H Lemnos is famous for its agricultural and livestock production. In the vast fertile areas of the island cereals are cultivated - among them the local variety of wheat mavragani - from which flours are made for the preparation of baked goods or pasta (flomari, trahanades), while in the pastures are raised lambs that produce the la , kaskavali, melichloro).
In addition to the wheat and barley of Lemnos, in orchards you will find the avko (the Lemnos fava made from lathouri), string beans, Lemnos tomatoes, dried white beans, but also the small but very tasty chickpeas.
Lemnos utilizes the 240 km of coastline, thus putting on its table a plethora of fish and seafood. The bay of Moudros has a rich fish fauna, it is rich in shellfish, such as clams, mussels, pines, scallops and crabs and it is a place for fish breeding, where in the spring and summer fishing with narrow nets is prohibited. But also in the whole island you can find fresh lobsters and stone mulberries.
Some quirky dishes of the local cuisine that impress the guests are the crab stuffed with rice, the petalles with rice and garlic, the flomari cooked with petimezi, the lobster with rice or barley instead of spaghetti, the lobster cooked with mountain greens, and fish soup with trachana in place of rice.
From all this one realizes that Lemnos is a - relatively unknown - paradise for gourmets and in most taverns of the island you will find all the wealth of local gastronomy accompanied by the excellent wines of Lemnos.
Here are our selections with the best taverns of Lemnos.
Fish Tavern Giannakaros in Kotsina
Starting from Myrina to Moudros and reaching Repanidi, you head north and after 2 km you will reach its port, Kotsinas which is located at the bottom of the bay of Pournia. THE fish tavern Giannakaros is the best that Lemnos has to show. Fresh fish and seafood, salads and vegetables from the family orchard, will come to your table in huge portions that satisfy your eyes and your gastronomic requirements.
The dishes are plentiful, a portion often satisfies two people. We tried the exuberant rustic, the melichloro saganaki, the roasted eggplant, the zucchini chips very well fried and finally the pasta (the local flomari of Fotini Garali) with the seafood (mussels, shrimp) which was the highlight. I have never eaten more "seafood" pasta in my life.
Flomari Tavern in Gomati
On the Northeast side of Gomati beach in North Lemnos - 2km after passing the junction to the sand dunes, the only "desert" in Europe - is the "Flomari", a beautiful tavern, at the top of a hill overlooking the sea. Its creator 3 years ago, the talented chef Malama Banavou who together with her mother Mrs. Fotini cook fine Lemnian food, and with their smiles and kindness complete the amazing scene with a very human and friendly atmosphere.
Her food is better than each other. Among others, dakos with marinated zucchini (a poem), afkos (local fava) with sun-dried octopus, seafood with flomari (local pasta), cheese pies with fresh cheese and spices, rooster with flomari, wild rabbit and omelette with ka Mrs. Fotini.
The tavern of Mandela in Sardis
Sardes is a mountain village located about a quarter of a road north of Myrina. Its inhabitants are mainly cattle breeders and beekeepers, while many musicians (lyre players) who played in the traditional festivals came out of the village. In the interwar period it had 800 inhabitants but after the war the migration affected the village with the result that the village has one third of the old population. Sardes may have been deserted, but they became famous from their one and only tavern, the famous Mandella tavern.
Here you will not eat despite the Lemnian flavors as the locals eat them in their homes without frills and the rest, but with unique raw materials. Fresh salads, handmade bread in the wood oven, rooster with florets, wild rabbit stew, goat with potatoes, hare braised, pork, ears with must, traditional dishes in hearty portions.
Ouzo Menelaos in Diapori
Diapori is the port of Tsimandria and is the isthmus of 300 meters of land that connects the peninsula of Fakos with the rest of Lemnos. Here is, a few meters from the beach, and the famous ouzo of Menelaos. If one tried to describe it with a word, one would say: Greece, 60s. Indeed, nothing reminds of the decade of 2020 (this pleasant feeling is felt elsewhere more and elsewhere less generally throughout Lemnos).
Far from the typical courtesy, their service is warm and welcoming. Stavros, very sociable, describes the dishes of the day: black-eyed beans, roasted sardines, married fava, saganaki with their own dark cheese, flomari with grated cheese, zucchini from the garden, cuttlefish cooks and fish that every day brings.
"Concept pochs" in Lychna
In its picturesque square at Lychna in Moudros, starring the impressive stone-built church of Ag. Dimitriou, a fountain in the center, and five or six dollhouses around - low houses with a door and two symmetrical windows - of which three were cafes and one community office, all now decommissioned, memories of the past, four friends, new lads , from Athens (some from Lemnos, some not) in a madness of the moment decide to pick up a secured cafe and make an investment of four thousand euros (one thousand each!). The purpose of a cafe, with tsipoura and kimbariki appetizers, but above all another life, in the spirit and title of the cafe: "Concept of poxs" which means, do not pay attention, do not choloskas, to the Lemnian locality.
From the flavors we singled out the pickled cuttlefish in taramosalata with ink, the kavourma with pickled mustard, the ouzo variety lacquer marinade with green tomato and kritamo pickle, the smoked mackerel with organic black lentils, the local basil with phoenix and philomina. In "Concept you have" the meraklidiko marries with the gourmets, and the relaxed atmosphere alternates with the most sophisticated situations.
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