How well do Greek restaurants abroad hold up in comparison to what is typically served in Greece in terms of the quality of the food?

15 comments

1. 1) Yes, abroad is generally more expensive. Depending on the country, it can be MUCH more expensive.

   2) Generally not as good.

   3) Hit or miss. You can have low quality ingredients in Greece, you can find high quality ingredients abroad. If they are imported, that usually reflects on price. Cooking style is pretty easy to learn. If you have lived/cooked in Greece for a few months, it’s easy to replicate with good ingredients. It essentially comes down to spices and olive oil, and being able to find them.

   4 & 5) I would not say I had bad experiences, more like meh experiences. And good experiences at best. If you want “Great” Greek cuisine, then Greece and Cyprus are your best bets. The further away you go geographically, the more unlikely it becomes to find them.

   Having Native Greeks in the kitchen definitely helps, but it is by no means necessary. As I said, Greek cooking is not hard to learn, anyone can learn it over a few months. But generally someone who grew up in Greece and cooked for themselves probably has years of experience behind them, and that reflects on the final result.

2. I’ve noticed several Middle Easterners abroad tend to advertise their food as Greek, possibly to avoid negative connotations that words like “Arab/MENA” bring, which has led to misconceptions about our cuisines (and also the notion that everyone in the eastern Mediterranean eats the exact same stuff). Falafel and hummus are not traditionally Greek, and they weren’t easily available here 10-15 years ago. Gyros is not made with lamb, it’s pork or chicken; lamb in fact isn’t the most popular meat in general here, pork is a lot more consumed. But those restaurants attracted a MENA clientele fast so they’ll rarely offer pork. Pita bread is used exclusively in gyros wraps, and otherwise we eat bread in loaves, not flatbreads with dips. Greek pasta dishes are generally underreprestented in Greek restaurants.

3. Are you asking us? Or telling us? What is the point here? And no, the food is significantly different abroad, compared to local restaurants, I assume this is common for most local cuisines that have been adapted to cater to consumers abroad.

4. TLDR: Most of the times they are tourist cashgrabs, but somehow worse than the local tourist cashgrabs.

   Admittedly, I’ve not been in “high end” greek restaurants abroad and my experience is limited to some “Greek cuisine” shops in England. The ones I’ve been in were mostly owned by Greeks living abroad, clinging to their “Greek heritage” by serving “authentic Greek souvlaki” and such. Honestly, they looked like the stereotypical idea of a Greek restaurant, with the obligatory ancient Greek font and blue/white color scheme. 

   However to some who actually grew up constantly being close to at least dozens of such shops, the foreign gimmicks just don’t cut it. You would be lucky to find something that actually looks and tastes authentic, but they wouldn’t advertise it. All the others, at best, give the impression that the owner vaguely remembered what his “yaya” used to cook back home and tried to give it a shot. At worst they would just look up “authentic mousaka recipe” online. 

   And the worst part? The price. I understand that wages, maintenance and rent are higher in these countries, but 7 pounds for a simple unimpressive souvlaki is outrageous. The 3.5€ that we pay here on average is already too expensive, but as I said, with the abundance of options, it’s guaranteed that some of them will be well worth it. And don’t get me started on other “real” dishes. I’d rather get ripped of at a fake Chinese place. At least there I won’t realise how far off from the real thing the food is 

5. I’ve tried Greek food in various countries around the world. The basis of the food is going to be the same. However, it is usually adapted to local tastes and availability of local ingredients. You can’t expect countries in South America, for example, to import every little thing from South Europe cause the cost of food would make it prohibitively expensive for the locals. At most, they’ll import maybe a Greek beer or wine or maybe Greek feta. Similarly, in Europe, you’ll find non European cuisines adapted the same way for European tastes.

6. Follow souvlakination on Instagram and find out.

7. The main issue is access to ingredients. For many of the restaurants doesn’t make sense to import ingredients from Greece with fundamentally changes the flavor in many items. For example feta in the US has nothing to do with feta in EU,olive oil, lamp chops etc.

   Also many restaurants take liberties to adjust to local clients. It’s very hard to find a restaurant with “original” flavors.

8. So, I’m a Greek living abroad for quite a few years.

   Prices are fundamentally different and for most cases a lot more expensive. This mainly has to do with two things in my opinion. The mean salary in the country and the cost of ingredients. When the minimum salary in Greece is 830€ and in Ireland 2146€ for example you can’t have the same prices.

   One thing I despise is what they call a “greek salad” is definitely not a Χωριάτικη or what we call a Greek salad. They tend to put lettuce which I’m assuming is done for cost cutting. In generally the majority of Greek places abroad that I have visited are a far cry from proper Greek food.

   Also quite a lot of them are run by non Greeks, although that is not necessarily the reason for the bad food, a lot of greeks have the same issues.

   Having said that I have found good Greek food, one that I’d be happy eating in Greece as well. Quite on the pricier side though.

   Not being able to get well priced food has made me a much better cook, as now I’ll just make most of those things myself when I really miss something. Not as good as in Greece, but much better than a bad restaurant in my opinion

9. They dont hold up.

   They overcharge, in EU especially northern countries.

   Countless times I encountered a Greek salad costing 20 euros, or a chicken portion costing sth absurd like 35 euros.

   The quality is also not the same and it will never be the same. This is not only for Greek, but anything traditional that is operated outside the country of origin.

   I rarely go to Greek restaurants abroad, simply bcz it’s like a tourist trap.

10. I’ve visited a few of them, some in the UK and some in Czechia.

    The general vibe/experience I ended up having was what you’d expect, okay to decent food but worse than what’d you get in Greece, with slight changes in the recipes/ingredients to accommodate for the locale.

    Sometimes they also have stuff you’d never see in Greece. For example, in Czechia I ordered a “metaxa gyros” dish, and after some quick googling I found most of the results were from German websites.

11. In my experience, Greek restaurants abroad are absolute shit but note, many Greek restaurants in Greece are also shit. Touristy places are usually like that. Spots where locals frequent is usually where it’s at (I say usually cos some touristy places really can be good). This I think is an almost universal experience, not really a Greek thing specifically.

    EDIT: Lamb “gyros” isn’t gyros btw, tell your friends, thx

12. There are differences even in Greece. In popular tourist places, even traditional Greek restaurants tend to make food more blunt in order to not have tourists complaint about too much salt or/and pepper as my dad used to make lamb ribs for example.

    So, I would guess, adding that the ingredients are also different, there must be a lot of compromise if you want to have a “Greek” restaurant in Texas or wherever and keep it profitable.

    Still, it would depend. For example, Astoria, New York, has a big Greek community, so there you should be able to find something close to the “traditional” flavor.

    Also, bear in mind that mainland Greece has different cuisine than North-North east, and the Islands are a whole other game, with big differences between them, So, what is traditional in one place could be unheard in another.

13. Montreal has some very good Greek restaurants. Authentic feel too. We have a huge Greek population in Montreal.

14. 99% of them are extremely “touristy” and the food is generally 90s style.
    In Greece there is a fierce competition between restaurants, most of them now adapt the “modern greek cuisine” style, new dishes that trying to impress.

    I don’t know any Greek for example having Mousaka or Kleftiko in a restaurant in Athens..

15. Living in the USA i have yet to encounter a Greek restaurant that comes close to the real thing. But the thing that takes the cake was eating “Greek” food in central Germany.

    I was there for work and ordered gyros. The dish arrived with yellow melted cheese instead of tzatziki. I was horrified. For research purposes i visited again and this time asked to have the sauce on the side. The waiter was Greek and said it would upset the chef who was German LOLZ.

    This isn’t uncommon with other ethnic foods. Chinese or Mexican food are classic adaptations.