To Antikristo — Restaurant in Municipality of Chania

"What is good here?" - asked the British guy sitting with his family next to my table at the moment we were set down on ours. "If you ask an owner what is good from the menu, he will always say everything, and I don't like this theater. Listen to your hart and feel and order what you think is best." That was the answer of Zoran, owner of the place, and this is what encapsulates the spirit of this place - non pretentious, honest, and simply very, very good. I have been to many places arround the world, and from time to time, you end up in a place where you feel everything is the way it should. This is one of those places. For a few days before coming here, I was looking for a good place where to have Antikristo, and had found one place in a nearby village. At the beach bar where we usually go during the day, I wanted to double check and asked a local waitress for a recommendation where to eat good Antikristo. She told me, there is a place that's actually called Antikristo and it's the favorite place of herself and her family. My guts told me to follow her recommendation. First thing I did when we entered the restaurant was to make a video of Antikristo in the making from the outside, and Zoran told me: "go inside the kitchen, feel like you are in your own home." That was a very good first impression. When it comest to dining it was a full experience. First off, the taste of everything we ate was waaaaay better that in any other place in Crete, and they have amazing food. Here they use ingredients they grown their own. You can really taste it in sallads, in my case tsatsiki and garden salad. So full of taste. When we wanted to order retsina wine, he recommended us to take one from the barrel because it's the only one containing enough pine resin to actually be considered a real retsina. It was excellent. Apart from sallads, we were recommended fried liver with vegetables, something that is not on the menu as they occasionally have it. We also took a combination of spicy and non-spicy village style sausages. Both were super tasty. Now, in normal circumstances, you should stop here because the portions are large and you should be full (as we were), but we came for Antikristo and ordered a portion of lamb Antikristo and a portion of pork belly in garlic sauce. Although initially we thought we will not finish it, the taste and quality of food really pushed us to finish it without any problem. Lamb Antikristo is baked on open fire until perfection, has a crisp, salty skinn, and no heavy taste lamb can have sometimes. Pork belly was unbelievably tasty and well incorporated with sauce, that it was a real enjoyment to eat. It was good that we ordered wine, because this type of heavy food asks for something to mellow the taste. As a conclusion: this was the best place I visited in Crete, and I recommend it with full hart. And will come...

It’s not often I place meals in my top 10. That’s why it’s a top 10 after all. This meal was firmly up there. Finding your way down narrow winding roads to this homely feeling restaurant is the start of a gastronomic adventure that continues right through to the dessert and closing remarks from the beautiful staff here.

To Antikristo will always use Cretan and Greek productions - it’s great to see considering how much harm food miles do to the planet and of course how deserved the island is for contributions to the economy.

The star of the show here is the Antikristo meat. Cooked around a circular grill/flame for hours. This food is slow cooked to perfection. Flavours embedded in the meat due to patience and years of perfecting recipes. The pork belly was one of the best things I’ve tasted in my life. That is no exaggeration. We were even weary about adding the suggested lemon because the belly was so tasty by itself. Salty goodness with a delicious white inside - softer than any other meat.

The lamb again was crispy and salty on the outside, juicy on the inside. You could taste the lamb and it didn’t need any extra garnishing.

Even the house bread was phenomenal!

Everything else we were served was delicious - the gardeners salad was an exhibition of fresh ingredients and balance of flavour. The carob vinegar is something I haven’t tasted before but something I will look to find in the future.

We closed off the evening with the complimentary desserts. Another delicious dish of super fresh fruits over a local yogurt.

How lucky we are to have been able to visit this restaurant and been shown the kitchen as it was a home.

I highly recommend coming here and finding a park that leaves enough width for cars, trucks and buses and getting a seat. Call ahead and make a booking as this...

A wonderful dining experience.

To start off with, make a reservation, don't just walk in expecting to get the slow cooked lamb or pork. In order to have the right amount of meat available for the day prior to cooking it they need to know how many people they will be expecting.

The restaurant is located in a location untrodden by the common tourist and parking spots close by are at a premium, but if you don't mind a 3-4-5 minute walk this isn't a problem. We parked in a spot close by thinking we wouldn't be obstructing anyone. Little did we know the road was used by local buses, our meal was interrupted by having to relocate the car, but this was not an issue for us. You can always take a taxi.

Staff were friendly and engaging and answered our bumbling queries about the food and drink with enthusiasm and patience. After we ordered I felt there was a longer wait than I expected for the food to arrive at the table. Next time I will adjust my expectations because the food is worth waiting for.

The food. The food. The slow cooked meats just melted in your mouth, beautiful flavours. We ordered 1kg of pork belly and 1kg lamb, more than enough for our six people retinue, we took a doggy bag home, and we couldn't believe the bill, even with wine!

All round, a five star local...