At Mykonos, in recent years in catering businesses, there is a cowardly tendency to break away from their cosmopolitan and mainly international orientation (Japanese, French, Italian cuisine) and to develop a cuisine that uses local greek products and renewed Greek recipes. The leader of this trend is Panagiotis Menardos with the restaurant m-eating, where after four years of operation it was established for good in the peaks of the gastronomic galaxy of Mykonos, where many "successful" passed like shooting stars.

The restaurant of Panagiotis and his partner Sofia, is hosted in a traditional Mykonian building of the beginning of the last century, in the center of Mykonos Town, a breath away from Matogiani.

O Panagiotis Menardos except charismatic creator, is an organized and modest personality, far from well-known "reeds" of our time, he is firmly on his feet and is a living example of a good professional who honors the island and Greece.

You were born: In Maroussi, Attica, on 5/8/1980 and I grew up in Mykonos, where I come from.

Childhood memories: To walk carefree in the alleys of a different then Mykonos, to climb on donkeys (greengrocers), full of all kinds of things and my nostrils to be flooded with smells.

Children's favorite food: Stuffed tomatoes and peppers with nicely browned potatoes.

Studies: After the Lyceum of Mykonos, I graduated from the School of Tourism Professions of Anavyssos, which in those years had nothing to envy from the European ones.

When did you feel that you would dedicate yourself to cooking: At 18, getting involved in tourism seemed like a one-way street. After my second internship at the Leto Hotel, in Mykonos, with chef Mr. Giannis Georgoulis, where I discovered a magical microcosm, full of tensions, joys and disappointments, but always with suitable ground for new tasty discoveries.

Cooks who influenced your cooking: Fortunately throughout my culinary life, until I opened my own restaurant, I worked in 5 * hotels on my island, next to renowned chefs and fortunately everyone with different views on cooking, where I managed to keep their best elements and evolve my own culinary character. So a big thank you to Mr. Georgoulis Giannis (Hotel Leto), Mr. Touloupi Periklis (Hotel Mykonos Blu, Grecotel), Mr. Tsikrikis Elias (Hotel Mykonos Grand).

Images or events that inspired you: I only know how to cook things that I can taste. I have always been influenced by the Greek traditional cuisine, images from family tables and how all this can be translated into something different, in terms of presentation, but always the same tasty and fragrant as a dish of my childhood.

Where did you work: I refer to them in the above question…. 'Cooks who influenced your cooking'.

Materials you love: Odysseas Elytis said that if you disintegrate Greece you will be left with an olive tree, a vineyard and a boat. So the olive oil, the must and add the tomatoes. And by boat our kitchens, the results are almost guaranteed.

Philosophy of your kitchen: I do not like to confuse the flavors and I always try to get close to the original (smell and taste), but also with my own touch that always stands out.

Dishes you created, loved and left traces: They are dishes again from the tradition of my place. The first one came to me after a meeting with my friend Dimitris Rousounelos and I named it 'San Mykonian sun' ('sun' was called in Mykonos the strapatsada), accompanied by my own handmade lamb bacon.

The second is a dessert, which appears on my restaurant card…. 'like Mykonian macaroon' and is my version of macaroon, with absolute respect for tradition, accompanied by macaroon-flavored ice cream, by my friend and colleague Nikos Koukiasas.

The role of locality in food: He is the one who has made me what I am today. The one who gave me the energy and the material to make my restaurant 'm-eatingin Mykonos to stand out.

Greek cuisine today: It is this cuisine that most people try to include in their daily diet today.

Greek gastronomy in the face of the crisis: Fortunately, because what we have left is our tourism and gastronomy, in combination with excellent colleagues… ..the revolution for a change of scenery starts from our small or large kitchens.

How would you like to be considered: As a professionally 'honest' person.

An unforgettable moment: These are the moments when watching my customers, without seeing me, those small contractions of their face, which show that they enjoy their food.

Dreams of gastronomic content: To finally understand the wealth we hold in our hands, to put it in our homes and in our jobs, without putting in front (without of course reducing them) foreign gastronomic cultures.

Life dreams: To be able to be the gastronomic hero of my family for life.

Farewell: Good and correct work is the result of a team and never of an individual. So I thank those who supported me, support me and will support me.