Axiotissa, Naxos

Axiotissa sits in the mountain village of Apeiranthos, one of Naxos' most beautiful and best-preserved marble-paved settlements, perched at roughly 600 metres altitude in the island's dramatic interior. The taverna is the best-known destination restaurant in the Naxian highlands and serves an exclusive menu of dishes built entirely from ingredients grown, raised, or produced on Naxos itself. The island's agricultural credentials are exceptional by Cycladic standards: Naxos produces the finest graviera cheese in the Aegean, its potatoes are celebrated across Greece, its free-range pigs yield pork of unusual depth, and the local honey from thyme-covered hillsides is among the Cyclades' best. The kitchen transforms these ingredients with minimal interference — a patatato is a slow-cooked lamb and potato stew in the Naxian mountain tradition; graviera saganaki is fried in local butter; loukoumades come drizzled with the farm's own thyme honey. The dining room is rustic and simple, with stone walls and wooden furniture, and the terrace overlooks the marble rooftops of Apeiranthos toward the Aegean on clear days. The village itself — its small museums, its marble-paved lanes, its Venetian tower houses — is worth the journey independently; the taverna makes the visit complete. Getting to Apeiranthos requires a car or a guided excursion.