The Top Restaurants on Kos Island, Greece

Situated in an elegant garden courtyard in capital Kos Town (with cosy indoor seating for cooler months), Petrino is perfect if you’re looking for something upscale and romantic. You’ll love their pork loin, sea bass and local hard cheeses such as krasotiri – a goat’s cheese aged in red wine. For those who like to drink their calories, they also boast a comprehensive wine list with over 120 labels. Don’t miss the delicious pinot.

Translating as “Never on a Sunday”, you’ll love this traditional taverna in Kos Town for its quirks – the menu is even written in school exercise books. Being an ouzeri, it’s a great place to come for meze such as baked feta with honey, washed down with ouzo or rounded off with a traditional Greek coffee. For a real local experience, you can’t go wrong here.

Operating for over 30 years under the same family, Broadway is tucked away from the busiest areas of Kos Town, and thus great for a lunch or dinner spent escaping the crowds. Enjoy hearty dishes such as braised beef with Greek orzo (rice-like pasta), or a simple cheeseburger capped off by a microbrewery beer, wine or a soft drink. It’s popular with the locals, too.

Another taverna hidden away in the narrow sidestreets of Kos Town, Elia serves a feast of dishes including cheese, shrimp or aubergine saganaki (a Greek appetizer), and pork with mustard and caper sauce. And you’ll love the ambience. In a tastefully renovated 19th-century building with exposed stonework and beams, it’s not just your tastebuds that will tingle.

You’ll feel right at home in the family atmosphere of Stadium, complete with gorgeous views of the harbour. Serving dinner only, choose between delicious dishes such as goat in a honey-and-thyme sauce or a traditional chicken souvlaki, finished off with indulgent chocolate pudding in the courtyard of their converted Venetian-style villa.

Like many of the buildings in Kos Town, Platanos has an interesting history. Open for over 40 years as a restaurant and coffee bar, it’s housed in an old Venetian-style building that was the officer’s headquarters during the Italian occupation of WWII. It’s open from breakfast through to dinner, so enjoy your coffee, home-made lemonade and unique meze – try the calamari with hummus and fried tomato croquettes – as you watch Kos life pass by.

Heading up to the mountain village of Zia, you’ll want to make a beeline for Oromedon taverna, where delicious dishes such as fried cheese with jam and home-made moussaka all use fresh, locally sourced ingredients, with some cooked in their wood-fired oven. The terrace is a great place to sit and feast while watching the sunset over the island.

In the seaside village of Kardamena, you’ll find Avli in a family house dating back to 1902. The ambience is relaxed in their courtyard garden and the menu is extensive: you’ll love the bujurdi (three cheeses, tomatoes and peppers; all oven-baked) and chicken with pepper sauce. They have a set menu for two as well. Ask to see their wine cellar, where you can choose your tipple.