Dining in Rhodes: Our Guide to the Best Restaurants on the Greek Island

Summer is made for happy “beaching” and isle-hoppers who crave for discovering and slurping up local delicacies like Marco Polo of taste. The largest island of the Dodecanese is a popular travel destination in Greece. Whether you are looking for refined dining options with breathtaking view or family-run traditional tavernas, soak up our guide for “the island of the knights” when you organize your next gastronomic getaway to Rhodes. 

In the heart of the vibrant historic medieval town of the “island of the knights”, Rhodes, and “one of the most beautiful urban ensembles of the Gothic period” -according to UNESCO- , owner and man with a vision, Manolis Zaranis, has housed his love for high quality wine and hospitality at 10GR. An imposing yet welcoming and friendly place, with updated wine cellar that explores the Greek terroir with sommelier Kosmas Sarakinis, ensuring a harmonious blend of wine and food choices. Basically, it’s a wine bar, so the protagonist here is wine and the food is an accompaniment to it, without its second role making it inferior in quality, quite the contrary. Chef Antonis Manias serves a comfort menu where ingredients from all around Greece have the main role. They also organize special events where they host wine producers and their walls are occasionally adorned with works by distinguished artists in the context of cultural exhibitions. 

At Noble, a destination fine dining restaurant located at the top floor of the luxurious Elysium Resort & Spa at the northeast coast, gastronomes can sample tasting menus that “speak” perfectly the Rhodian culinary idiom. Executive chef George Troumouhis, after an in depth research at 40 villages, like a true locavore, in collaboration with “Noble” 's young and talented head chef Spyros Kougios, recreates typical recipes from the Rhodian yiayia’s cooking pot with respect. Among standout dishes are “from mountain to the sea” (a pitaroudi-pie-with crab and mushrooms) and lamb “kapama” with eggplants marinated in miso and eggplant marmalade with anchovy garum.  

At Five Senses Sophisticated Greek Gastronomy, on the terrace of Lindos Blu Luxury Hotel & Suites, the breathtaking view of the land and sea of Lindos, embraces local cuisine with a creative mindset. Chef and food technologist Dimitris Kontaratos applies his experience in both fields in a unique concept, banishes salt and seeks flavors in the fermentations, unveiling modern Greek cuisine based on the taste memories of Rhodian, but also of Greek traditions. Some of the vessels used in presentations are custom-made, created with 3D printers and highlights include “soupiokalamaro”, Lindian tiny shrimps with parsley “skordalia” and pork, semi-preserved sea bream with “horiatiki” broath, okra and rock samphire. 

At Kyriakos Iakovidis' Hellas Restaurant in the village of Pefkos, the island’s gastronomic tradition is translated into dishes that flirt with modernity without deviating in the slightest from their deeply rustic character. Chef and owner, alongside with chef Irini Giorgoudiou aptly capture a creative version of their hometown's cuisine at this lovely place surrounded by xinodendron trees and a hall with stone walls and "lindian roof" like the island’s old captain's houses. The tasting menu harmoniously bridges tradition with modernity in dishes such as the “Rhodian pic nic” with bites of local delicacies, the seafood “giapraki”, or the comfort “stifado”. 

In Lindos, about 55 km from the center of Rhodes, Mavrikos (+30 2244031232) is a staple for the island’s restaurant scene, owned by Michalis and Dimitris Mavrikos. They manage to present a very interesting and refined, idiosyncratic version of traditional Rhodian cuisine cooking recipes based on local and fresh vegetables and fruits, as well as on various other ingredients sourced from the producers and fishermen of the island with emphasis on the best of each season. Akres serves tradition-inspired recipes true to the values of sustainability in a menu which brings on the restaurant’s tables some of the best producers of the island and Greece. Yiannos Ellenitsas, expert associate agronomist and forager, supplies the restaurant daily with fresh organic vegetables and herbs from his farm and chef Argyris Giannopoulos along with sous chef Vassilis Diakoulas, elevate the taste experience in fine-comfort highlights such as “kiapapi” -lamb “xerohimisi” (a traditional cooking technique), with staka (a dairy product), or “manites”, a dish based on mushrooms. 

Paraga, a gastronomic gem located 45 km from the city of Rhodes, in the village of Apollona, was reconstructed in 2006 by the Efthymiou and Sedona families and is now essentially something between a tavern and a restaurant. In the kitchen, Yannis Efthymiou, exemplary cooks local specialties in the wood-fired ovens, filling the tables with authentic goodies made with recipes that he cooks without changing their traditional character. He serves sublime braised beef cheeks he wraps in parchment paper, "encapsulating" the meat in a clay sheet, a dish you have to order at least 3 days in advance but it's worth to try. Sourdough rustic bread, yapraki with rice and plenty of herbs from their “bostani” (herb garden), lamb, crunchy zucchini fritters and more pass the tables.

Taverna Elias (+30.2246041415) in the semi-mountainous village of Emponas, on the slopes of Attaviros, the highest mountain of the island, the Konstantinakis family cooks local delicacies, honoring the concept of a pure traditional tavern. Goat kapama baked in a large clay pot sealed with dough, roasted juicy ribs, several stews and fine desserts such as baklava with properly syruped dough, fig jam and sweet walnut are just a part of the recipes Mrs. Roula, cooks with affection, like a Greek mama. They also produce excellent wines and souma exclusively for their guests with grapes from their own vineyards located at the slopes of the mountain. 

Kali orexi!