Vegan Food Adventures: Traveling in Chania, Crete, Greece with Amy

While in Chania, Crete, Greece in June I had the great pleasure of discovering two vegetarian restaurants—one new and one new to me that has been around for 8 or 9 years—both delicious. Vegetarian restaurants that offer vegan options feel surprisingly like an oasis in a country known for its healthy cuisine. Although plant food is readily accessible here, it is very often mixed or topped with cheese, yogurt or butter. Even bread and dry pasta which is often simple plant ingredients fairly often have some milk or yogurt added in the making.

Fava dip or Santorini fava (1)

We rented a lovely two story home on the east end of the harbor. When we arrived at late lunch time, we put our stuff down and headed down the block to the sea, took in the view and the sea air and turned west to head toward the central harbor. The coastline in Chania is organized in a series of bowl shaped harbors with either natural or man made edges to each bowl. As we came to the edge of the first of these we spotted To Stachi. The hand painted sign read, “organic” and “vegetarian.” I was immediately drawn to the place and a bit incredulous that we would happen on vegetarian restaurant on our first e

xplore of the trip.

Aubergine and dolmades (2)

As we settled into a table on the sidewalk, the chef came out to tell us about all of the dishes served that day. I asked about which ones were vegan and was surprised to learn how many of their mostly traditional Greek dishes were. We ordered fava dip, a roasted aubergine dish and spinach pie. The waitperson suggested with get the hummus instead of the fava as “you can get that anywhere,” but I love it and was happy with the choice. Although it is called fava dip and sometimes Santorini fava, it is essentially pureed split peas, not fava beans. To Stachi’s version came with raw onions and small dried olives (see photo 1). The spinach pie was a real treat because spinach pie in most places has cheese in it and it is often made with butter as well as olive oil. Sometimes the filo or other dough is made with milk in it. The aubergine dish was beautiful, unusual and delicious topped with balsamic “crème”, pine nuts and raisins and served with two dolmades (see photo 2).

Vegan Apple Cake (3)

They brought us a taste of their yummy (still warm) hummus made with avocado and tahini. As is the tradition in much of Greece, they brought a complementary dessert. Delightfully, it was a vegan apple cake and very tasty (see photo 3). A few days later we returned for their vegan moussaka and a lentil and rice soup. Both also delicious.

After finding To Stachi, I decided to check Happy Cow (happycow.net) to see if there were others nearby. Remarkably there was one more completely vegetarian just about 10 miles out of the center of town. Using other restaurant search engines, there are lots of restaurants listed as vegetarian friendly, but as mentioned above these can be tricky for people choosing to eat only foods from plant sources.

Old House Tavern (4)

The Old House Tavern is a breakfast and lunch place that is associated with the Sea Shell Apartments in Pyrgos Psilonerou (see photo 4). The dining room is right on the main road through this little beach town tucked between two seaside towns, Maleme and Gerani. The older stone building with very thick walls has been refurbished and it is light and cool inside even when the weather is it is warm outside. I was so excited about the menu that the two of us ordered 4 dishes—the tahini salad, the chickpeas with coconut sauce, the hummus and falafel plate (see photo 5) and a special dish for the day called vegetable with Chinese noodles.

Hummus and Falafel Plate (5)

All 4 were tasty. I loved the salad which featured pomegranate seeds, nuts, cucumber, greens, sweet cherry tomatoes and a slightly sweet tahini dressing. (see photo 6) The chickpea dish was a coconut curry with bright flavors served over rice (see photo 7). The Chinese noodles dish was sautéed slivered vegetables (peppers, corn, eggplant, and onion) tossed with ramen-style noodles (see photo 8). Deliciously salty and filling. We ended up taking home about half of the curry and the noodle dish and incorporated them into later meals. The complimentary dessert was lovely watermelon and cherries served with a shot glass of coffee liqueur. In all a real treat.