9 Best Restaurants in The Peloponnese, Greece

3Sixty Grill

$$ Fodor's choice

If you tire of homespun tavernas serving up rustic menus in cobbled streets under blooming bougainvillea, 3Sixty is the rather brash grillhouse antidote. Sure, it's decoration is desperate to reassure you just how on trend it is, but after one or two excellent cocktails, you won't even mind the annoying horse photography on the walls. It also has the menu to back it up. Pata negra spareribs melt off the bone, the 150-day-aged rib-eye has flavor to beat the band, and the anthotyros-stuffed ravioli are a delight. Add to that comfortably the best wine list in the town.

Antica Gelateria di Roma

$ Fodor's choice

Traditional Italian gelato (ice cream), in many flavors and dished up in colorful old surroundings, supplies a tempting excuse for a break. Try the zuppa Inglese (trifle) flavor, with hunks of sweet frozen sponge inside.

En Chatipi

$ Fodor's choice

A ten-minute walk south of the center takes you across the river and into the suburbs, where you'll find this friendly, unselfconsciously retro neighborhood taverna. Inside, jazz music echoes the vintage ad posters for 1950s Greek cigarettes and long-gone liquors, while the menu is a treasure trove of hearty classics, from Spartan dishes like pork with olives and orange, to the lightest of moussakas. It's great value and a peaceful break from the cramped plateia terraces.

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Kardamo

$ Fodor's choice

Greek comfort food is the order of the day here, albeit that does Kardamo a bit of a disservice. This isn't just fries and kebabs, but the tenets of classic Greek mezedes dishes given a creative boost. Take the keftedes (meatballs), sprinkled with hairlike slivers of fried potato and drenched in a sumptuously rich tomato sauce, or the traditional Maniot tsouhti, a likeably satisfying mangle of cheese, pasta, and egg resurrected for prime time. Grab a local Nema beer and revel in the comfort.

Labyrinthos

$ Fodor's choice

Labyrinthos is an old favorite of locals and visitors alike. This stonewalled setting, tucked away off the main drag, sets the perfect pace for a whistlestop tour through some classic taverna fare, from katsikaki (goat in olive oil) to fried anchovies, and even recognizes the region's Slavic influence with a tasty pork schnitzel.

Lela's Taverna

$ Fodor's choice

The late Mrs. Lela, once housekeeper for author Patrick Leigh Fermor, was famous for her simple, old-fashioned cooking using fragrant homemade olive oil and exceedingly fresh tomatoes and herbs. Her namesake taverna is an institution in these parts, and dinner beneath the trees on the seaside terrace of an oleander-covered stone house is a high point of a visit to the Mani. Chicken with rosemary, light moussaka, and fish soup are among Lela's dishes that her son Giorgos and his staff now prepare. Upstairs are simple but comfortable rooms with fine sea views looking out over the coast.

Taverna Noulis

$ Fodor's choice

Noulis sits on the very edge of the Old Town, stashed away like some treasured secret. It's a little pricier than the average taverna, but its small-plate menu is full of thrills. If chef Andrianos Andrianopoulos can't turn your dish into a flaming inferno in front of your eyes, he's not happy—order the cheese flambe and guard your eyebrows. More homely delights are found in the fried anchovies, punchy skordalia (garlic-potato dip), or the lamb shank with artichokes that arrives bathed in a citrus-heavy gravy that demands to be mopped up with bread. A welcome escape from the crowds of quayside or Staikopoulou Street.

Teloneio

$$ Fodor's choice

A stately menu taking inspiration from its Mani roots makes this breezy waterside restaurant the pick of Limeni's harbor dining. Dishes hum to the tune of the region's famed smoked pork sygklino, myzithra cheese, and a bounty of fresh seafood, from parrotfish atop wild greens plucked from the Taygettus mountains, to its impressive Greek "sushi."

Voltes

$ Fodor's choice

While it lacks the pretty terrace setting of the other restaurants along Monemvasia's main street, Voltes more than makes up for it with culinary wit. Imaginative takes on the staples of Greek mezedes yields traditional cheese pies raised to new heights with a dash of sweet tomato jam, or local-style stir fry kototigania spiced with ample chillies, tart mollasses, and sweet caramelized onions.

The Peloponnese

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