Restaurants serving delicious dishes and tasting stops in one of Greece's most important wine-producing regions Plan your Athens food experience with Dimit
Restaurants serving delicious dishes and tasting stops in one of Greece's most important wine-producing regions.
Low hills covered with vineyards, slender cypress trees, an ancient temple, a stadium, and a small village at the center. It could be a romantic postcard. In reality, it's a powerful gastronomic destination just an hour from Athens.
Nemea, one of our country's most important wine-producing zones, with dozens of visitable wineries, completes the experience for initiated wine lovers and curious beginners with a few select tasting stops. From traditional grill houses with gourmet touches to aromatic bakeries and restaurants that magically highlight local cuisine and perfectly complement the region's wines.
17 Choria
It makes the wine connection more visible and highlights the importance of taste alongside a quality bottle. 17 Choria is a wine restaurant in the settlement's center, with a cellar including labels from across Nemea's wine-producing zone. That many (17, that is) are the villages within this zone, each contributing something different here in Agiorgitiko's homeland.
The kitchen, led by Menios Tourlotos with collaborating chef Konstantina Faklari, moves along traditional paths with some influences from urban cuisine. Each dish borrows its name from one of the Zone's villages. The ingredients used, in most cases, are local, and the prevailing view is not to mix too many together. "We want to serve simple flavors, without many sauces and ingredients. We want the flavors to be pristine and clean," Menios notes, adding that in the nearly two years the restaurant has been operating, it's received significant public acceptance. Among the dishes that stood out: the lamb pie, gigantes beans with village sausage, and barley risotto with mushroom ragout.
Address: Dervenakion 12, Nemea, Tel.: 2746023778
Sofos Restaurant
Sofos Restaurant goes back a long way, having started operation as a wine tavern in the 1950s. Through the years, as generations succeeded one another, it changed and took on the character and color of each period. If walls had ears, they'd recount the events, the "good wine years," political discussions, and comments from foreign visitors who came here for food after visiting the archaeological site and Temple of Zeus. Today, it's in the hands of the third generation, where Giorgos Sofos with his wife Irini Koraka give their own gastronomic perspective. They handle each dish down to the last detail, trying to achieve the ideal result every time. We particularly enjoyed the traditional kagiana and seasonal wild greens. One dish whose taste I still remember is rooster with trahana. Comforting yet flavorful, full of warmth, it brings us the land's pristine taste.
Address: Plateia Iroon, Nemea, Tel.: 2746023070
Kavos
Classic, authentic, and delicious. A restaurant-grill house with authentic gourmet tones in Nemea's heart. It's fed countless wine lovers, visitors, and of course locals in its many years of operation. The second generation knows about grilling and good food. Specialty: chicken, and consistently famous: the pork. Alongside these, crispy pies, greens, fresh salads, plus chicken souvlaki, iconic steaks, and mezedes served in crispy pastry nests. An updated cellar with wines supports the wine-producing zone and local producers.
Address: Papakonstantinou 36, Nemea, Tel.: 2746024124
Katsavou
Located in the Kefalari settlement, about half an hour from Nemea, serving delicious food daily year-round with ingredients that primarily come from their own production. Sofia Katsavou firmly holds the kitchen's reins without deviating from traditional cooking. We tried thick-cut potatoes fried in extra virgin olive oil, combined with braised eggplant with feta. She grilled village sausage for us, accompanied by an excellent politiki salad. She serves meats, and especially the lamb chops come from animals owned by two of her four children. Sofia is a very sweet person who immediately makes you feel comfortable, enjoy the food, and is there with you to suggest what to taste, just as she would at her home.
Address: Kefalari Korinthias, Tel.: 27470 22185
Manavis Wood-Fired Bakery
The smell of freshly baked bread reaches the street from early morning when Sotiris Manavis, along with his colleagues, starts production. The village bread with sourdough, baked in the wood-fired oven, is the bestseller, often making the detour from the National Road seem imperative. We tried, among others, delicious crispy mustokouloura, koulouri, and individual sandwich rolls.
Address: Papakonstantinou 51, Nemea, Tel.: 2746 024020
Journey to Nemea, in the constellation of Agiorgitiko
From Thessaloniki to Nemea's vineyards
Nemea and Mantineia: The wine terroir of a travel escape
Common Questions
Where do Athenians actually eat?
Not where you think. The best spots are in Koukaki, Kypseli, and Exarchia — neighborhoods with no famous landmarks, just honest tavernas where the owner's mother is probably still in the kitchen. Stay away from anything with photos on the menu within 300 meters of the Acropolis.
Should I book a food tour in Athens?
If it's your first time, yes — and not just any tour. I run a private food walk that covers Monastiraki, the Central Market, and Psyrri with 10+ tastings. But even if you don't do mine, do one. Athens food culture is layered and a good guide saves you days of figuring it out alone. See my best Athens food tours comparison.
