Valia Calda Taverna Restaurant — Restaurant in Meteora Municipality

After visiting the monasteries of Meteora, there’s nothing better than settling in for a meal of dishes local to this area of central Greece. Surprisingly, Valia Calda seems to be one of the only restaurants in the town of Kalabaka to offer local food, while most others places cater to the tourist crowds. To start, we had the Sautéed mushrooms with mountain herbs, which were a bit underseasoned but had a nice chewy, meaty texture. The Shepherd’s salad was a super fresh mixture of lettuce, shredded green and red cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, and sautéed mushrooms, all topped with yellow groats, which added a nice chewiness and nuttiness to the salad. The vegetables in the salad were so flavorful on their own, but the light, acidic dressing brought everything together. Finally, we had the Giant Beans with Leek, a stew of creamy beans in a light, tomato-based sauce served with a cabbage slaw. This simple yet satisfying dish came from a Meteoran monastic recipe, and it went especially nicely with the local bread basket that we ordered on the side. And to finish, our server brought us a complimentary rice pudding dessert. Overall, the service here was incredibly friendly, and the food was delicious, came in generous portions, and was a...

This restaurant stole my heart! Of our 10 days in Greece this was the best food we had the entire trip. We ended up going twice and I would have happily gone again if we had time! First, the ambiance is fantastic. You walk into a cute restaurant with maybe 10 tables, there are pictures of a very old lady (who ended up being the owner's 94 year old relative), the kitchen has an open view, and to top it off there is an super friendly sweet man running the floor. Now the food is AMAZING! Have the baked feta, this is hands down the best thing I have eaten the entire trip. Of the mains the orzo with truffle and mushrooms was super tasty. My girlfriend had the pork chops and they were so perfectly cooked and the potatoes were delicious. The 2nd time I had the black pig, being that it was local and unique - it did not dissapoint. If you are in Kalambaka, eating...

We were all complaining about living on meat and potatoes the entire time we've been in Greece (nothing wrong with that but we've been here for 2 weeks and haven'thad much else), and someone recommended Valia Calda. Prices are appropriate and the quality of food is high. Ingredients seem fresh and they have food that is traditional but not your typical souvlaki and fried potatoes. We ordered the shepherd's salad, briam, lamb chops, and stuffed cabbage. All of the food was amazing!!! Only thing we'd change is to have less fat on the lamb chops (they were nearly 50/50 meat and fat, but still so tasty). In our group, 2 people can't eat cow's milk dairy, and not only were they super accommodating, but many of their desserts are made with goat's milk! Their baklava...