532790 Thu Jun 26 05:24:28 -0700 2008 15 52 Turkey/Greece 0 3814811 My wife and I are heading to Crete for 10 days in late October. and we are looking for great restaurants. We will be travelling all over the island, so any recommendations would be appreciated, from simple tavernas to the high end establishments. Thanks Thu Jun 26 05:24:30 -0700 2008 17079 peter2 1 3816897 I don't have any recommendations....just alot of envy! Thu Jun 26 14:31:04 -0700 2008 3814811 203272 GirlFriday 1 3918962 peter2, My wife and I will be on Crete for seven days in early October and have exactly the same question that you asked. We'll be based in Rethymnon (timeshare trade) but will be driving all over the island. Alas, there is no Michelin Red guide for Greece. So if you get any good dining suggestions--or reliable sources for dining suggestions--I'd be grateful if you'd pass them along to me--and I'd be glad to do the same for you. I did a CH search for "Crete" and did find a year-old post that highly recommended Taverna Kyria Maria in Rethymnon, which is useful for us. In any case, have a great trip! Derald Glidden dlglidden@aol.com Thu Jul 31 11:28:14 -0700 2008 3814811 68247 dlglidden 1 3944142 Lucky you! When I found good food in Crete, it was fantastic. I highly recommend Syntages in Heraklion. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g189417-d1098972-Reviews-Syntagies-Heraklion_Crete.html It's located on a street near the market. One of the best meals when I was in Greece last October. We shared about 8 mezes- each interesting and delicious. In Rethymno, I wish we had eaten at Avli (which is highly recommended for fine dining). Instead, I chose a beautiful space, with high prices and mediocre food. The other restaurant we tried in Rethymno served regrettable tourist food. In Chania, I was generally disappointed with the food we found, except for one lunch at at the taverna that was halfway between the BW Porto Venezio hotel and the harbour. Its name is escaping me, but the fried eggplant and fish were perfection. It stood alone, apart from the string of restaurants lining the harbour. I'll post again if I find the name of the restaurant. Generally, my rule in Greece is to try to avoid the restaurants that have their menus translated into several languages. Some of the dishes you'll find in Crete, but aren't as common on the mainland include snails, fava (not fava beans, but a warm spread made of split peas), various wild greens, and various pies (pitas/bourekas) that are quite different from those found in other parts of Greece. Definitely visit the market in Chania if you get a chance;) Sat Aug 09 20:40:24 -0700 2008 3814811 10626 phoenikia 2 3944405 Phoenikia, I really appreciate your post and your suggestions and comments. They are now printed and stored in my Greece Trip travel folder. While Googling to see why/if the town/prefecture name is rendered in English both as "Rethymnon" and "Rethymno," I ran across this website which could be of interest to anyone traveling to the area: http://www.rethymnon.gr/1.phtml I didn't get an answer, but it apparently is spelled both ways (same as Heraklion/Heraklio?). I love snails and my wife loves wild greens and especially loves eggplant however it's prepared, so I assume we'll eat well. Did you find it difficult to get directions to the various restaurants you chose? I assume the more upscale restaurants accept Visa/MasterCard, but what about the average restaurants in cities? Is Crete mostly a "cash economy" or are credit cards readily accepted? Sun Aug 10 03:20:52 -0700 2008 3944142 68247 dlglidden 3 3944701 Hi Derald, In spoken Greek, the last consonant is often dropped, so if the word is written in English, sometimes the last letter is left off. People will understand you if you say Rethymno or Rethymnon, Heraklio or Heraklion. I didn't have much trouble finding the restaurants. Usually, I just had the free city map handed out at the hotel's front desk, and marked the various restaurants before I set out for dinner. In Chania, the taverna I enjoyed was the Karnagio (or Karnayio) taverna located at 8 Katehaki Square. There's a picture of the taverna that is listed as Restaurant No. 4 on this link: http://travel.uk.msn.com/inspiration/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=2740709 Rethymno's Old Town is quite small, and you shouldn't have trouble finding Avli which is in the Old Town. Here is their website: http://www.avli.gr/ Veneto is the upscale restaurant I tried. http://www.veneto.gr/ Credit cards are readily accepted at average restaurants/tavernas in the cities, but in smaller villages or more rustic tavernas, cash might be preferred. Your wife shoud able to find eggplant in many forms- imam bayaldi (like a ratatouille), papoutsakia (translates to little shoes, stuffed eggplant), melitzanasalata (pureed eggplant salad/spread) and melitzana tiganites (fried eggplant- often very thinly sliced, and crisp like tempura, topped with kasseri cheese), as well in dishes such as moussaka. In the stores, you'll be able to find have an eggplant glyko (spoon sweets in syrup) that features baby green eggplant in syrup- I haven't tried it though. I found this guide helpful: http://www.meetandeatguides.com/index.php/mainpage It is how I found Syntages. If you like calamari, make sure you ask for the fresh (fresko) calamari if it's on the menu or chalkboard of specials. If you don't specify fresh, there's a high chance the server will make the assumption that you want to pay less, and you'll be served the pre-frozen, which costs about 30-40 percent less. Most of the calamari sold in the tavernas is pre-frozen these days. Sun Aug 10 08:50:20 -0700 2008 3944405 10626 phoenikia 4 3967429 Phoenikia, Once again, many thanks for the additional information. Mon Aug 18 17:04:15 -0700 2008 3944701 68247 dlglidden 5 3973944 You're so welcome. Hope you enjoy your time in Crete as much as I did! Wed Aug 20 20:04:57 -0700 2008 3967429 10626 phoenikia 1 3977979 I've been to Crete a few times, and my favourite restaurant in Hania is called The Well of the Turk. As the name suggests, it specialises in Middle Eastern food, and is welcome respite from typical taverna fare. It's tucked away in the old town. http://welloftheturk.com/ There's another place I quite like, which is the ruins of an old palazzo. It's called Ela. http://www.chania-guide.gr/dn/dyn/templ1en.jsp?id=26 I *think* this is another place we liked - it's at the eastern end of the harbour, and they often have octopus drying outside in the sun! http://www.chania-guide.gr/dn/dyn/templ1en.jsp?id=30 If you're travelling round the island, I strongly recommend a trip to Milia, which is a beautiful eco-tourist village in the mountains. If you can stay overnight, in one of their beautifully simple stone houses. The place has no mains electricity, so is wonderfully romantic late at night. It also has wonderful food - proper, home-style Greek cooking and among the best food I've had in Crete. http://www.milia.gr/english.html Fri Aug 22 07:52:07 -0700 2008 3814811 110146 greedygirl 2 3980132 I second all greedygirl's recommendations, especially Chrysostomos, her second: a great restaurant, in my opinion the best in Chania. They tend to close in the summer, but will be open by October. The owner comes from Sfakia, and the lamb and goat come from the Lefka Ori. He also has the taverna above Marmara Beach, near Loutro, where the food, though simpler, is just as good. In Loutro itself, if you get there, Ilios has excellent home cooking, and next door To Limani great grilled lamb, pork, and goat. Further down the coast, in Agia Roumeli, where the Samaria Gorge exits, Artemis in the main street is very good. Fri Aug 22 22:41:50 -0700 2008 3977979 144629 Julie Friedeberger 1 4026150 hi , I'm elena I read the msgs Im from greece actually from athens but the last 2 years I live crete so if you have any question about everything mail me otherwise ,have a great trip! Thu Sep 11 07:27:35 -0700 2008 3814811 225371 elenakos 2 4143747 Oh dear, dlglidden! I've been travelling in Crete since the early 1980s, at least once and often twice a year, and I feel the need to respond to your unenthusiastic post. I've driven and walked in almost every part of Crete, and have almost always eaten well: in restaurants in the major towns, in small mountain and coastal villages, in shacks on remote beaches. No, not gourmet food (if that's what you mean by "world class") but good, decent food, almost invariably locally grown (in the case of vegetables) or raised (in the case of meat). Only in places where tourists outnumber local people have I eaten indifferently cooked food. I have never, anywhere, been served canned food. Crete is called the Great Island. It is the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean and it's really a country, not an island, with an exciting history and fascinating culture, spectacular mountains, proud and wonderful people, and a long tradition of good home cooking. For me, Crete is the most beautiful and in many ways the most interesting place in the world, a place I call my spiritual home and always return to. In terms of development Greece has lagged behind the rest of Europe until relatively recently, and is still catching up; the islands have never had a great deal of help from the government. In Crete, EU grants have recently led to a huge road-building and road-improvement project, and while the roads aren't American superhighway standard (you can't expect that anywhere outside the US), the roads, including the "yellow" ones and often the "white" ones on the maps, are now mostly reasonably weIl surfaced and safe to drive on. (The major hazard is erratic Greek drivers and tourists unfamiliar with Greek driving style.) If you rejected the roads of Crete I'm afraid you missed one of its greatest pleasures - of heading off down a small country road to see where it leads. Progress will be slow (siga, siga as they say) if you're accustomed to getting from A to B as fast as possible on dual carriageways, but you'll be ambling through stunning landscape and will likely end up in some small village where you'll be greeted and welcomed and often invited to share food in someone's home. Please understand that I'm writing this not to "disagree" with you, though its' clear from your post that you didn't get the best out of your journey, but to make readers who don't know the place aware of how beautiful, interesting and rewarding travelling in Crete is. And yes, you can eat very well. (I do agree with you about Knossos: over-restored and too crowded to enjoy. Next time, go to Phaistos, the next-most-important ancient site and a million times more interesting and evocative.) Julie Sun Nov 02 01:32:52 -0700 2008 4026150 144629 Julie Friedeberger 3 4145484 Julie, I think you should reread my post. We enjoyed Crete very much, it just wasn't quiite what we expected. I've driven in dozens of countries and very much enjoy driving on strange little roads just to see where they go. In fact, we spend most of our vacation time "off the beaten track." But the time it took to get to places in Crete was excessive and not what we expected, so we didn't get to see as much of the island as we had hoped to see. And we looked at and took with us several travel and history books of Crete and the Nelles road map of Crete, so I do understand the history and culture of Crete about as well as any casual traveler would. And this forum is Chowhound, so I should be allowed to be "food picky." We ate well in Grece, including Crete, but I stand by my assertion that (at least one) somewhat expensive well-regarded restaurant in Crete was quite good, but not what I had hoped for. And the small rural tavernas up in the mountains DID serve canned food and it wasn't very good at all. But I am giving very anecdotal evidence and I thought the tavernas in the "tourist areas" (for the most part) served quite good, reasonably priced food, as I said. You obviously know MUCH more (and have much more experience) about Crete than I do. The thread (which I didn't start) was just about eating on Crete and I asked questions and gave honest responses. What would you have me do? We were on Crete for one week, period. Sun Nov 02 23:31:05 -0800 2008 4143747 68247 dlglidden 4 4145508 Oh dear again! I'm sorry if I upset you. That wasn't my intention; I just wanted to tell people who don't know Crete a little more about it. I did read your post several times before writing mine. In the end, it was your saying that "Crete was less interesting than I had hoped" that got me posting. Anyway, I'm pleased that you enjoyed yourselves, and I hope you'll have better luck with the food if and when you return. Mon Nov 03 00:34:51 -0800 2008 4145484 144629 Julie Friedeberger 1 4137944 We got back from Crete (and Greece) a couple of weeks ago and feel the need to respond with a brief trip report. We ate at Avli in Réthymno and were glad we did. Nice restaurant and not all that expensive; excellent location and in a charming old building.. We spent a week at the Grand Leoniki "resort" in Platanias, a "suburb" just east of Réthymno--timeshare trade for our place in Mexico. We had an excellent stay but Crete was less interesting that I had hoped. Except for the "new road" the roads on Crete are less than ideal and we did not do nearly as much travelling around the island (with our rental car) as we had expected to. (Contrary to conventional wisdom, we found, oddly, the tavernas in the large towns and resort areas were far superior to the places up in the small villages in the mountains where the food was usualy canned, not fresh, and not worth eating.) Again, prices were quite reasonable, and the many Cretan stews were excellent and a great value. Wine was slightly more than adequate. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, the food in Greece (even at Avli) was quite OK, but that's about all. But don't get me wrong, we had a great trip, saw some wonderful sites/sights and scenery and enjoyed the food. It's not "world class", but, hell, 99% of the food on this planet is not world class. On an archaeological note, Knossos was a disappointment: An important site, but virtually everything worth seeing is in museums all over the world and what remains at the site is essentially a giant pile of rubble that was inaccurately and naively "reconstructed" by the British archaeologist Evans. He really screwed it up. But still worth touring the site, briefly. Thanks again, for all of you who gave us recommendations on where to eat on Crete! Wed Oct 29 23:52:43 -0700 2008 3814811 68247 dlglidden 1 5035378 We have just returned from a week in Western Crete, and wanted to add another recommendation. Dinner at Leventis in Ano Stalos (between Daratso and Platanias) was the highlight of our trip. There were no tourists, the food was exquisite, and price tag reasonable. www.athinaeos.com/gastronomy/restaurants/greece/crete/leventis/leventis_tavern.html www.leventis-tavern.com Wed Sep 16 16:54:57 -0700 2009 3814811 95793 jeni1002