From morning, with a Greek coffee and a bougatsa
(which is flaky pastry, filled with sweet crème or savoury cheese) to well into the
evening, with ouzo and calamari, Greece offers an astounding range of delicious food. But when it comes to choosing what to eat
in Greece, starring at the menu in the restaurant and scratching your head. What to order? We are looking for good quality Greek food,
in-season meat, fish and vegetables, delicious nutritive dishes that meet not only the expectation
of your tastebuds but tick the boxes on health and live up to the true Mediterranean diet
origins of Greek food. Come with me as we explore the best 5 food
choices in Greek restaurants. Greek salad. tomatoes: red, juicy delicious, full of aroma
and taste. Let’s not forget olives, crumbly feta cheese
and crunchy cucumber, a classic fresh salad served all over Greece. Green leaf salad can have several variations,
grated cheese on top and vinegar glaze. It is more of a modern choice. All salads, and in fact the whole Greek cuisine,
are dressed in olive oil. extra virgin olive oil, the highest quality
possible, is the default choice on a Greek salad and the oil complements the flavour
and adds freshness and pungency to the whole tasing experience. Definitely recommend this type of olive oil
in salads as all its precious vitamins and polyphenols are not going to be affected because
no heating is involved. From oils in salad to oils used in frying. Actually, I firmly believe that if frying
is done right, it can be healthy. Now, Greek restaurant offer fried foods. You have fried vegetables such as sliced courgettes
or zucchini offered with a bit of tzatziki in the side. I mentioned already Tzatziki, highly recommended,
full fat Greek yoghurt (which is thick strained yogurt if you didn’t know) with olive oil,
smelly - but very healthy - garlic and diced cucumber. Aubergine salad is amazing, BBQ-ed aubergine
stuffed with feta cheese and finished in the oven. There are many others, ranging from fresh
pork sausages, feta cheese covered with sesame and honey, filo pies with spinach and/or feta
and olive tapenade. It contains virgin olive oil and all its goodness
plus the olive itself with all the antioxidants that come with it. Spread it in a freshly made warm bread and
take it to the next level. Here you have so many options, really. Moussaka, Pasticcio, Papoutsaki, Stuffed Grape
Leaves, Roasted Lamb, just to name a few and an entire category of casserole dishes, typically
cooked with a lot, but a lot(!) of olive oil, called “ladera” in Greek. All good but remember the high oil intake. You can always leave the oil behind in the
dish. Gemista, which is stuffed pepper or tomatoes
cooked in the oven, The stuffing usually doesn't contain mincemeat but it is juicy and full
of fresh herbs. Pork and lamp chops, souvlaki, gyros, these
are the two types of meat I recommend. But pork and lamb grilled food taste delicious
in Greece. Gyros is pork but I wouldn’t recommend it
in a restaurant but rather as street food choice purely due to quality and freshness. If there is a “Souvla” (“on the spit”,
or “Hog Roaster”) in the restaurant and you are into meat , then go for it! , it is
usually pork chops (“kontosouvli”) or young goat (“katsikaki sti souvla”). Both these will be mouth dropping tasty. Grilled chicken breast will be ok for the
health conscious of you, but don’t expect to be blown away from the flavour, because
hey, let’s face it, chicken, and especially breast, is the dulled of the meats. Let’s not forget the fresh fish: the smaller
the fish the better, especially if you don’t know what to order. If you order a large fish (seabass and sea
bream), in a reasonable price is most likely a farmed fish and not an open sea, especially
if you are not near a fishing village. It is harder find, lot more expensive and
there is a lot to it, so my recommendation is stay away from the large fish and opt for
sardines (grilled), anchovy (fried) and smelt (atherina), if they have. These are tiny fish and quite rare. Medium size fish like red mullets is also
a solid option and guaranteed to be open sea. The nice thing is that desserts are complimentary
desserts are part of your bill. Yes, you heard it right. FREE! Totally free. But it depends on the restaurant that they
will offer you. It could be as simple as a fruit bowl with
slices of Greek watermelon or melon), to elaborated sweets like “ravani”, “halva” or baclava. But they be in moderate to small portions,
which is not a bad thing. You if you are really into desserts, most
restaurants now offer the option to properly order a portion of dessert. My recommendation for desserts is to try local
sweets according to the region of Greece you happen to be (for example in the islands you
usually find “Amygdalota”, sugary almond paste -based bite-sized sweets which are amazing). What have we left out? Well, lots of other foods. And drinks, beverages, and alcoholic drinks,
of course, like ouzo, wine, beer etc. A topic for a future video sure enough, leave
a comment if you would like to see that, like, subscribe if you haven’t done so pressing
the red button down below because we are continuing week by week providing you with the best content
around in this area. Kali Orexi!
