One of Exarchia's most established tavernas, beautifully decorated with period photos and old musical instruments, Peinaleon is popular with the academic and alternative crowd. The friendly proprietor rustles up excellent food, much of it based on recipes from his native island of Chios. There is also wonderful barrelled wine and tsipouro.

Serving a wide range of delicious starters and main courses, this is the most authentic and least expensive of the tavernas in the trendy Psyrri area. With two levels of seating indoors and a neat little courtyard out back, it is a good option for all seasons.

This classic old-fashioned taverna gives you one of the most authentic Greek dining experiences possible. A pleasant garden terrace opens beside the church opposite in summer, while the spacious interior is given character by dozens of huge wine barrels.

This well-established favorite offers a huge menu of dips, starters, grills and some oven-baked dishes, as well as good barrelled wine. The huge garden also has a retracting roof, meaning it can be used in any weather.

One of the most legendary souvlaki joints in the city, and always crowded with locals and tourists alike. Here you can have pork, chicken, sausage or bifteki in your pitta for little cost.

It's worth the trek out from the city center to this famous restaurant on the cute yacht harbour of Mikrolimano, although you have to be prepared to pay for the privilege! Chef Lefteris Lazarou has gained a Michelin star for his efforts in producing superb seafood dishes every year since 2002.

A classic old-fashioned place where you pick your dishes from the trays or casserole pots on display and eat them in the cramped but atmospheric interior, or at the limited outdoor seating on the pedestrianized side street.

The food here has a slight influence from Anatolia rather than Abyssinia (the restaurant name, in Greek), with gentle touches of spice not usually found in Greek cuisine. The location is great and the colorful premises make a pleasant place to while away some time.

This ouzeri-style mezedopolio (a place where you can by mezedes) offers a predictably large range of such small and not-so-small plates, which you can wash down with barreled wine, ouzo or the increasingly popular spirit tsipouro. It is one of a number of decent eateries clustered around Varnava Square, in the quiet neighborhood of Metz.

For decades, the place to head for food after a hard night's drinking – when just about everywhere else has closed – has been the central meat market, and this old-style restaurant is the pick of the bunch. It's as brightly lit and lacking in decor as the rest but coming here to help see in the new day and watch the butchers setting up their stalls is something of an Athenian rite of passage.