How to read a menu in Greece

How to order: share everything

Greek meals are shared. The usual way is to order a salad, two or three dips or mezedes and a couple of mains for the table, then add more if you're still hungry. Dishes come out as they're ready, not in strict courses.

• Mageireftá vs tis óras. Ready-cooked dishes (moussaka, stews, stuffed vegetables) are made earlier in the day and are at their best at lunch. Tis óras dishes are grilled when you order.
• Fish: you're often invited to choose from the display. It's weighed and charged per kilo, so ask the weight and price before it's cooked.
• Salad portions are big. One choriátiki usually feeds two or three as a side.
• Ask what's good today. Some tavernas have no printed menu at all, or invite you to look at the trays in the kitchen.

Regional menus: Athens, the islands and Crete

• Athens: souvlaki shops sell gyros and skewers in pita or as a plated merída; tavernas and mezedopoleía (meze bars) serve small plates with ouzo or tsípouro.
• Thessaloniki and the north: spicier food, more pies and grilled meat, and bougátsa (custard or cheese pastry) for breakfast.
• Crete: ntákos (ντάκος, usually spelled dakos: barley rusk with tomato and cheese), snails, graviéra cheese, and tsikoudiá (grape spirit) often offered on the house.
• The islands: fresh fish and seafood, local cheeses, and capers and fáva on Santorini. Many island tavernas open only from spring to autumn.

When Greeks eat

Lunch runs late, from about 13:00 to 16:00, and dinner starts late too, from around 20:30 and often well past 22:00. Tavernas in tourist areas open earlier, but if you want the local atmosphere, book for 21:00 or later. During Orthodox fasting periods, look for dishes marked nistísimo: no meat, fish, dairy or eggs, which can help vegans — though some fasting dishes contain seafood such as octopus or squid.

Bread, water and house wine

Bread usually arrives with the first dishes and appears on the bill per person. Greek rules say a restaurant may not charge a kouvér for the place setting, and may only charge for items like bread or bottled water if you agreed to them. If you don't want it, say chorís psomí, efcharistó when it arrives — see the Greek bread charge.

House wine (chýma) comes in copper jugs or carafes sold by weight: éna kiló (a kilo, roughly a litre), misó (half) or éna tétarto (a quarter). It's usually much cheaper than bottled wine.

Reading prices: per kilo, asterisks and the free dessert

Most dishes have a fixed price per portion. The exceptions are fresh fish, lobster and some grilled meats, priced per kilo — see market price. Greek rules require frozen items to be marked katepsygméno (κατεψυγμένο) on the menu, often with an asterisk, and dishes sold by weight to say me to kiló (by the kilo). Prices must include VAT (FPA).

At the end, many tavernas bring something on the house (kérasma): fruit, a slice of cake, a spoon sweet or a small shot. It's a custom rather than a rule, and it's never on the bill.

Reading a Greek menu with MenuGuide

Greek script is the hardest part of a taverna menu. Take a photo and MenuGuide translates every dish into your language, keeping the Greek name under the translation so you can point at it. Prices are converted to your currency, and dishes show ingredients and allergen and diet flags — AI estimates, so with a serious allergy always check with the staff. Build your order and show it to the waiter in Greek, or let Speak My Order read it out.