Emilia's — Restaurant in Municipality of Platanias

Wow - of all of the restaurants we visited on Crete, across so many little villages and towns, we still talk about our simple lunch at Emilia's.

We did the hike from Meskla to Zourva, where Emilia's is located. We arrived at 11:00am, right as they opened. We were simply wanting a small lunch and to sit before the return hike. While we were the only ones there (and they were still getting ready for the day), they were beyond accommodating.

The Greek salad here was bar none the best we had our entire time in Greece. It had hard boiled eggs, was so, so fresh, and best of all had small pickled peppers in it that I wanted to eat by the bowl full.

As we were leaving, the daughter of the owner's (I think that is who it was) insisted that we give her all the water bottles we had so she could fill them for our return hike. The traditional post-meal dessert given was a nut cake soaked in honey, and oh-me-oh-my - would eat a whole cake.

They also produce their own goods, and we picked up three jars of thyme-infused honey, each of which was a steal at 3 Euro apiece.

Best of all, the view is stunning. Just drop dead stunning....

An absolute highlight of our time on Crete. A gorgeous taverna in the beautiful tiny town of Zourva, run by a very sweet and welcoming family, who nurture the land surrounding them to produce a beautifully simple menu of traditional Cretan food. But don’t let it’s simplicity fool you. A lot of love and hard word goes in to their menu. They took the time to talk us through all the farming and cultivation methods of many of their ingredients. The real highlights were their home produced honey and olive oil, but especially their cheese, produced by the father, and absolutely, the best cheese we ate on the island. The setting is just gorgeous, and well worth a trip up from Chania. Be sure to make the most of the local surroundings, which are just exceptionally beautiful and offer amazing walking trails with amazing wildlife. And lastly, we must mention the daughter who waited on us each time we visited during our stay. She gave us so much of her time to welcome us and answer our questions about the local area, nature, and history. A real family business, producing a real family feel, and just...

Located high in the mountains in the pictureusque village of Zourva where we stayed, Emilia restaurant was top notch. All the dishes we tried had those rustic intense flavours you would expect to taste in genuine home cooked cretan dishes. The rabbit in tomato sauce was heavenly and the boureki, vegies in tomatoy cheese sauce reduced in local staka butter, was a revelation, all enjoyed under a mulberry tree that took centre stage in this most anachronistic village setting.

Although remote it's worth visiting to soak in the real Cretan countryside and food. And if you were to stay overnight and gazed at the night sky you will see and hear something amazing, the milky way while listening to owls calling out at each other. A once in a lifetime...