http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/ Welcome to Been there. Your tips on the places you know - that you love, live in or have just visited - are what make this guide. http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34305 We went for the tasting menu which effectively amounted to 10 courses (including various amuse bouche) costing €140 in total including two glasses of wine each.
Service was very friendly and very relaxed.
The chef Nikos Karathanos won the Michelin star for the restaurant in 2009 and it from our experience will hold it for many years to come!]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34305 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34291 The Exarchia area has drawn intellectuals and students into it from the 19th century onwards and the area was headquarters of many left wing organisations.
This establishment on the square looks straight out of 1960s eastern Europe with every piece of furniture actually from the 1960s itself. Relaxed easy going crowd pitch up here.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34291 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/30857 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/30857 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/26771 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/26771 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/22326
If you really want to eat like the locals, and fancy some cheap and filling fare away from the overpriced restaurants in Plaka, brave the tavernas in the centre, feeding hungry workers and hung-over clubbers with steaming bowls of 'Patsas', tripe soup.

Epeiros and Papandreou are the most authentic, with stoves simmering over with huge pots of chickpeas and all manner of tripe soups, which the cooks swear are cholesterol-free and have medicinal properties.

The science behind that may be sketchy, but a bowl of the soup blasts hangovers away after one too many glasses of ouzo, and the restaurants are incredibly atmopsheric, with tables crammed with loudmouth market workers day and night. I opted for the Mayeritsa which is a tripe soup made with an egg-lemon sauce, and after a few nervous spoonfuls, found myself licking the bowl clean.

If you can't face the tripe, pick from plates piled high with lamb so tender it falls off the bone, roasted potatoes and bottles of delicious red wine.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/22326 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/19962 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/19962 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/19770 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/19770 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/12531 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/12531 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/11437
The food in the small restaurant room is also lovely.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/11437 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/11060
Fresh produce shipped daily from the island of Crete. Owner Stavros Theodorakis, famous Greek journalist is around most nights making sure his guests have a great night out.

Gamopilafo (Cretan risotto served at weddings) is the best you can get outside Crete. Around 40 euros per person including wine and dessert. Reservation recommended.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/11060 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/10533 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/10533 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5679 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5679 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5663 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5663 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5661
To get there you drive out of town through the massive gypsy slum of Ano Liossia (a sight that many Greeks would prefer you didn't see) before climbing up the slopes of Mt Parnitha to Fyli itself.

You will know you have reached Phyli by the sight of dead sheep and goats hanging outside doors. These aren't butcher's shops as many think at first, but the restaurants themselves, and the bodies are lunch. Not one for the vegetarians, or the sensitive since there are dozens of these tavernas within a couple of miles of each other, Greeks aren't squeamish about where meat comes from.

In winter you eat inside, warmed by vast, open wood fires; in summer everything moves out into the garden. Meat is sold by weight, and the prices are very reasonable. Someone I knew boasted of once having eaten a whole lamb by himself. Compare that to the price of two weedy little chops in Britain. Wash it down with a few jugs of home made wine, pulled from a massive barrel then wander out into the hills and find a tree to sleep it off under.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5661 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5641 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5641 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5615 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5615 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5599
Most tourists never try these as they are more of a winter treat than a summer one.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5599 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5598 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5598 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5577 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5577 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5571 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5571