Dine Athens 2018: Our Top 10 Restaurant Choices for the Gourmet Week

For the 3rd consecutive year, Alpha Bank organizes the gourmet week of Athens with the title "Dine Athens" from February 1 to February 11, 2018, inviting the Athenian audience to taste specially designed menu at preferential prices.

In the framework of the 2nd Dine Athens Restaurant Week, more than 12,500 Athenians responded to the call and enjoyed high gastronomy creations at 120 selected restaurants and special rates. The event has stimulated restaurant traffic in the city in an off-peak period and strengthened institutions for the poor.

During Dine Athens week, all participating restaurants will offer one of the three especially designed menus, at a default price of €15, €30 and €60 for everyone, while Alpha Bank cardholders will be offered a 10% discount for using their card. Selected restaurants will also offer lunch menus at the default prices of €15 and €30, plus an additional 10% discount for Alpha Bank card holders.

Here are our top 10 restaurant choices that you could try during this gourmet week:

1. Nolan

Address: 31-33 Voulis

Working hours: Mon-Sat 13:00-23:45

Menu: €30

Nolan, located just a couple of meters away from Syntagma square, is a restaurant with international cuisine and Asian orientations. The chef of the restaurant is Greek-Japanese Sotiris Kontizas, who creates unique dishes combining Asian and Greek products. Nolan’s concept is based on comfort food and originates from the culture of street food in the world. Flavors from different countries such as Vietnam, China and Japan are combined to produce a delicious flavor that has stood out since its early days. From the menu, we prefer the chicken soup with fresh coriander and pickled egg, the fried chicken "NFC" accompanied by puree and the salad with roast cabbage and cauliflower. Nolan, in the heart of Athens, not only stands out for its menu but also for its friendly service and its cozy environment that will make you visit it again and again.

2. CHE Cocina y Barra Sudamericana

Address: 151 Karaiskou, Piraeus

Working hours: Mon-Sun 10:00-02:00

Menu: €30

Che Cocina y Barra Sudamericana is the new hot spot of Piraeus and offers Latin American cuisine in a special place. Frida Kahlo's persona, stretching at 14 meters high while sneaking into the courtyard of the restaurant, welcomes you to Piraeus's most colorful, original, brand-new and completely latin yard. In addition to its courtyard, the CHE has equally stunning and atmospheric interiors that will surely make you feel like you traveled to Cuba or somewhere in Mexico without even taking a ticket! Vintage, latin aesthetics, plenty of color, tropical vegetation and the most theatrical bar you've ever seen are waiting for you!

3. Ziller’s Roof Garden

Address: 54 Mitropoleos

Working hours: Mon-Wed-Thu-Sun 11:00-16:30 and 18:30-01:00. Friday and Saturday until 02:00. Tuesday closed

Menu: €30

The Zillers Restaurant is located in Zillers Hotel's green roof garden on Mitropoleos street in the center of Athens. Overlooking the magnificent Acropolis, a gourmet enjoyment awaits you based on creativity and fresh ingredients. At Zillers, you can taste handmade couscous with salvia, wild mushrooms and fresh chestnuts, picanha with Greek coffee sauce, and quail with wild greens, organic eggs and black garlic.

4. Noel Bar

Address: 59B Kolokotroni

Working hours: Mon-Thu and Sun 10:00-02:00, Fri-Sat 10:00-04:00, Sun 10:00-02:00

Menu: €30 and lunch menu of €15

Nostalgic, romantic, and lively, Noel bar is a place with a distinct aesthetic that reminds us of something between Christmas, Cuba and Paris. The Etage, on Noel's first floor, hosts events of culture, live and group events. But even Noel’s outer space is warm and its entrance adds its own French finesse to the neighborhood. Meet the gastronomy at its best in the Noel Restaurant in Kolokotroni.

5. Cookoovaya

Address: 2 Chatzigianni Mexi

Working hours: Mon-Sun 13:00-01:00

Menu: €60 and lunch menu of €30

The Cookoovaya restaurant near Hilton is the hot spot of Athens for Greek creative cuisine. A relaxed, comfortable space with an atmosphere of discreet luxury will transfer you to the bustling city of Athens in the 60s. Five well-known chefs, duo Liakou, Pericles Koskinas, Manos Zournatzis and Michelin winner, Nikos Karathanos joined forces to cook with the slogan "wise cuisine". The Cookoovaya menu is characterized by clean, full-bodied flavors. Try the marinated raw squid with apple sauce and turmeric, , smoked eel with salad, beluga lentils with smoked trout, cherry pie, chocolate pie without flour and many other delicious surprises.

6. 48 Urban Garden

Address: 48 Armatolon and Klefton, Ampelokipoi

Working hours: Tue-Thu 19:30-02:00, Fri-Sat 20:00-04:00, Sun 12:30-17:30, Monday closed

Menu: €30

A hidden garden at Ambelokipoi will make you forget that you are in the center of Athens as its space and tastes travel you to various flavors of the world. The chefs prepare American comfort food and dishes from Asia, the Arabic world and Latin America. The bar of the restaurant creates original long drinks with herbs from the garden bush. Do not miss, every Sunday, its wonderful brunch.

7. Manimani

Address: 10 Falirou, Koukaki

Working hours: Mon-Sat 14:00-23:00, Sun 13:00-17:30

Menu: €30

The restaurant MANIMANI in Koukaki, for 12 years now, serves cuisine originating from the Peloponnese and more specifically, the region of Mani. The success of the restaurant is not based on any secret recipe but on the fresh, high-quality materials and the gastronomic tradition of Mani. In ManiMani's rich menu, dishes that stand out are: pasta with cooked mizithra and whole fried village eggs, chicken with noodles, rooster with mushrooms, and roasted pork with manouri and figs. The gastronomic experience takes off in a warm and elegant place.

8. Vassilenas

Address: 13 Vrasida

Working hours: Mon-Sat 13:00-01:00, Sunday closed

Menu: €60 and lunch menu of €30

After 96 years in Piraeus, the legendary and award-winning "Vassilenas" has recently moved to the area of Hilton, one of the city's most up-and-coming gastronomic neighborhoods, and offers truly creative Greek cuisine. Its walls are made of volcanic pumice stone and the whole restaurant is designed by renowned architects, Maria Kokkinou and Andreas Kourkoulas. It exudes the bourgeois glory of the '60s while at the same time it seems to be "conversing" architecturally with the emblematic building of Hilton. Hundreds of illuminated wine bottles hanging from the ceiling create atmospheric lighting while the stunning walk-in cellar with over 150 wine labels dominates. In the historic restaurant of the city, which has hosted honored celebrities such as Winston Churchill and Elia Kazan, Romy Snyder and Sofia Lauren, Irene Pappa and Melina Mercouri, you will enjoy high gastronomy with emphasis on sea products such as tartar with shrimps and walnuts and a fish soup with a fresh grouper head.

9. Oozora the House

Address: 54 Diligianni, Kifissia

Working hours: Tue-Sat 20:00-01:00, Sunday and Monday closed

Menu: €60

Oozora the House is an authentic Asian restaurant in Kifissia. The restaurant is housed in a beautiful neoclassical building right next to Kifissia Park in the area of he old Cash, which has been transformed into a restaurant with many Asian elements in its decoration. The chef of Oozora the House is Andy Lay, a real connoisseur of Asian cuisine. His dishes travel to countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and, of course, China and Japan, not in what we are used to, but in dishes that refer to every country's street food culture.

10. Black Duck

Address: 9A Christou Lada

Working hours: Mon-Sat 10:00-01:00, Sun 17:30-01:00

Menu: €30

Black Duck is a unique restaurant in the center of Athens, in Karytsi Square with rich and creative Greek cuisine. A special feature of the restaurant is its mascot, the wonderful duck with the black tuxedo, the trademark of the shop. The menu is thoughtful, with accessible dishes that have Greek elements and are suited to its all-day character. Mediterranean dishes dominate its menu, while the café and the bar with the marble or wooden tables, its sofas, N. Hadjikyriakos-Ghika's murals on the walls and the leather stools create a welcoming environment in the style of a French bistro. Another reason why Black Duck is unique is because it often hosts art exhibitions and concerts that can provide you a special dining experience.