taste Paxos
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The Greek and especially Paxos’ cuisine is dominated by local products as meat, fish, olive oil, vegetables and cheese that will surprise you day by day for their quality. In all Paxos island are very important some traditional products as local honey, extra virgin olive oil and sheep yoghurt, but also some local recipes like “Pastitsada” and “Sofrito” are really excellent. We also describe the most important traditional dishes and some local recipes.
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Paxos Gastronomy
During a holiday in Paxos island, no one can miss to taste the most famous Greek dishes and some traditional food of the island. During all day and night the marvelous smell of food that fills the streets will take you for sure into a traditional restaurant, where you will discover an unforgettable Mediterranean cuisine.
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starters
The Greek cuisine has so many tastes and so many choices that you can really start and finish your meal only with starters! Some traditional starters are Melitzanosalada, Taramosalada and Tzatziki that are creams made of eggplants, egg fish and Tzatziki, the most famous, of yoghurt, garlic and cucumber. Avgolemono is a sauce used with meat and soup and the main ingredients are eggs and lemon. You can also taste many different small meatballs prepared with potatoes, courgettes, fish and spices, or fried mixed vegetables, or for who love new tastes we recommend stuffed octopus and Dolmadakia (wine lives filled with rice and minced meat). Finally we suggest you to try the Tyropithakia, a sort of salad pie filled with the traditional Feta cheese.
There are also a couple of delicious starters which are traditional of Paxos island: Numbulo and Burduni. Numbulo is a particular ham that you can find only in Kerkyra island and it is prepared with smoked pork fillet.
Burduni looks like a sausage, made with pork blood, livers, onions and spices, you will eat it fried and cut in small slices. It’s not easy to find this starter in the restaurant. Other kinds of cold cuts that you can find in Paxos are the sausages, the bacon and the “salado” that is a salami not smoked.
salads
You can always order a fresh salad as a starter or together with main dishes.
The famous Greek salad (Horiatiki) is prepared with tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers, Feta cheese, black olives and olive oil.
You can also find many other kinds of salads made with potatoes, chicken, lettuce or beans.
local chesse
All over Greece there’s a great production of cheese and in Paxos island you have the opportunity to taste most of them. The most common cheeses that you can find in every restaurant are the Feta cheese (prepared of goat milk and with a hot spicy version), the Manuri (white and tasteful also made of goat milk), the Kefalotiri (a particular hard paste cheese that is ideal to be grated on top of spaghetti) and the two traditional cheese: Tirokafteri a soft kind of cheese with pepper good to be smeared on the bread and Ladotiri a hot spicy cheese that is also used for preparing some other dishes
snacks
If you don’t want to seat down in a restaurant, you can taste many kinds of traditional pitas.
The most famous one is called Tiropita, a sort of puff pastry filled with Feta cheese, but are delicious also other pitas filled with spinach, ham and cheese or minced meat.
vegetables
The vegetables are not only served together with main courses, but very often they are the main ingredient of special dishes.
Some very famous and delicious dishes are the Imam eggplants (eggplants filled with onions, tomatoes and baked into the oven), the Briam (potatoes, eggplants, zucchini and tomatoes cooked in the oven), and stuffed tomatoes and peppers (they’re filled with rice and tomatoes).
Local people like also very much wild herbs like Tsigareli that are fried with garlic and pepper or Agriolachana that is boiled and served with olive oil and lemon.
meat
Greek people love meat and in Paxos’ restaurants you can find a lot of meat dishes. Famous all over Greece, you can not miss to try the “Souvlakia” (meat sticks), the Stifado (veal cooked with onions and tomato sauce) and the delicious Giouvetsi (lamb cooked into a large pot with rice).
Traditional dishes prepared with minced meat are the Bifteki (big meat ball filled with cheese, onions and peppers and then grilled), the Mousakas (different layers of potatoes, eggplants and cream) and the Papoutsakia (eggplants cooked in oven and filled with cheese).
Traditional dishes from Paxos that we would like to suggest you are Sofrito (veal cooked in wine sauce, garlic and white pepper), grilled lamb, turkey soup Avgolemono and Pastitsada (veal or chicken meat cooked with fresh tomatoes, cinnamon, wine, onions and different spices.
It is served with pasta or potatoes)
fish
Come on, Paxos is an island, so… a lot of fish for any age and pocket!
Together with the classic fresh fish that can be grilled or cooked in the oven and beside seafood there are some local recipes that are famous all around the island of Paxos.
The Bourdeto is a sort of fish soup in a spicy sauce made with red pepper, onions, salt and extra virgin olive oil.
Another fish course that we would like to suggest you is the Bianco that consists of different kinds of fish cooked with wine, lemon juice, garlic and vinegar. Finally the Savuri consists of fried fish served with a garlic sauce, rosemary, vinegar and raisin.
gyros
For those who still don’t know it, the Pita Gyros is a strange kind of sandwich you can find everywhere in Greece!
The “pita gyros” consists of a pita filled with pork or lamb roasted meat, French fries, fresh tomatoes, onions and the Greek sauce called Tzatziki that is a great combination of yoghurt, cucumbers and garlic.
cakes
If you give a look into a pastry shop here in Paxos island you realize that you can find everything you like with cream, chocolate or fruit.
Anyhow if you’re searching something traditional it will be easy to find it, just pay attention when you see a cake with nuts, almonds and cinnamon.
The most famous are the Kataifi and the Baklavà.
There’s also a puff-paste covered with sugar and cinnamon and filled with a special cream named Bougatsa.
If you come here in Paxos you have to taste the famous Sicomada, a kind of cake prepared with dried figs, almonds, orange skin, pepper, cinnamon, wine and Ouzo.
Some other traditional sweets that you can find only in Paxos are the Tsaletia (kind of bread with raisin and corn that is fried and covered with sugar), the Fogatsa (kind of croissant) and the Tzintzola, made with dried jujubes, raisin and sesame.
visit a greek "kafenio"
traditional
coffee shops
In small towns and villages, in the central square, you will find the Greek traditional cafe that is called kafenion. These kafenions in Greece are mostly frequented by old pensioners or middle-aged men who drink Greek coffee, chat and play cards or backgammon (tavli).
kafenio
Bournaos
Bournaos traditional coffee shop/ taverna is the meeting point at the center of the island where locals and tourists stop for a Greek coffee, a tsipouro or a spoon of local desert. Amazing interior with few tables and all the original decorative items from the last 50 years (maybe more?). There is also a very nice garden with a pergola covered with a vine and few tables. It’s reputation makes it one of the ten most popular traditional cafe in Greece. Every morning workers pass by for a coffe or to buy cigarettes before they go to work.In the noticeboard you can see what is happening on the island.Unfortunately, Kostas Bournaos died in October 2016 and his son is now in charge.
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kafenio
Theofrastos
Located off the main sqare of Lakka, the stuff looks after both tourists and local custom in the traditional Cafeneon. If you want to experience a traditional greek Cafeneon (but never had the nerve to go in one), give the Theofrastos a try.
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