Smaragdi Restaurant — Restaurant in Municipality of Sifnos

Wonderful Fine Dining experience at Artemonas, Sifnos, Greece

There isn’t another restaurant like Smaragdi on the island of Sifnos, one of the most beautiful of the Cyclades, and a bit of a hidden gem.

Right at the entrance of the pleasant and car-free centre of Artemonas, Sifnos’ second-largest town, and opposite the beautiful Church of St. Constantine and Helen lies Smaragdi, a summertime restaurant that should be on the bucket list of every foodie who is visiting this marvellous island. Here Chef Adonis, who works in the winter time at one of the best seafood restaurants in Athens, Kollias, reigns the kitchen and cooks in his own unique and convincing style. The French would undoubtedly qualify Smaragdi as “vaut le voyage” (worth the trip). While you will most likely have an unforgettable holiday on this island full of stunning beauty, your taste buds may deserve better than the average moussaka and souvlaki that about every other restaurant will be serving.

I stayed at Artemonas for one week, and after eating dinner at Smaragdi on the first day I was immediately hooked, and wanted to try out more. I returned for dinner for several more evenings, and sampled multiple choices of the menu.

Adonis’ cooking is a creative combination of modern fusion cuisine, mainly based on the highest quality local produce that Greece – and in particular Sifnos – have to offer. While preserving the original flavours of the ingredients, such as tuna, beef, pork, cheese and many local vegetables, he interweaves them with complementary tastes and textures that enrich them to the upper limit. He doesn’t reproduce or translate the Greek cuisine, but builds an ingenious and inspiring fantasy version of it, combining deep technical skills with creativity. Adonis’ cooking is consistent, providing an equally high level of quality and surprises for every dish that he prepares.

The menu is short, with 6 starters, 3 pasta/rice dishes, 4 salads, 4 main courses, and 4 deserts. But each and every of them will provide you with an explosion of tastes and textures. The portion sizes are more than decent, and it is very unlikely that you leave hungry, even if you had only one course. I was extremely impressed by the Sifnian pies with strawberry sauce and the Tune tartar with cucumber (both appetizers), the Black pasta with smoked salmon and cherry tomatoes, and the Pork chops with baked potatoes (both main courses), and the Parfait with halvah, crocan on kantaifi bed (desert). These simple names hide a culinary sophistication with which you will undoubtedly indulge yourself, just as with every other course on the menu.

Smaragdi has an equally short but excellent wine selection, with some of the best Greek wines. Two wines that impressed me was a Kir Yiannis (2017), an excellent white wine from the Greek province of Macedonia, made of roditis and malagouzia grapes, and a red Papagianakos Estate, P.G.I. Attica (2015), from the famous Greek agioritiko grape variety combined with some cabernet sauvignon. Waiter Agelos, who is also the sommelier, will be more than ready to provide you with his expert advice.

The waiting staff is very friendly, welcoming, and efficient. The atmosphere is very informal, as this is a summer holiday resort after all. Nobody will specifically dress up for dinner here, obviously.

The background music is excellent easy listening/lounge music, with sufficient variation so that it never gets boring. There are several lounge couches at the terrace, where you may enjoy your after-dinner digestif or maybe an excellent cocktail from the very long bar menu. The bargirl does an outstanding job mixing drinks, too.

Smaragdi doesn’t offer lunch, but from 8am-2pm (08:00-14:00) the restaurant (which is also linked to an affiliated hotel with the same name) also serves breakfast/brunch options that entail some interesting and very tasty choices.

You should not visit Sifnos without dining at Smaragdi at least once!

For the record: I paid for all my meals in full, and I have no affiliations with the restaurant, its staff...

Went to Smaragdi after reading nice things about it online. Saw very nice pictures of dishes that looked great to me, also people's comments were really good. After going, I can't say I agree... sorry, not at all. Personnel was very kind and helpful, although service took too long at an early time when the place was almost empty. The environment was good, restaurant is placed in a beautiful area and it is nicely decorated. The menu has probably been changed because there was almost nothing in there from the pictures I had seen online. The menu was very small, not much too choose from, not even starters. What annoyed me the most, since my companion is a vegetarian, was that there was only one choice for vegetarians. Salad. Nothing more. Everything else has fish or meat in there. So, she only had to eat salad. As far as quality is concerned. We got her salad, which was nothing special. Too plain, too common and dull in comparison to other salads we have had on the island on previous days. I got a burger... Have to say, I 've had much much better ones in half the price and double as big. Wasn't impressed at all by quality or quantity. Overall, we got those two dishes plus wine and a fava starter which was nothing special either. We paid 50 euros. We are not...

I recently visited Smaragdi in Sifnos for breakfast and had a great experience. The ambiance was charming, offering a comfortable and pleasant setting for a morning meal.

I ordered the avocado toast, which was delicious. The bread was nicely toasted, and the avocado was fresh and well-seasoned. To go with it, I had a freshly squeezed orange juice that was very refreshing.

My companion had a coffee and enjoyed it, noting its rich flavor and smooth texture.

Special mention to our waiter, George, who was always smiling and had a good sense of humor. His friendly and attentive service made our visit even more enjoyable.

On a second visit, we stopped by the bar, and Dimitris, the bartender, suggested we try the margaritas. They were amazing and added a fun twist to our experience.

Overall, Smaragdi Cafe Restaurant provided a delightful experience, and I would recommend it to anyone visiting Sifnos. We'll definitely...