This land of sparkling waters and blue skies offers an assortment of fresh ingredients which are easily available.

There are many great places to eat out in Rhodes. Below, we have attempted to give you a brief guide on the Rhodes cuisine and food available - and some suggestions for the best places to try it for yourself are a busy day touring, shopping or simply relaxing. Our Greek restaurant guide provides some handy info on cuisine around the country.

Food & Cuisine in Rhodes

Flourishing olive trees provide olive oil which is full of flavour and used to soak other foods in it. Vineyards are spread all over the rolling hillside and the crushed and fermented grapes produce some excellent wines, including resin-flavoured ones. Lemon trees bear the fragrant golden coloured fruit, the taste of which is all pervasive in Greek cooking.

The landscape of Rhodes offers a variety of flavours and different kinds of environments in which you can taste the gastronomic delights. Some of the myriad choices available to you include dining in Rhodes restaurants which have an impressive past, eateries in renovated medieval buildings like captains' houses, taverns on the waterfront which serve good fish, taverns in villages amidst the green countryside and ethnic restaurants.

The surrounding sea is endowed with a wide range of fish and shellfish. Taverns along the harbour serve fish which is either grilled baked or fried and usually as a whole piece with the head too.

Lamb is the main meat served here and during a festival or celebration, an entire carcass is ceremoniously spit roasted outdoors. For day-to-day meals, lamb is first braised, then stewed in a casserole with assorted vegetables and then finally broiled on skewers. Beef, pork and game are first marinated and then either grilled or baked. Chicken is often either braised or broiled. There are innumerable good combinations of meat and vegetable dishes. These are often drizzled over with a lemon sauce called ‘avgolemono' or a tomato sauce which is spiced with cinnamon.

Plenty of fresh vegetables inspire creative marinated and cooked salads and vegetable dishes. These are often sprinkled with mountain grown herbs such as garlic, oregano, basil, mint and dill. Fresh cheeses like Romano, Feta and Kasseri are used in abundance as accompaniments with home made whole-wheat breads or salads. These are also grated and used to top vegetables or pasta. A casserole dish which is omnipresent is the moussaka. It comprises of layers of eggplant or zucchini combined with a meat sauce which is scented with garlic, which gives the look of a custard topping. Pilaffs are sprinkled with spices and nuts. Fila pitas are a delight to eat. They are made of the wafer thin pastry and layered with either the combination of chicken and mushrooms, or spinach and feta, or lamb and leeks.

Without exception, the most famous Greek dessert pastry is the baklava, which is made up of several layers filled with nuts and drenched in honey syrup. A pastry shop here unravels the adaptability of the fila dough used to make many different fila pastries, many of which are of Turkish origin. For a late afternoon meal, try the strong Greek coffee along with the smooth fila pastries and the buttery nut cookies. The late evening dinner does not end with desserts but instead with fresh fruits such as figs, oranges, apples and melons.

Festivals and feasts are an integral part of the Hellenistic way of life. Occasions for merry making include weddings, holidays, days which mark the birth of a saint or name days. The festivities include a bountiful table filled with food and feisty folk dancing.

Some of the dishes of Rhodes which you must try include pitaroudia (croquettes made from chickpeas), kapamas (oven baked goat meat along with beans or chickpeas), soupiorizo (risotto with squid), manatsouki (beans or chickpeas cooked over night in a terracotta pot over firewood), rifiki (backbone of lamb or goat which is stuffed with rice and roasted in a terracotta pot over night), salamogia (myzithra cheese with peppercorns in brine) and giaprakia (vine leaves stuffed with rice). There is also no dearth of tasty sweet dishes such as melekouni, which is a local sweet made for weddings and baptisms, resembling ‘nut brittle,' and talagoutes which are pancakes sprinkled with honey, walnuts, sesame seeds and cinnamon.

Taverns and restaurants in Rhodes are by and large operational during the tourist season from April to end of October or the beginning of November. A few taverns and restaurants in Rhodes operate the whole year round. Taverns are usually open during the day time in the afternoons and in the evenings as well, whereas restaurants only open at night.

Rhodian Wine

Rhodian vineyards are famous for their sparkling wines. These wines are associated with happy and relaxing moments in the minds of the Greeks. The vineyards which cover 15 million sq m are wide spread by Aegean standards. While visiting the island, tourists will undoubtedly give in to the soothing taste of Rhodian wine.

In Rhodes, there are three famous brands of wine.

Athiri (VDQS) - White wine made from a strain of white grapes, a classic Aegean variety grown from ancient times.

Mandilaria, also called ‘Amorgiano' (VDQS) - Red wine made from a strain of red grapes, the prime wine amongst almost all islands in the Aegean Sea. Rhodes also has an environment suitable for this wine. Enjoy this dark coloured wine with its delicate aroma.

Sweet White Wine (VDQS) - This is made by blending two different variants of Muscat grapes, the classic white grapes from Samos and the Italian Trani Muscat which is imported. This wine combines to give an aroma of dried apricot, caramel and nuts. It has a pleasing taste which enchants the senses.

The speciality of local wineries in Rhodes is that they produce sparkling wines by using the method of second fermentation in the bottle, as in the case of champagnes. The best vineyards of Rhodes are on the slopes of Mt. Attavyros, in the north western part of the island. For those of you who are interested, Embonas village in particular has some traditional wineries run by families which sell a limited number of select wines. Tourists can enjoy a tour of the wineries and taste wine, ouzo, souma (a traditional drink) and champagne.