Thigaterra, Iraklion

Having had a long drive along the northern coast of the island of Crete to visit the home of the Minotaur our guide at the Palace of Knossos, Eleni, recommended Thigaterra as a restaurant serving traditional Cretan food in a modern setting.

The restaurant, which had opened in 2020 - an inauspicious year - was positioned on an uninspiring road on the outskirts of Heraklion, the island's capital, a short distance from the sea, although you wouldn't have known it. Despite the location and the unfortunate history it turned out to be an excellent recommendation.

We were made very welcome and from the start we were well looked-after by the friendly front of house team who, having taken our drinks orders, presented us with a complementary starter. This was a cherry, cream and pastry construction that would have passed muster as a dessert but made a very pleasing appetiser.

Between the four old people eating on this occasion we had a formal appetiser of a Shepherd's Handbag, comprising various bread based elements accompanied with olive oil, lemon sea salt and tapenade (locally called olive paté) and some cheese Saganaki.

This was followed with a mixed grill of chicken, pork, peppers onions and a local sausage with amazing roast potatoes in a lemon sauce, a dish of beef cheeks and gnocchi, chicken in noodles and prawns in what looked like strands of bright red hair, but turned out to be something made with beetroot.

One dessert was ordered but before this arrived we were served with complementary honey cake and small chocolate tarts filled with a custard and topped with more cherry compote. Finally, the ordered dessert arrived and would have been enough if shared between the four of us.

The entire experience is to be recommended to anyone travelling nearby.

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The Artichoke, Amersham

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