If you love meat, finding a good place to eat it, is not always an easy task and sometimes it could be very expensive. In this article, we are going to suggest 6 places around the city where you can taste perfect meat on a budget. 6 places hidden treasures for meat lovers.
Roumeli (Ρούμελη) : Hidden in the street of Vyronas, this tavern stands at this location since the 1930s. The owner continues the tradition of his family, who established and has been operating the tavern all these years. The quality of the meat, grilled on charcoal, is excellent. The variety is sufficient but the best dish here is lamb chops, perfectly grilled and always tasty (considered by many the best in town). The side dishes are basic and limited, like fried potatoes, Greek salad and wild boiled greens but very tasty too. If you are lucky, during the winter months, you could find delicious meat soup (a secret specialty of the place). Finally, if the weather is good, you could sit at the tables on the pedestrian street in front of the tavern. (Konstantinoupoleos 34, Vyronas)
Ta Filetakia (Τα Φιλετάκια) : The name is significant and prepares you what to expect. The specialty here is pork and chicken fillets (filetakia in Greek). The tavern was established in the 1960s and at the beginning served only pork fillets, fried potatoes and salad. Nowadays there are approximately ten dishes to choose from, which are all very good and tasty. The tavern has its own wonderful and cosy yard, which has an ambience that transfers you a few decades back in time and reminds you of your childhood’s Sunday lunch at the local tavern. In addition to the above, every Friday night the tavern has live Greek music. (Ethnarchou Makariou 126, Dafni)
Barba-Μitsos (Μπαρμπα-Μήτσος) : Barbamitsos (aka Ladokolla – because the meat is served on baking paper, ladokolla in Greek) is a famous but also very hard to find a place. Hidden in a narrow street between Agios Dimitrios and Nea Smyrni, this tavern is well known all over Athens for almost twenty years. The menu is very limited. Greek salad, tzatziki or tyrokafteri, sausage, meat patties and pork steak are the only choices, but they are all perfect and come in huge portions. Steaks, sausages and meat patties are served buried beneath an enormous portion of excellent fried potatoes. The place is always packed and they don’t make reservations. Therefore arrive early or you have to wait in order to find a table. The interior and the small yard are unpretentious and filled with people of all ages. (Ioustinianou 11, Agios Dimitrios)
Stelios (Στέλιος) : Classic Greek grill tavern at its best. With a history that goes back many years and with loyal customers, this is a place where you would taste excellent meat in a wide variety. The meat comes from Epirus region and it is always fresh and of great quality. Lambchops, meat patties, steaks and kontosouvli (one of the best in the city) are the basic choices. There is also a good variety of side dishes and starters. In the end, they always treat you with loukoumades. Although a little far from the city center, this is a tavern certainly worth visiting. (Leoforos Ionias 198, Alimos)
Vlachos (Βλάχος) : This tavern in the northern suburbs of the city is in a category of its own. Here you could taste perfect, juicy and delicious pork steaks, homemade meat patties and authentic sausage. But apart from the meat, the specialty here is the traditional pies, which are baked on the grill and not in the oven, following a traditional way of cooking. There is a good variety of pies, like cheese pie, pie with pasta (makaronopita), spinach pie and zucchini pie. The meat and the pies are prepared and cooked in an open kitchen at the centre of the tavern, so everyone could watch. During weekends the place is always full of crowds who arrived here from every corner of the city to taste these unique flavours (a very interesting video about Vlachos could be seen here) (Konstantinou Karamanli and 17 Noemvri, Melissia)
Telis (Τέλης) : Telis is the absolute cult classic tavern. For almost 40 years it serves the Athenians the best pork steak (aka mprizolakia). Actually, this is the only thing you can order in this place along with Greek Salad, fried potatoes and hot tomato sauce (called “kafteri” and it is made with feta, tomatoes and hot grilled peppers). The waiter is going to ask you only “how many”, referring to the number of steak portions. The steaks are served with fried potatoes and they are always juicy and perfectly grilled. The people you will see eating at this place vary from business executives to workers and families. Almost everyone in Athens knows Telis regardless of whether they have ever eaten here. (Evripidou 86, Athens)
If we haven’t already convinced you with all the above and you have another suggestion, feel free to comment and tell us about your favourite budget place for meat around Athens. We are sure there are more hidden treasures we must discover and taste.
*(Photo at the top is from iStock)