Experience a culinary journey into Crete’s rich and vibrant food heritage, as Executive Chef Poppy Kourkouitakis reimagines traditional Cretan cuisine with a modern twist at the Minos Beach Art Hotel. Overlooking the stunning Mirabello Bay, Kourkouitakis draws on her global expertise — from Dubai to France and Switzerland — crafting dishes that honour Crete’s unique ingredients and centuries-old recipes. Inspired by Greek culinary icon Yiannis Baxevanis, she champions Cretan staples like mountain greens, carob, and thyme-infused honey, bringing forgotten flavours back to life. And Poppy is just one of many who are putting Crete on the gastronome traveller's map.
Join us as we dive into the island's culinary renaissance, where simplicity meets sophistication and every meal tells the story of Crete’s history and soul.
Poppy
Poppy Kourkouitakis is the Executive Chef of Minos Beach Art Hotel overlooking Mirabello Bay in Agios Nikolaos on the east coast, an hour from Heraklion airport. Part of the Bluegr Hotels & Resorts group, it was the island’s first five-star resort; one of its first guests was Walt Disney. Poppy has worked in France and Switzerland and headed the Elia Restaurant in Dubai. Inspired by Greek celebrity chef Yiannis Baxevanis, she has reconsidered old traditional recipes and popularised old forgotten ingredients like carob and local mountain greens.
"My menu is a modern retelling of diverse trends. Greens are focal points of Cretan dishes or delicious accompaniments, wilted and served with nothing more than olive oil and a twist of lemon. And the same mountain thyme that gives such depth to cooked dishes. There is also thyme honey at every cook’s disposal.
"The main ingredient in Cretan cuisine is ‘Meraki’ or love. A love for nature. Everything that surrounds us. Simple things. We have great cheeses which make every meal gourmet – myzithra (a whey cheese similar to ricotta), xynomyzithra (literally, sour myzithra), pichtogalo from Chania and tanguxigalo from Sitia."
Meze is a very important culinary tradition, that has existed for centuries on the Kingdom of Candia, as the ruling Venetians knew Crete. Traditional Cretan appetisers are “spanakopita” (spinach), fennel and tyropita (cheese) filo pastry pies.
Crete is also well-known for its cold cuts or “allantika”. Synglina and apaki are salted pork tenderloin dishes, marinated in mountain herbs, olive oil and vinegar and then smoked. Once they were hung in kitchen fireplaces to be smoked. For a long time, they were the only source of heat in traditional Cretan houses.
Owl is a classic Cretan dish. Koukouvagia (owl) is another word for dakos, Crete’s best-known salad. A bed of softened barley rusk (paximadi) is topped with chopped tomatoes and crumbled myzithra cheese and flavoured with oregano.
Kyriakos
Kyriakos Mylonas is head chef of The Minos Arts Hotel’s La Bouillabaisse and Terpsis (“Delight”) restaurants. Born in Rheda-Wiedenbrück in Germany, Kyriakos worked in Michelin restaurants in Germany and the UK before joining Bluegr.
"Cretan cuisine is heavily influenced by the geography, climate and history of the island, resulting in a unique gastronomic experience not found anywhere else in Greece,” he comments. “The preparation methods used in Cretan cuisine differ from those used in Greek cuisine. Cretan dishes are often simple and based on the quality of the ingredients rather than complex cooking techniques. Wood grilling and baking are common methods used for cooking meats and vegetable. Favourite classic dishes include Ospriada mixed pulses with herbs. Sofegada spring vegetables stew, codfish with Giahnera wild greens and fennel and sea urchins."
Having developed over breakfast the hotel guests’ taste for galaktoboureko (custard pies), portokalopita (orange cake), karidopita (walnut cake) and loukoumades (doughballs), at lunch and dinner chef Mylonas and sous Lina serve dishes such as red mullet with black venere rice, vadouvan shallot and garlic sauce, and a red shrimp risotto.
Konstantinos
Authentic Crete country coking is best exemplified by the Xatheri restaurant in Kroustas, a 30-minute drive into the mountain above the Minos Arts. Its specialties include goat spaghetto, stuffed zucchini flowers, pork souvlaki skewers, and gamopilafo wedding rice with skaka clarified butter.
"We love snails in Crete and cook them in many ways," says owner Konstantinos Markakis, who personally oversees the menu. The cooking is done by his parents Maria Varda and Manolis Markakis.
"A popular dish is chochlioi boubourist. The snails are pan-fried face down with olive oil, rosemary and vinegar. Boiled wild greens often add the finishing touch. We use a lot of dittany or Crete mint, too. We call it "erontes". Boureki is a speciality of Chania, consisting of layers of potatoes, courgettes (or pumpkin in winter months), myzithra and mint.
"Our traditional pasta is skioufichta makarounia. Flour and water are bound, kneaded and rolled into long, thin sausage shapes. They are then cut, rolled into thumb-sized curls and boiled in salted water, and served with juta staka (clarified butter) and grated kefalotyri or anthotyro cheese. Xinohondros (fermented cracked wheat with sour milk or yoghurt, made into a soup) is one of the oldest ways of preserving milk and was once a staple village meal. Mkserotigana are spirals of thin pastry, gently fried before being soaked in sugar and honey syrup infused with cinnamon and served with chopped walnuts."
The restaurant has one of the best wine cellars in east Crete. Continues Markakis: “Vilana grape wine is excellent with grilled fish; Greek salads with Cretan graviera and zucchini fritters; Vidiano goes well with rabbit stifado (stew with onions) and lamb with artichokes; Thrapsathiri with grilled octopus, gemista (stuffed vegetables) and white bean soups; and Antikristo goat meat cooked ‘opposite’ the fire is complemented by the spicy, high alcohol Romeiko grape variety.
“As for other red grape wine, Kotsifali pairs with moussaka, lamb and sausage, the tannic Mandilari with smoked pork and the lighter Liatiko with stuffed grape leaves (dolmades), as well as lamb with cinnamon and tomato. Raki is key to Cretan hospitality and culture and great with many things. Ouzo is good with shellfish and to cook shellfish in.”
Wine
Crete’s wines are over 4,000 years old. Kato Zakro is said to be the oldest vineyard in Europe. One of the first great centres of maritime wines trading was Tyros. A popular tourist attraction on the Med’s fifth largest island is the ancient wine press of Vathipetro.
The Phoenicians, Minoans and Romans were all Cretan wine fans and distributors. An amphora found in Pompeii had CRET EXC inscribed on it, meaning “Exceptional Cretan Wine.” Cretan winemaking thrived under Venetian rule. Crete (Candia) built up a reputation for fine wines. That stopped under the Ottomans and production was further loused up by phylloxera and decreased further with mass tourism.
But Cretan wine – the original Tuscany in some people’s books – is making Dionysus, the son of Zeus and bringer of wine, proud again. It offers a suite of great wine choices at bargain prices. The vineyards near the capital Heraklion, comprise Greece’s second largest wine area.
Crete has a variety of indigenous grapes, such as the bay-led Dafni grape, the plummy Kotsifal (similar to Cretan Merlot represented by PDO Peza and Archanes), Mantilari, Muscat of Spino (used to make the sweet Maza), the lemony Plyto, the apricotty white Vilano, and Romeiko. Thrapsathatis, known as Greece’s Viognier, may be difficult to pronounce but is easy to enjoy. The main wine regions in Crete include Dafnes (known for Liatiko reds), Archanes (red Kotsifali and Mandilari), and Peza (white Vilana and red Kotsifali and Mandilari). The PDO of Sitia is home to the Toplou monastery, renowned for its excellent Thrapsathiri-Vilan and Liatiko-Mandilari 2013.
The Millarakis family winery, established in 1932, produces the Minos Wines Red du Crete, a blend of Kotsifali and Mandilari. Other notable producers are Diamantakis in Kato Assites, Douloufkis, and Silva (offering Moschato Spinas Psithiros, meaning ‘whisper’).
Domain Paterianakis leads wine tourism efforts. Their rosé, made with Kotsifali and Syrah, is highly regarded. Manousakis Winery, under its Nostos label, presents Rhone-styled wines. Klados Vidiano is produced in Rethymno, the coastal city between Heraklion and Hania where the variety originated. The nearby Armi vineyard, located at the top of Mount Ida (Psiloriti), produces excellent Thrapsathiri. Lyrarakis, a top producer, offers various wines, including the Golden Malvasia of Crete. In Kato Assites, Diamontakis’s Diamentpetra – a white blend of Vidiano and Assyrtiko – was named Wine of the Year in 2020 by Decanter magazine. The Plakoura Vineyard is known for its definitive Mandilari, considered Crete’s finest red grape with Byzantine notes and an enticing incense bouquet.
Cretan chefs often praise Cretan wines, many of which have Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status.