The accommodations we offer, whether studios or apartments, are all equipped with a kitchenette, giving our guests the opportunity to organize their day according to their needs.
Having a kitchenette, however, does not necessarily mean having to have lunch or dinner in the accommodation.
Indeed, the best contact with the locals is in the many "tavernas" (this is the common name given to restaurants, especially those located along the seafront) while enjoying typical Greek dishes.
Meat, fish, oil, and vegetables, thanks to the climate enjoyed by the island of Kefalonia, are always very authentic products, and exchanging a few words with the restaurateurs (I remind you that Italian is a fairly well-known language in Kefalonia) makes everything even more pleasant.
Not everyone knows that a very important aspect of Greek culture is represented by the gastronomic tradition, so much so that Greek cuisine was already reaching a very high level when we cooked only a few foods.
Unlike our cuisine, we don't start with a first course, but with a series of appetizers, followed by a main course of meat or fish (almost always grilled) and finally dessert.
The island offers a truly vast array of products: honey , olive oil (present everywhere and always of excellent quality), cheese (feta made from sheep's milk is practically considered the Greek national cheese) and yogurt (another flagship product).
Here is a simple guide to some typical Greek dishes.
Appetizers:
Among the appetizers we find various spreads on bread such as melitzanosalata (made with eggplant), taramosalata (made with fish eggs) and what is probably the best known, tzatziki (made with yogurt, cucumber and garlic).
Also very well known are dolmades (vine leaf rolls filled with rice or minced meat).
Another very good appetizer is represented by meatballs : they can be made with potatoes, courgettes, or fish, or, equally excellent, they can be enjoyed very simply with grilled vegetables such as courgettes, aubergines, and peppers.
Appetizers with a more sophisticated flavor include octopus stewed in wine or tyropitakia (puff pastry filled with feta).
Salads:
Another typical Greek product that is served either as an appetizer or as an accompaniment to the main course, is the Greek salad, very similar to our summer salads as it contains: tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, black olives and feta, all seasoned with excellent olive oil and oregano.
Meat and Fish:
Meat and fish are equally important in terms of quality and consumption. These are the most famous and traditional Greek dishes:
- souvlaki – skewers of chicken or pork
- stifado – veal cooked with spring onions and tomato sauce
- mousaka – very similar to our lasagna and prepared with meat, aubergines, onions, tomatoes and béchamel sauce)
The most typical meat recipe from Kefalonia is the meat pie, kreatopita, prepared with a baked pastry and filled with mutton, pork and beef, to which onions, garlic, potatoes, rice, tomato and some spices are added.
The fish, always fresh and well-grilled, remains in our opinion the real strong point.
For those who love cooking fish even on holiday, fishing boats dock every morning on the Argostoli seafront with all kinds of fish caught during the night... it doesn't get any fresher than this!
The most popular fish dish among the inhabitants of Kefalonia is stockfish with agliada, a sauce which, as the name suggests, is made from boiled potatoes pounded in a mortar with garlic, oil, and lemon.
Among the typical dishes, you certainly can't miss "Pita Gyros", a sandwich consisting of a flatbread rolled up on itself and containing pork, tomato, onion, French fries, Tzatziki and a special ingredient depending on where you buy it (some people add a salad or a sauce of their own invention).
Sweets:
Typical sweets have ingredients such as walnuts, almonds and cinnamon with which cakes, puff pastry and icings are prepared, among these the most famous are Baklava and Kataifi and Diples (strips of puff pastry fried in oil and dipped in syrup or hot honey) and Loukoumades.
Wines and Coffees:
The main drink used to accompany food on the island of Kefalonia is Robola.
It is a dry white wine of excellent quality, actually produced throughout Greece, but it is right here in Kefalonia that the vines have found the ideal soil to grow, not by chance its official name is that of “Robola di Cefalonia” wine.
Another typical drink is Greek coffee , a little different from ours, as it should be drunk slowly so that the coffee grounds settle to the bottom of the cup.
Alternatively, you can ask for a frapè or cappuccino (cold coffee with or without milk).
As for alcoholic drinks, we certainly can't miss the most famous Greek liqueur, ouzo ( very strong and with an aniseed flavour) which can be taken with or without ice and is usually accompanied by appetizers, and Metaxa which is more properly a typical brandy from Kefalonia.
