12 places where you will enjoy food with good ingredients, from taverns, wine bars, neo-cuisine and restaurants that satisfy those who visit a place through the stomach
Blue Canary
With a menu that is designed daily and printed on an A4 page, Blue Canary is the gastronomic restaurant of chef Konstantinos Vassiliadis, who, with a good tenure in restaurants in Athens and abroad, decided during the quarantine to start the project as a takeaway. The quarantine is over and Kalamata has acquired a delicious place, which has been included in the agenda of both locals and those who arrive in the city looking for a creative and honest culinary experience. They enjoy it either in the small interior space, or in the cool courtyard, on the wide Kritis Street. The open kitchen, the showcase with large pots put you in the mood, while local recipes and stews have the first place. The raw material is tefariki, and is secured through collaborations with local fishermen, farmers and livestock breeders, while he also cultivates his own orchard. Pies such as Maniatiki cheese pie with leek or pumpkin pie, ragout, fava with cod chips, bean soup with curry or Messinian shrimp are some of the dishes served depending on the day and season.
Versalies
There is a sweetness to this 1922 building with the small courtyard that hosts the Versailles with the pompous name. You will say it is completely fitting when you leave, since you will have enjoyed the taste of Messinia, sprinkled with simplicity but also creativity. It opened in 2017, when Giannis, an experienced and well-traveled culinary expert, and his girlfriend, Maria, decided to set up a charming new age kitchen. Sweet and talented, they surprise with their wonderful ideas that come up with recipes such as sheep’s shoes, pork with ascolymbrus, but also many vegetarian dishes, such as moussaka with mushrooms, cauliflower in the wood oven or chickpeas, giants and Mikromani artichokes. You don’t know what to choose first, fortunately the display case with the pots in plain view helps you choose. Now, it also opens for dinner with a gourmet mood.
Butcher’s Shop 29
A meat restaurant in Kalamata, one of a kind, was set up by Nikos Maniateas, a former volleyball player of the city, who decided to continue and take the family taverna off the ground. In the space where his father’s butcher shop and the butcher’s tavern, which was a destination for good ribs, operated since 2002, today you find a well-established corner restaurant, a breath away from the city’s castle, an elegant and airy place with refined cuts, Greek matured veal and meat from free-range animals.
Nikos, the soul of the restaurant, always with a huge smile and appetite, is everywhere, from the kitchen and the dining room, to the farm in the village of Gaitses, in Messinian Mani, where at an altitude of 700 m. he raises roosters, rabbits, calves, wild pigs, takes care of the olive trees and his own beehives.
On the menu you will find ribeye steak, T-bone and 45-day dry aged beef strip loin, which are baked in a Josper oven, as well as dishes such as goat with handmade trachana and giouvetsi with beef and handmade noodles.
Salads and vegetables from their garden, as well as from collaborating producers, accompany the meats with freshness and deliciousness.
The K29 cellar has exquisite labels from the Greek vineyard at very reasonable prices that encourage groups to open a second bottle.
Don’t miss the fantastic turkey pie that they always make fresh with local milk.
Thiassos
The image with the thick-leaved plane tree that casts its shadow in the courtyard of the old building, where Thiassos sets up tables, looks like a postcard from a nostalgic era. However, it remains completely contemporary since 2015, when Kostas and Vasilis gave it the form of a cafe again. Here you can enjoy delicious, well-prepared appetizers and the famous piglet, which is the shop’s best seller, delicately baked with a crispy skin-poem. Local dishes such as kayianas with salt, eggplants, sardines, anchovies and pork pouch complete the menu. Often, groups of musicians set up a relaxed feast with rebetika and old folk songs.
Chrysomallis Wine and Grocery Store
Chrysomallis’s story began in 1958, as a grocery store and soon turned into a wine and grocery store-tavern, which became a magnet for those who appreciate well-cooked dishes with local products and genuine hospitality.
Local tradition, a modern take on traditional recipes and good raw materials, produce dishes such as trout salad, saganaki xerosfeli with pepper sauce, beef carpaccio with sour apple and gruyere, Maniati pasta with a fried egg, charred mizithra and hot olive oil, as well as slow-cooked beef railway. You will always find Messinian salted meat, pies with handmade phyllo and sourdough bread.
Fino Food & Wine Bistrot
Fino – a clever combination of the words “food”
“food” and “wine” – brought to the Kalamata restaurant scene, an elegant and intimate space that combines the concept of haute gastronomy with the flavors of Messinia.
It is the “creation” of award-winning chef Giorgos Choraitis and Dimitra Poulopoulou, both experienced from their tenure in strong restaurants abroad, who decided to return to their homeland.
In the dishes based on fresh seasonal products and in collaborations with small local producers and organic farmers, you will find fava beans with smoked Mani olives and pickled onion, couscous with avocado, grilled octopus, fresh pappardelle with duck ragout and gruyere cream, spaghetti with mussels and cuttlefish. And of course, a wine list with an emphasis on the Peloponnese vineyard and many organic labels.
Anasha Seaside
In a privileged spot on the Messinian Gulf, the talented Kalamata chef Stelios Barpeas, faithful to his love for the raw materials of the Messinian land, emphasizes fine PDO products and revives Greek traditional recipes and modern Greek flavors. This charming all day well-appointed with plenty of wood and beautiful arches achieves a relaxing atmosphere, with tables set under tall tamarisks, large plants, and relaxing tones of white and beige in the decoration.
Depending on the season, you will taste zucchini flowers and okra tempura, Athenian with smoked eel and potato cake with veal carpaccio, local gruyere and black truffle from Mainalo. In the “meat” section, the options include traditional giouvetsaki with a railway, lamb with eggplant puree and excellent quality kobe beef.
The wine list focuses on the Peloponnesian vineyard, while it includes island wineries, while there is no shortage of labels from experimental wineries and signature cocktails. As an all-day beach resto, the action starts in the morning and focuses on the sun loungers with the stylish woven umbrellas, with bathers enjoying a selection of drinks, coffees and brunch, finger food and sushi.
Kardamo
Well-groomed and stylish, Kardamo, opposite Kalamata Railway Station Square, has entered its second decade, with its owners, the Kompogiannitis brothers (Spyros, Panagiotis and Konstantinos), continuing with the same enthusiasm.
We find food exuberant with a modern approach and nice combinations in dishes such as: mutton kebab with roasted tomato jam, pastitsio with braised beef, rooster with noodles, and a suckling pig burger. The menu loves meat, but there are also some options for vegetarians.
Cantharella
This original mushroom shop in the historic center of Kalamata offers a different proposal to the city. Behind him, stands Lambros Karaggelis, founder of Harma Foods, the innovative company that deals with the production and processing of gourmet mushrooms. The very active Lambros, every Saturday sets up his stall at the Municipal People’s Market of Kalamata, where for over 10 years, he has contributed to the consolidation of mushroom eating. He cultivates fine varieties such as Shitake and King Oyster, which he also distributes to selected grocery stores and delis inside and outside Messinia. Cantharella opened just before the end of 2022, and in addition to mushrooms and related products, it serves hot and cold dishes based on mushrooms: omelettes, organic eggs “croque mousse”, salad with pickled shiitake, pizza with mushrooms and a wonderful Lenten velotosupa with wild mushrooms and fresh truffle.
Mouria
On the western beach of Kalamata, outside the center, two streets from the sea, Mouria is the favorite hangout of locals, but also fishermen, who fill its kitchen with whatever fresh catches their nets.
Humble and unpretentious, it is filled with tables around the perimeter of the small hall, and when they fill up, the sidewalk opposite also fills up, it is open from morning to afternoon.
Our “fish” had bream, red mullet, hunters and skate, all in a pan. The hand-cut fries were hellish, the wild boiled greens were bitter as they should be, delicious giants and black beans made a beautiful snack.
The prices are impressively reasonable, and even the big fish can be enjoyed. Folk music that will always tempt anyone to throw a zembekia contributes to the beautiful atmosphere.
Tzimis
A privileged location next to the historic church of the Holy Apostles on the paved square of the same name, it serves delicious souvlaki from the window of the low-roofed building that is “dressed” with colorful posters and bougainvillea. Here the order is simple: pork or chicken kalamaki, chicken pita, sausage, gyros or kebab, handmade fries, salad and sfela. It is best enjoyed at the koureloudes in the square.
Nikitas
The Kalamata secret for handmade souvlaki with good meat, oregano from Taygetos and grilled over charcoal, located in the Covered Market. It is accompanied by handmade potatoes, grilled feta cheese and salads with olive oil from the owner’s family. Simplicity that is rare.
Info:
Blue Canary: 34 Kritis, 2721 043075
Versalies: 46 Evangelistrias, Kalamata Marina, 2721081858
Butcher 29: 29 Faros, Kalamata, 2721 028249
Thiasos: 7 Ypapantis, 2721088407
Chrysomallis Wine and Grocery: 32 Ypapantis, Kalamata, 27210 82759, 6945 931387
Fino Food & Wine Bistrot: 35 Ypapantis, 6940 886536
Cantharella: 2 Aipytou, 6944 893773
Anasha Seaside: 20 Navarinou, Paralia Kalamata, Tel.: 6945696313
Kardamos: 21 Railway Station Square, 27210 98091
Mouria: Kordia Settlement, Kalamata, Tel. 27210-82.112
Tzimis: 25 A. Stratiotou, 2721023999
Nikitas: Covered Market, 2721026766
