Apart from its rugged natural beauty, lovely beaches, whitewashed churches and immaculately clean villages with lots of twisted olive trees and roaming mountain goats, Tinos island is where I’ve been served some of the best food of any Greek island I’ve ever visited!
Actually, after so many yearly trips to Tinos I’ve come to the conclusion that the islanders really understand their local produce and manage to use that know-how to make dishes that fit the island’s mood and allow the produce to shine.
On this year’s trip, the Dio Horia roadside tavern, located in the mountain village with the same name got my top marks together with the Sto Kapaki café/bar in the village's square where one evening my husband and I enjoyed drinks served with an old fashioned meze and a plate of delicious cold cuts and local cheeses (see photo above for cold cuts & cheese plate & photo with meze below).
The awesome looking cold cut plate included a variety of cheeses, including a rare one called To Kariki; a strong tasting yellow cheese that is matured in a pumpkin for at least six months and got my taste buds so excited that I immediately wanted to buy some to take with me back to Athens.
As this cheese is not so widely available, I was told to go to O Boras butcher’s shop in the center of Hora (the island's main town) where, if lucky, I would be able to purchase this cheese!
It took me two trips into town and a long chat with my new friend, Giannis Thodoris, to get a reasonably large piece of the cheese. I didn't mind doing this as I thought it was time well spent, as apart from the cheese, I learnt a lot about other local products and superb quality local meats and sausages, some of which we had already enjoyed at he Dio Horia tavern.
Not only was the food at the Dio Horia tavern really tasty and authentic but the drive up to the village is lovely and the view truly spectacular. From the tavern’s terrace you can see all the way down to Tinos’ harbor while munching on freshly and well prepared traditional Greek tavern food.
My favorites of the array of mouth-watering food were the outstanding cheese pie and the meatballs together with a simple green salad that had just been brought from a local garden . . . served with crumbled local cheese.
I was also told that the slowly oven braised goat meat is tremendous when available, but having had so many encounters with cute goats that roam around the island, I think I would have had a hard time consuming a dish including that ingredient!
To end the meal we were offered, as usual on the house, a choice of sweets but opted for citrus spoon sweet that was also just perfect!
For some more favorite places please go to my website blog post: https://www.cook-eat-go.com/single-post/2018/07/29/Where-2Eat-on-Tinos-Island
Just writing this blog post is making me wish that I was back on Tinos island . . . . enjoying great meals . . . often with terrific views!
Wishing you all a Happy Summer Week-end!