stop on the left hand side with tables overlooking the harbour this taverna has a fascinating range of dishes and is well worth trying out (opposite Maistrali). The traditional psomi (bread) cover arrived, but with both white and brown bread and an olive tapenade. We had a hummus starter, which was garnished with a spoonful of harissa paste, which was nice and spicy. A four-inch wide tomato was hollowed out and filled with a mixture of tuna and lemony salad cream. Spinach Saganaki turned out to be fabulously creamy spinach Florentine, expertly cooked so that the egg yolk had a hint of runniness. The 'Doctor’s spaghetti' was freshly-cooked with mushrooms, carrots, peppers, onions and subtle Indian spices with optional Parmesan. We also had a nice bottle of white wine. They even provided mint-flavoured toothpicks at the end.
The waiter spoke good English and we asked him about the big old bruiser
of a cat that was hanging around and had evidently been in one fight too
many (like a boxer at the end of his career), the waiter told us that
the poor old thing had gained a nasty gash on its throat the previous
year and the taverna owners had applied some cream and bandaged him up,
and he survived. That sort of kindness speaks very highly of the
character of the owners of Aitherio.
Akrogiali
On the far end of the beach this taverna is great for both lunch and dinner with excellent home cooking.
On the day we spent on the beach we had a lunch of beetroot and horta salad in olive oil and lemon juice, bean balls (courgette and chick pea minty fritters/patties), deep fried feta cheese balls, a nice string tzatziki and a couple of cold Mythos. (Gentle Greek bees crowded the mist-like flowers on the tips of the overhead tamarisk).
One evening we ventured down the hill for dinner and arrived relatively early (about 8.30pm) to bag a table on the beach under the tamarisks with the sea lapping at the harbour beach and the moon over the kastro. It was very busy, with a few people in a holding-formation waiting for a table to become available, but the service was still good. We had superb shrimps in a tomato sauce (large, tiger prawn size), very tasty barbounia (red mullet), ‘boiled chick peas’ a generous plate of melt-in-the-mouth chick peas in an olive oil and tomato sauce and ‘potato soufflé’ which was diced potato baked in a white cheese sauce topped with red cheese and ham, and a kilo of house white wine – splendid.
Akti
On the road that the bus takes out of Pera Gialos look out for the sign at the edge of the road to Akti. You drop down some steps towards the bay and you’ll find a group of tables on tiers as well as a fabulous cluster of tables built into the rocky outcrops overlooking the harbour and with a view up to the kastro. The waiter buzzes up and down the labyrinth of steps, reeling off the day’s menu, taking orders and delivering trays laden with food – he must be a very fit chap, if there was an Olympic event in waiting tables he'd do rather well.
They had a good range to choose from. We had a horiatiki salata (Greek salad) Zucchini balls, horta, fisherman’s spaghetti and stuffed squid, along with a kilo of white wine. Everything was cooked perfectly and the stuffed squid was outstanding: the evening concluded with complimentary loukamades (doughnut-like balls with honey). An excellent meal in a beautiful setting with wicca lampshades (like fishermen’s lights) swinging gently in the breeze above rock-hewn table places, accompanied by the gentle lapping of the waves against the rocks and the stars above.
Astropalia
Just up from the harbour area on the steep road that takes traffic up to the Chora, a short step of steps takes you to a veranda seating twenty or so and a cavernous interior beyond, which looks like it could cater for large parties. The charming owner told us what he had (in Greek) and we chose accordingly. The tzatziki was nice and strongly garlic flavoured, just as we like it. The dolmades were home made, delicate and delicious. The gigantes (giant beans/butter beans) were soft and beautiful, benefiting from slow cooking in tomato/oil and had a hint of sweet chestnut flavour as they melted in the mouth – possibly the best gigantes we’ve ever had. The house white was light and gentle on the palate and we were made to feel most welcome.
Maistrali
Just up from the bus stop on the left hand side with tables overlooking the harbour this taverna has a good range of dishes and is well worth trying out (opposite Aitherio). We had fried potatoes, a generous portion of Horta, delicious aubergines and grilled squid in a mustard/olive oil/lemon sauce, which was excellent, along with a good house white wine. The friendly and helpful waitress brought us complimentary melon and a glass each of tsiporou. A small kitten and her mother kept us entertained for hours.
Vouli Café
On the corner opposite the bus stop they appear to be open from early morning right through to late night and serve a good breakfast and a variety of snacks and drinks. A great place to watch the Kalymnos ferry dock and disembark its passengers and vehicles from a safe distance, as well as being a useful meeting place.
LIVADI
Allegro
A seafront café/bar overlooking the beach with colourful décor and seating and ambient musical vibes. We had several NESCAFÉ Frappés here, having walked from Chora, and also a cheese and tomato toasted sandwich. Friendly service and easy to allow time to drift past.
The staff also look after some of the beach umbrellas and sunbeds and will bring drinks/snacks to your sunbed on request.
Astropelos
Having driven back from Ag. Konstantinos along the dirt tracks in our hired jeep we decided to stop off for a sunset meal in Livadi. Astropelos is one of the seafront tavernas and offers a good range of dishes with friendly/helpful service. We had kalamari, white bait, stuffed cabbage, a salad of lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes and carrot with a lovely sweet balsamic vinegar dressing and fried potatoes. A wonderful spot to watch the sun go down and enjoy the twilit electric-blue sea until the moon is reflected in the millpond water as fishing boats chugged about their business.
The traditional local tyripitta – sweet shortcrust pastry (makes a nice change from filo) sprinkled with sesame seeds and filled with feta is a perfect beach snack (head out of Chora on the Livadi road a little way along on the right is Iliana selling a variety of local preserved fruits, cakes and tyripitta).
MALTEZANA
Astakos
In the second bay round with a view of
Ligno and Hondro islets, Astakos is a delightful, friendly, family-run
taverna. Little English is spoken but the menu is in both Greek and
English and the old rule applies – if there’s a price next to the dish
in pencil then they probably have it. We went here several times, for
Frappés, lunch and dinner. The tinkle of goat bells in the background
and the languorous lapping of the waves against the shallow sandy beach
made for a heady combination.
Over those few days we had tzatziki, tomato salad, large grilled prawns
(referred to as ‘shrimps’), green bean salad, fried potatoes,
meletzanasalata (aubergine puree) and two large mullet.