Traditional Greek Food: What to Eat in Greece

What should you eat in Greece, and what comes first? Start with horiatiki, the Greek salad, and a souvlaki or gyros pita from a street stall. Add moussaka at a taverna, grilled octopus with ouzo, and a slice of baklava or warm loukoumades to finish. Greek meals are shared: order several starters for the middle of the table before the mains arrive, and eat dinner late.

Order meze to share. Starters go in the middle of the table for everyone, not a plate per person.
Eat dinner late. Taverna dinner hours begin around 8pm and peak around 10pm.
A tip of 5 to 15 percent is customary, since Greek restaurants add no automatic service charge.

The Greek dishes to eat first

Greek salad (Horiatiki)

Iconic dish

From: nationwide
When: lunch or dinner, especially summer
Price: €7 to €13 at a taverna
Contains: dairy (feta); vegetarian

Horiatiki, the Greek salad, carries no lettuce: just tomato, cucumber, onion, green pepper and olives, topped with a slab of feta and dressed with olive oil and oregano. Order it for the middle of the table at the first taverna of the trip: it's on menus everywhere, usually shared as a side rather than served as a plate for one.

Greek salad (horiatiki) with tomato, cucumber, feta and olives, served in Hydra

Tzatziki

Iconic dish

From: nationwide
When: any meal
Price: €3.50 to €5.50 a portion
Contains: dairy; vegetarian

Order tzatziki for the bread that arrives before anything else: strained yogurt whipped with grated cucumber, garlic and olive oil, sometimes with a trace of dill. The same mixture goes inside a souvlaki or gyros wrap.

Tzatziki finished with a drizzle of olive oil and mint leaves

Dolmades

Iconic dish

From: nationwide
When: starter, any meal
Price: about €15.50 for a meat-filled portion at a sit-down restaurant
Contains: vegetarian version common; meat version also widespread

Dolmades are grape leaves rolled around rice and herbs, sometimes with minced meat, occasionally finished with an egg-lemon sauce. Ask which filling the kitchen uses: the rice-and-herb version is common and the meat-filled one is widespread too, and either may come cold or warm.

Stuffed grape leaves (dolmades) with lemon slices on a decorative plate

Saganaki

Iconic dish

From: nationwide
When: meze
Price: about €12 at a sit-down restaurant, cheaper at a casual taverna
Contains: dairy; vegetarian

Saganaki takes its name from the small frying pan it's cooked in. A thick slice of firm cheese, usually kefalotyri, kasseri or graviera, is pan-fried until the crust turns golden and served with lemon. Squeeze the lemon over it straight away, while the cheese is still hot from the pan.

A shrimp version, garides saganaki, swaps the cheese for prawns, sautéed and deglazed with ouzo, then finished in tomato sauce with crumbled feta.

Fava

Iconic dish

From: Santorini (Cyclades)
When: meze
Price: about €9.50 for a restaurant portion
Contains: vegan

Santorini's own fava is the most famous version of this smooth purée of yellow split peas, finished with olive oil and often capers or caramelized onion. Scoop it up with bread rather than a fork.

The 10-day Greek islands itinerary books a Santorini dinner around fava and tomatokeftedes.

Fava, Santorini's split-pea purée, served at a restaurant in Monolithos, Santorini

Keftedes

Iconic dish

From: nationwide
When: meze
Contains: meat

Keftedes are fried meatballs of ground beef or lamb, bound with breadcrumbs and lifted with onion, mint and parsley. Order them as the meat on a shared meze spread, alongside the dips and the fried cheese.

Greek keftedes, fried meatballs, sizzling in a pan

Moussaka

Iconic dish

From: nationwide; the modern layered form is credited to chef Nikolaos Tselementes in the 1920s
When: lunch or dinner
Price: €10 to €16 for a taverna portion, from €7 at a casual spot to €25 at a sit-down restaurant in Athens
Contains: meat; dairy, egg

Moussaka layers sliced eggplant, minced meat in tomato sauce and a baked béchamel top, the eggplant fried or roasted before it goes in. Order it at a taverna, where a portion runs €10 to €16, rather than an Athens sit-down restaurant charging up to €25 for the same dish.

A baked slice of moussaka served with vegetables

Souvlaki

Iconic dish

From: nationwide street food
When: lunch or dinner, any day
Price: €2.50 to €4 a pita nationwide
Contains: meat (pork, chicken or lamb)

Get souvlaki as a pita rather than a plate: the pita is the cheap street-food version, while a souvlaki plate at a taverna runs €12 to €18. The skewered meat comes straight off the stick or pulled into a warm pita with tomato, onion and tzatziki.

The 4-day Athens itinerary builds a day around this kind of street food.

Grilled chicken souvlaki skewers served with pita and onion rings

Gyros

Iconic dish

From: nationwide street food
When: lunch or dinner, any day
Price: €3.80 to €5 for a pita in Athens, €5 to €8 for a plate
Contains: meat (pork or chicken)

A gyros pita costs more outside Athens: up to about €5.30 in Thessaloniki and as much as €6.50 at some places in Crete, where tourist areas push prices higher. The meat is pork or chicken roasted on a vertical rotisserie, its outer layers sliced off thin as they cook, then wrapped into the same pita as souvlaki, with tomato, onion and tzatziki.

A gyros wrapped in paper with tomato and fries, held up in a narrow street

Grilled octopus

Iconic dish

From: coastal regions and islands
When: meze with ouzo, or a main
Price: €14 to €22 a portion
Contains: seafood

In harbors you'll see octopus hung out to dry in the sun until it's ready to cook. Grilled, the tentacles come charred and dressed with olive oil, oregano and vinegar or lemon; order a glass of ouzo or white wine alongside.

Grilled octopus dressed with olive oil, lemon and parsley on a plate

Spanakopita

Iconic dish

From: nationwide
When: breakfast, snack or starter
Price: €1.50 to €2.50 for a bakery slice
Contains: dairy, gluten; vegetarian (a vegan Lenten version without cheese or egg is also common)

Buy a slice at a bakery for breakfast: spinach and feta wrapped in crisp, buttery layers of phyllo, baked until the top shatters at the first bite. If you skip dairy or egg, ask for the Lenten version, made without either.

Slices of spanakopita showing the spinach and feta filling between layers of phyllo

Tiropita

Iconic dish

From: nationwide
When: breakfast or snack, any time
Contains: dairy, gluten; vegetarian

Pick tiropita over spanakopita when you want the cheese without the spinach: the same crisp phyllo, wrapped around feta or a mix of cheeses instead.

A tiropita of golden phyllo with melted cheese, on a blue glass plate

Baklava

Iconic dish

From: nationwide
When: dessert, any time
Price: €3 to €5 a piece in Athens
Contains: dairy, gluten, nuts; vegetarian

The Greek version of baklava is typically made with chopped walnuts, though northern Greece and some islands prefer pistachio. Cinnamon flavors the nuts, and the phyllo layers are soaked in a honey syrup. Buy it by the piece, or by the kilo for a box to bring home.

Kadaifi is the same syrup-soaked family, built from shredded, noodle-like phyllo instead of layered sheets.

A piece of baklava glossy with syrup, showing layers of phyllo and walnuts

Loukoumades

Iconic dish

From: nationwide
When: dessert or snack, any time
Price: €5 to €8 a portion
Contains: dairy, gluten; vegetarian

Order loukoumades hot from the fryer, the way they're traditionally served. The deep-fried dough balls, closer to doughnut holes than to any pastry on a shelf, come soaked in hot honey syrup and dusted with cinnamon.

Loukoumades soaked in honey syrup and dusted with cinnamon

Ouzo

Iconic dish

From: Lesvos
When: aperitif, with meze
Price: €3 to €4 a glass at a taverna or bar, €8 to €12 for a 0.7-liter supermarket bottle
Contains: vegan

Ouzo, the anise-flavored spirit, turns cloudy white the moment water hits it. Drink it neat, with water or over ice, beside a plate of seafood meze. Grilled octopus and gavros, small fried anchovies, are its classic partners.

A glass and small bottle of ouzo on a table of meze

More meze to try

Taramosalata, a cured fish-roe dip, is the star of Clean Monday, the first day of Lent.

Meze	What it is	Most at home in
Taramosalata	dip of cured fish roe blended with bread or potato, olive oil and lemon	tied to the first day of Lent
Melitzanosalata	smoky dip of roasted, mashed eggplant with garlic and olive oil	nationwide
Kolokithokeftedes	pan-fried zucchini fritters, often with feta and herbs	nationwide
Tomatokeftedes	fried tomato and onion fritters made with small, intense local tomatoes	Santorini
Skordalia	garlic dip thickened with potato or bread, often served with fried salt cod	nationwide
Tirokafteri (Chtipiti)	spicy whipped feta dip with red pepper	nationwide
Dakos	Cretan barley rusk topped with chopped tomato, crumbled feta or mizithra and oregano	Crete
Gavros	fresh anchovies, deep-fried or marinated in vinegar	nationwide, coastal
Bouyiourdi	spicy baked feta with tomato and peppers in a clay dish	northern Greece
Tirokroketes	fried croquettes of mixed cheeses	nationwide
Lahanosalata	shredded cabbage and carrot salad dressed with olive oil and lemon	a winter counterpart to horiatiki
Feta	brined sheep's and goat's milk cheese, PDO-protected, served alone with olive oil and oregano (also baked in honey and phyllo as feta me meli)	nationwide
Greek cheeses	kasseri and kefalotyri (firm and salty), graviera (nutty) and manouri (soft) beyond feta	various PDO regions

Mains and pies beyond the classics

Revithada is Sifnos's Sunday lunch, chickpeas baked for hours in a clay pot until they turn creamy.

Dish	What it is	When
Pastitsio	baked pasta casserole layered with minced-meat tomato sauce and béchamel	lunch or dinner
Gemista	tomatoes, peppers or zucchini hollowed out and stuffed with rice and herbs, baked	summer lunch
Stifado	rabbit, veal, beef or lamb braised with small whole onions, wine and cinnamon	autumn or winter
Giouvetsi	lamb or beef braised with tomato and simmered with kritharaki, orzo-shaped pasta, until it soaks up the sauce	lunch or dinner
Kleftiko	lamb slow-cooked, traditionally sealed in parchment, until it falls off the bone	often a Sunday dish
Briam	mixed vegetables roasted together in olive oil	summer
Fasolada	thick white bean soup with tomato, carrot and celery, often called Greece's national dish	lunch or dinner
Papoutsakia	eggplant halves stuffed with minced meat and topped with béchamel	lunch or dinner
Bougatsa	phyllo filled with sweet semolina custard (or a savory cheese version)	breakfast, especially in Thessaloniki
Gigantes plaki	giant butter beans baked in tomato sauce, the beans often from the Prespa lakes	any meal
Horta	boiled wild greens dressed with olive oil and lemon	side, any meal
Calamari	squid rings, lightly battered and fried	meze or main
Revithada	chickpeas slow-baked in a clay pot with olive oil, onion and lemon, also fried into crisp revithokeftedes	Sunday lunch, especially on Sifnos
Avgolemono	chicken broth thickened with whisked egg and lemon, also the finishing sauce in some versions of psarosoupa, Greece's fish soup	any meal, popular in cold weather

Desserts beyond baklava and loukoumades

Greece keeps a separate shelf of sweets for Easter and Christmas, alongside the ones sold year-round.

Dessert	What it is	When
Galaktoboureko	semolina custard baked between phyllo layers, soaked in lemon-cinnamon syrup	any time
Greek yogurt with honey	thick strained yogurt topped with honey and chopped walnuts	breakfast or dessert
Rizogalo	creamy rice pudding, often dusted with cinnamon	any time
Semolina halva	dense sweet of semolina, sugar and olive oil or butter, flavored with cinnamon	any time
Portokalopita	cake of shredded phyllo soaked in an orange-syrup custard	any time
Amygdalota	chewy almond-flour cookies, popular on the Aegean islands	any time
Loukoumi	starch-and-sugar jelly sweet flavored with rose, bergamot or mastiha, a Syros craft	any time
Spoon sweets	whole fruit preserved in syrup, served in a small dish with a spoon	a welcome treat with coffee
Tsoureki	sweet, braided bread, sometimes flavored with mastic	Easter
Melomakarona	egg-shaped semolina cookies soaked in honey syrup	Christmas
Kourabiedes	butter-almond shortbread dusted heavily in powdered sugar	Christmas
Arni sti souvla	a whole lamb or goat, spit-roasted for hours over charcoal	Easter Sunday

What to drink in Greece

Crete pours its own pomace spirit, tsikoudia, often free at the end of a taverna meal, and Chios and Naxos each grow the one ingredient behind their own single-island liqueur.

Drink	What it is	From
Tsipouro	unaged pomace brandy, sometimes anise-flavored	Thessaly, Macedonia, Epirus
Tsikoudia (raki)	Crete's own unaged pomace spirit, often a free end-of-meal pour	Crete
Retsina	white or rosé wine flavored with pine resin, a style over 2,000 years old	Attica, nationwide
Mastiha	sweet liqueur distilled from mastic resin	Chios only
Greek wine	Assyrtiko, Santorini's mineral white, is the best-known export; Xinomavro and Agiorgitiko lead the reds	Santorini, Naoussa, Nemea
Kitron	lemon-flavored liqueur made from the citron tree's leaves and fruit	Naxos only
Metaxa	Greece's best-known brandy, blended with aromatic herbs and aged wine	near Athens
Greek beer	light lagers; Mythos is the best-known, with Fix and Alfa also widespread	nationwide

A bottle of Assyrtiko runs €25 to €60 at a restaurant, less at retail; a 0.5-liter local beer costs €3 to €5 at a bar or taverna.

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Greek coffee orders

Greek coffee, Elliniko, is finely ground coffee boiled in a small pot called a briki and served unfiltered in a small cup alongside a glass of cold water. Drink it slowly; the last sip comes with a mouthful of grounds you're meant to leave behind.

Coffee	What it is	Price
Greek coffee	boiled, unfiltered, served with cold water	€2 to €3.50
Frappe	iced instant coffee, shaken frothy with sugar and water; usually credited to a Nestlé employee at the 1957 Thessaloniki trade fair	€2.50 to €4.50
Freddo espresso	cold-shaken espresso, plain or with cold milk foam as a freddo cappuccino	€2.30 to €2.80 standard, up to €6 at pricier seaside cafés

For tea, ask for mountain tea, Greece's own everyday herbal infusion brewed from dried ironwort.

Greek food by island

Island or city	Known for
Crete	dakos, the clotted-cream dish staka, and tsikoudia, the island's own pomace spirit
Santorini	fava and tomatokeftedes; also a June pick
Thessaloniki	bougatsa, koulouri, and the frappe, usually credited to its 1957 trade fair
Sifnos	revithada
Chios	mastiha, made only from the island's mastic resin
Naxos	kitron, a citron liqueur unique to the island
Syros	loukoumi
Mykonos and the Aegean islands	astakomakaronada, lobster in tomato sauce over long pasta
Messinia	Kalamata olives

When and how do Greeks eat?

Breakfast in Greece is small, often just coffee with a cookie or a sesame koulouri bought from a street cart. Lunch stays light: a sandwich, a salad, or a souvlaki or gyros. Dinner is the main event. Tavernas open at noon, but dinner hours begin around 8pm and peak around 10pm.

Meals are shared, not plated per person. Whoever invited the table orders several starters for the middle, then a shared main. Wine is sometimes cut with water so the table can keep drinking through a long meal. Dinner ends with coffee, often with a complimentary dessert.

Eating out in Greece: tipping, the bill and water

Greek bars and restaurants add no automatic service charge, so leave a tip for the staff when the service is good. Anywhere from 5 to 15 percent is the norm, and the amount is up to you.

Ask for ton logariasmo, parakalo (the bill, please) when you're ready to go.

Some smaller islands have had their water shipped in by tanker, so ask your taverna before drinking tap water on a small island.

EU rules require a restaurant to disclose 14 named allergens, from gluten and milk to eggs and shellfish, so ask before you order if one applies to you. If you don't eat meat, say eimai hortofagos.

Plan your Greece trip around the food

The Greece travel guide covers how long to stay and how to move between the mainland and the islands. For a trip built around the food itself, the 7-day Greece itinerary splits a week between Athens and Santorini, and the 10-day Greek islands itinerary spends a week and a half island-hopping.

A MonkeyEatingMango itinerary names the lunch and dinner for each day, matched to the city or island on the schedule.

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Common questions

What is the national dish of Greece?

Greece has no single official national dish. Fasolada, a thick white bean soup, is "often called the national dish of Greece".

What's the difference between gyros and souvlaki?

Gyros is meat roasted on a vertical rotisserie and sliced off in thin layers, wrapped in pita with tomato, onion and tzatziki. Souvlaki is grilled meat on a skewer, served on the skewer or pulled into the same style of pita wrap.

Is Greek food good for vegetarians and vegans? What should they order?

Yes. Greek cooking has an entire category of vegetable dishes called ladera, cooked in olive oil, briam among them. Gigantes plaki, Greek salad, fava, melitzanosalata, horta and dolmades all come in meat-free versions; ask whether the spanakopita is the Lenten version, since the everyday one contains feta and egg.

What is a typical Greek breakfast?

A Greek breakfast is light: a slice of spanakopita or bougatsa from a bakery, a sesame-crusted koulouri bread ring from a street cart, or Greek yogurt with honey. Thessaloniki treats bougatsa, a custard-filled phyllo pastry, as its own city's breakfast dish.

Are loukoumades and baklava the same thing?

No. Loukoumades are fried dough balls, similar to doughnut holes, soaked in honey syrup and cinnamon. Baklava is layered phyllo pastry filled with chopped walnuts and soaked in syrup.

Do you tip in Greece when eating out?

There is no automatic service charge at Greek bars and restaurants, so leave a tip for the staff when the service is good. Anywhere from 5 to 15 percent is the norm, and the amount is up to you.

What is the most popular food in Greece?

The dishes nearly every guide to Greek food names are horiatiki (Greek salad), tzatziki, dolmades, moussaka and souvlaki, with gyros and spanakopita just behind.

What is a typical Greek dinner like?

A Greek dinner is shared, not plated individually: whoever invited the table orders several starters for the middle, followed by a shared main such as grilled meat with salads and sides. The meal ends with coffee, often with a complimentary dessert.

What time do Greeks eat dinner?

Greeks eat dinner late. Tavernas open at noon, but dinner hours don't start until about 8pm and peak around 10pm.

Is avgolemono a breakfast food?

It can be. Avgolemono, a chicken broth thickened with whisked egg and lemon, is eaten at many times of day and is especially popular as comfort food in cold weather. The same egg-lemon mixture also finishes other soups, including some versions of psarosoupa, Greece's fish soup.

What are the best Greek meze to order?

Start a meze spread with tzatziki, melitzanosalata or taramosalata for dipping bread, then saganaki (fried cheese) and dolmades. Add fava on a trip to Santorini and dakos, a Cretan rusk topped with tomato and feta, on Crete.