Crete, an endless map of tastes
If you crave real Greek cooking, history, immaculate beaches, shopping and nightlife, Crete is a better alternative to overrun Mykonos and Santorini. Tavernas here welcome you with a shot of raki, feed you dessert on the house and then send you off with another shot, because that’s the hospitable thing to do.
Let’s explore Cretes traditional dishes!
Dakos (barley rusk)
This is Crete’s most ubiquitous starter. You’ll find dakos on every menu in Chania. The foundation is a hard barley rusk (known as paximadia), similar in texture to what babies are given when teething. These are much more considered – twice baked and sometimes studded with aniseed or coriander seeds. Each husk slowly soaks up olive oil and the juice of chopped tomatoes, which are sprinkled with oregano, xinomyzithra (salted white local cheese) or feta cheese.
Stamnagathi (edible weeds)
Crete is famed for its edible weeds and greens called horta. You’ll spot them in salads, stuffed into salty pies with cheese and offered as a side with meat. They’re highly nutritious and are quite bitter, but they cut through fatty roasts and feel like they’re doing you good. Stamnagathi, or cichorium spinosum, looks a little like tufts of roquette, and is a legitimate superfood filled with vitamins, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and antioxidants. It’s served boiled and drowning in olive oil and lemon juice.
Staka Me Ayga (cream & eggs)
This Cretan dish – milk cream with eggs – was a dark horse during our travels. I never would have ordered it, but one of us doesn’t eat meat, and I insisted on visiting the equivalent of a Greek barbecue restaurant. Staka me ayga is a simple dish where eggs (in this case, poached) are served on top of staka, a roux made from buttery local cream mixed with flour that’s been seasoned with salt and pepper. It’s extremely comforting and works as a spread, dip, side dish or even for breakfast.
Chochlioi Bourbouristi (snails)
Greeks have been eating snails since 2 AD. Locals forage for them in the mountains after it rains, but there are also snail farms. They’re cooked in different ways, but they’re best coated in a light dusting of flour, fried in olive oil and finished with salt, vinegar or wine and rosemary. While chochlioi translates to “snail” in local dialect, bourbouristi references the popping noise they make when fried. These molluscs are often cooked live, so if that’s not your jam, check before you order.
Apaki (cured pork)
Crete’s answer to cured pork. Lean loin meat is marinated in vinegar for a few days and then smoked over wood and mountain herbs. It’s then sliced into thin strips and finished in a pan. In Chania, you’ll see it served by itself, in salads, with eggs and in other dishes.
Kleftiko (baked lamb)
We have thieves to thank for this slow-cooked, oven-baked lamb dish. Keptomanic is derived from the Greek word kleftis or thief. Both pirates and Ottoman-era Klephts, Greek decedents who lived in the mountains to avoid Ottoman rule, stole livestock from Greek villages to feed themselves. Although usually made with lamb, you can find chicken and vegetarian versions of kleftiko seasoned with herbs and cooked with tomato, sometimes encased in pastry.
Kaltsounia (cheese pies)
These little Cretan cheese pies are savoury, despite being served at the end of the meal. They look an awful lot like empanadas and can be spiked with thyme and drizzled with honey and cinnamon. Myzithra is the cheese of choice.
Cretan Yoghurt & Honey
The best yoghurt I’ve ever tasted was outside of Chania on the way to Elafonisi Beach in hilly Topolia. Look for thick, Greek yoghurt set in terracotta pots served with local honey. It’s so thick that it remains fastened to an inverted spoon. You don’t know the true meaning of the word “creamy” until you try this.