Greeks spend a lot of time socializing outside their homes, and sharing a meal is one of the chief ways of doing it. The atmosphere is always relaxed and informal, and pretensions (and expense-account prices) are rare outside of the more chi-chi parts of Athens and certain major resorts. Greeks are not prodigious drinkers - tippling is traditionally meant to accompany food - though since the mid-1990s a whole range of bars and pubs has sprung up, both in tourist resorts and as pricey music halls at the outskirts of the major towns

Breakfasts, picnic fare and snacks
Greeks don't generally eat breakfast , so the only egg-and-bacon kind of places are in resorts where foreigners congregate, or where there are returned North American or Australian Greeks. Such spots can sometimes be fairly good value...

Restaurants
Greek cuisine and restaurants are simple and straightforward. There's usually no snobbery about eating out; everyone does it regularly, and it's still reasonable - typically ?9-13 per person for a substantial (non-seafood) meal with a measure...

Fish and seafood
Seaside psarotavnes offer fish , though for the inexperienced, ordering can be fraught with peril. Summer visitors get a relatively poor choice of fish, most of it frozen, farmed or imported from Egypt and North Africa....

Vegetarians
If you are vegetarian , you may be in for a hard time, and will often have to assemble a meal from various mezhes. Even the excellent standbys of yogurt with honey, tzatzi and Greek salad begin to pall after a while, and many of...

Wines
Both estiatia and tavernas will usually offer you a choice of bottled wines , and many still have their own house variety: kept in barrels, sold in bulk by the quarter-, half- or full litre, and served either in glass flagons or...

Cafés, cake shops and bars
The Greek eating and drinking experience encompasses a variety of other places beyond restaurants. Most importantly, there is the institution of the kafen , found in every town, village and hamlet in the country. In addition, you'll come...