Lefkada | Good food in Nidri

Months before the summer holidays started, we booked a holiday to the Griekse Island Lefkas. We had been looking forward to the sun, the romantic beaches, the picturesque villages and the delicious Greek food for a while! Feta, tzatziki, moussaka, gyros, souvlaki, stuffed vegetables, Greek cuisine is so popular for good reason. In this blog I will give you some good tips for restaurants Don't. And believe me, Nidri is the perfect holiday destination for nice restaurants (on the water).

Eating in Nidri

Nidri (Nydri among the Greeks, location here) we thought it was a great holiday destination. We have thoroughly discovered the island of Lefkas by motorbike and can say that we think Nidri is the nicest place on the island.

It is located on a romantic bay, there is a lively boulevard, there are numerous picturesque streets and you really have a lot of choice of delicious and good-looking restaurants. You walk along the water on an extensive boulevard full of dining options. I think this is the convenience of a holiday, that you can walk a long street, look around you, and not know in advance where you will end up!

No Piet Fries

Sorry, but when I'm on holiday, a frikandel especially at Piet Patat doesn't make me happy. I go on holiday to get away for a while and I love discovering the culture of a country. I would rather translate my entire menu with Google Translate or ask for help from the waiter than have it written in Dutch. Fortunately, this is not (yet) the case in Lefkas and you can really enjoy the Greek atmosphere without it all being so extremely touristy.

Ambiance

When I go to eat somewhere, I think the food is just as important as the atmosphere in the restaurant. It makes me incredibly happy when I look around and everything is right. The decoration, the covering of the table, a beautiful view and friendly service. To give you the same feeling, I share my tips for nice restaurants in Nidri.

1. L'Approdo

Definitely our favorite of the holiday! We have even been there twice, under the motto 'why change something if it is good?'. We didn't want to be disappointed on the last evening of our holiday, so we went to dinner at our favorite restaurant from earlier that week.

The restaurant is located on the water. The elegant tables are located directly on the water. You can hear the waves of the sea while enjoying the delicious food. There are attractive LED lights above the tables, so the restaurant is not only a feast for the stomach, but also for the eyes. You will also experience the tranquility of Nidri here, through the sound and smells of the seawater. Finally, they also have an indoor section and a number of tables under a canopy. So you don't have water there, but it is just as atmospheric.

The food is delicious! We were again a little too enthusiastic with the starters and this meant that we had to drag ourselves home with a full stomach. The starters are so delicious here! I recommend the cheese balls, tzatziki with bread and the feta with honey and sesame seeds. As a main course you can choose from traditional Greek dishes, but also from pasta and pizzas. The Moussaka was delicious. Almost every holiday there comes a moment when you just really feel like having a pizza and I ate one of the tastiest pizzas ever here.

The service also gets a 10+. The staff was friendly and sociable. We had nice conversations with the servers and got some extra information about the food.

Tip: order a bottle of wine. You will receive a beautiful wine bottle with a unique logo on it. We ordered the bottle of 'queen of hearts' and 'king of hearts'. The servers happily told the background story of the unique wine bottles that you can't find (almost) anywhere else. You notice that the staff is experienced and knowledgeable about what they sell.

Also read: Lefkada, paradise beaches in Greece | Guest blog @camperfeels

2. Mamma Mia

Our very first evening we walked along the boulevard of Nydri for the first time. We had had a long day of traveling and were ready for a bite to eat. We went out without expectations and soon came across Mamma Mia restaurant (location here) in return for. This was just a 5-minute walk from our hotel. We hesitated because we normally don't make a choice so quickly, but it looked so nice and cozy that we decided not to walk any further. By the way, the restaurant is one of the neighbors of restaurant L'Approdo.

The nicest surprise was the live music! Three Greeks came with musical instruments to play Greek tunes as they walked through the tables of dining people. Due to their spontaneity, they put the cutlery down for a moment to make time to clap. People looked at each other laughing. I thought this was a really lucky moment!

This restaurant is also located on the water. Dinner by the sea, with live music and cutely decorated tables. The tables are laid out in the Greek colors (blue and white). So the picture was completely correct. What else do you want?

My friend ate a piece of lamb and zucchini stuffed eggplant and pepper with rice in tomato sauce and baked potato. Ver-ru-ke-like. As a starter we had bread with Tzatziki and Feta with grilled pepper and paprika. We ate Tzatziki and Feta (almost) every day in Greece because we are such fans of it. Oops!

3. Panorama restaurant

I immediately fell in love with the appearance of this restaurant (location here). The colored flowers that dangle above you while you have a romantic dinner made us have to eat here. It's one of the cute little restaurants on Nidri's popular boulevard and was another enjoyable experience!

There is a diverse menu, something for everyone. You can choose a grill dish, traditional Greek dishes, various meat and fish dishes, salads or pasta. I ate a delicious risotto here. As a starter we had grilled Halloumi cheese and peppers stuffed with feta, of course.

4. Pomodoro restaurant

The name says it all, this is an Italian restaurant (location here). A holiday also requires variety on a culinary level (except for feta). After tasting traditional cuisine for a few evenings, we thought it was time for an evening out Italy in Greece. We ate a delicious pasta tagliatelle. I must say that I love richly filled pasta and at home I always cook them with lots of vegetables. Now I know that in Italy it is 'less is more' when it comes to pasta, so I can't give this as a negative.

The service at Pomodoro restaurant was very good! A super friendly waiter contributed to an attractive restaurant experience throughout the evening. With some jokes, courtesy and even a free ouzo (and another drink I forget the name of), he won our hearts. When we left he came with his notepad to write down a few Dutch sentences so he could memorize them.

5. Bikini Pool Bar

This is slightly less of a 'real' restaurant experience, but I don't think it is indispensable on the list. We had been walking past here for a few days and I just had to sit under one of those super nice palm trees by the water!

At this bar (location here) you can order food from the grill and delicious cocktails. A cocktail evening cannot be missed during our holiday, and what could be a nicer place than this? Just off the boulevard we could enjoy the water in peace and quiet with a cocktail in our hand. We didn't try the food, but here you mainly have meat dishes from the grill.

By the way, you can't just stay here under such adorable tables with a palm tree (see photo below). You can also use the pool while enjoying your cocktail and/or snack!

Also read: Greece | Renting a boat on Lefkas, our experience

Other restaurants

I have listed my five favorite restaurants in Nidri for you. Of course we couldn't possibly try every restaurant on holiday. According to other holidaymakers and locals, the restaurants below are also good options to try:

1. Seaside Restaurant: Relaxing dining by the water. You can try various fish and seafood dishes here, as well as traditional Greek dishes. There are also vegetarian options.
2. The barrel: Fish and seafood. This seems to be fantastic food during a dinner in elegant atmospheres.
3. Roots restaurant: Mediterranean restaurant with also a choice of fish and seafood. It is food with a beautiful view (on the water) and is known for friendly staff.
4. Apollon: Mediterranean, Greek, vegetarian options. Affordable food and friendly staff ensure a successful evening on the boulevard of Nidri.

Closing comments

The lively, cozy, touristy (but not too), charming boulevard of Nidri offers more than enough options for a wonderful evening out for dinner. There is a lot of choice from the delicious Greek cuisine, both for meat eaters and for lovers of vegetarian options, although this always requires a bit of searching. We ate a lot of grilled vegetables, souvlaki, Moussaka, Gyros, Feta and Tzatziki and we had a successful week.

By the way, I haven't talked about prices in this blog. This is because everything was actually affordable on the boulevard. Main courses averaged a maximum of 18 euros per person. Nidri is an absolute must on Lefkas and there are plenty of nice restaurants!

Tip: There are many shops in Nidri where you can buy local products, such as herbs, oils or spices. I couldn't resist taking two bags of herbs to make Tzatziki and Feta. This way I can enjoy the holiday even more at home.