Where to eat: Athens

Whether you're searching for tavernas with Greek classics or fine-dining restaurants, this list has you covered

I took me a while to understand Athens. It is a city with rough edges. Even in the nicest neighbourhoods, streets are lined with graffiti-covered buildings and dilapidated structures frequently pock otherwise vibrant avenues. Perhaps these are all scars from the financial crisis in 2008, which had a harder and longer impact on Greece than many other parts of the world. When you look past this exterior however, you’ll find a city that has grown in and around its craggy edges in a uniquely charming way. After visiting again and again over the past few years, I have learned to love it.

My quest to discover wonderful and interesting restaurants, cafes, and markets within Athens was like cracking open a stone and uncovering a glittering quartz. Many of these places were situated, signless, in basements or hidden behind graffitied walls, but they made me stop and want to explore further. This city has a rapidly diversifying food scene: amazing and unpretentious Greek food isn’t hard to come by and in recent years, many restaurants have veered away from humble tradition towards a more refined approach to cooking and presenting food. For all of the spots that I have come to love, read on. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.