Ta Karamanlidika tou Fani

Ta Karamanlidika tou Fani is one of the most celebrated deli-tavernas in Greece, a hybrid establishment that functions simultaneously as a market selling premium Greek charcuterie and aged cheeses and as a sit-down mezedopoleio where those same products are assembled into remarkable small plates. The inspiration is the food culture of the Karamanlides — Greek Orthodox Christians from Cappadocia in central Anatolia who were expelled to Greece in the 1922 population exchange and brought with them centuries of accumulated culinary knowledge. The cured meats are the foundation: pastourmas, the intensely spiced cured beef; louza, a pressed pork fillet from Mykonos; apaki, the wood-smoked cured pork from Crete; and numerous regional variants available only at establishments with Fani's sourcing relationships. The aged cheeses span the full range of Greek varieties — kefalograviera, aged Metsovone, Naxos Graviera — and are displayed in a counter that functions as an education in regional Greek dairy production. Hot mezedes include eggs scrambled with pastourmas, fried cheese with tomato sauce, and warm revithia. The space itself is part of the charm: shelves lined with jars of preserves, hanging sausages, the smell of cured meat and aged cheese, and small marble-topped tables where Athenians linger over wine and conversation. The Evripidou street location is the sister branch; the Sokratous corner location is the original.