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Restaurants in Telendos and Myrties, Kalymnos

There are several good restaurants or taverns in Myrties and Telendos. They serve traditional Greek food.

It is cheap to eat out in Kalymnos, and if you stick to the house wine, two persons can dine for 20 - 30 euro.

From the taverns on Telendos' seafront you have an excellent view to Myrties and Massouri across the strait. At sunset the towns are bathed in soft light, and later the moon rises over the mountains.

George's Restaurant

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George's Restaurant in Telendos became our favourite, and we dined there four times. It lies on the seafront promenade where the ferries call.

George serves and his wife cooks. George is a stout man with a prominent nose, and I guess he's about 60 years old. There's a twinkle in the eye below the bushy eyebrows, and the walrus moustache bobs up and down when he smiles. George has a sense of humour, so the moustache bobs a lot.

It says on the menu that he has been in the business for 30 years and has worked in Australia and America. George now has his own restaurant in Telendos, his home island.

The first evening at George's I ordered souvlaki (skewer with pork). George asked if I wanted fries or potatoes. I was dead tired of soggy fries and said:
"Potatoes please",
which made George say:
"Ah, normal people!"
and send a grateful look to the sky.

The food at George's is good and plentiful. We soon learned to share a starter. We especially liked the deep fried stuffed peppers and the deep fried balls of spinach and feta cheese. The deep fried red peppers were slightly pickled and filled with spiced cottage cheese.

When we said goodnight after our third visit, I added: "See you tomorrow". George smiled happily and asked if we would really return tomorrow? I confirmed, and then he asked if he could make something special for us - maybe white bait?

Thinking of Helle's new passion I asked, if he could make goat (not on the menu), and goat was agreed upon.

When we arrived the next day, George served a huge portion of goat: incredibly tender and delicious dark meat with tomato sauce, potatoes, carrots and broccoli. I guess George shared the goat with restaurant Zorbas (also on the seafront), because they had goat stew on the menu of the day.

When we (and the ever present cats) had been fed, George always served Greek coffee and two giant Metaxa. That's what we ordered the first evening, and from that day on George just remembered a bit of sugar in Helle's coffee and black for me. This treat was on the house.

George is a true professional and the food is excellent.

(Later note: The restaurant has been closed since 2010 or 2011. Nikos (his real name) and his family now live in Australia.)

Restaurant Rita

Restaurant Rita lies next to George's restaurant on the seafront. It has many guests and the service is kind.

We had lamb stifado served in glazed jars shaped like pigs. It was tender and tasty. The soggy fries were best forgotten, and we waited for quite a long time to get our food.

Restaurant Zorbas

Another tavern on Telendos' seafront. We didn't eat there, but the menu looked good, and so did the chickens roasting on a spit outside the restaurant.

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Themis

Lies in Myrties down by the water and near Katina Studios. If you sit on the balcony there's a magnificent sea view.

We had an okay taramosalata (roe salad) for starters. For main course Helle had beef stifado, and I ordered lamb. The waiter said that today's special was lamb kleftico, and I said yes please. The lamb was served in an aluminium foil package with tomato, potatoes, carrots, garlic and feta cheese. Excellent.

Helle's stifado had a bit too much tomato purée to my taste, but Helle liked it, and it was a very good meal.

A small boy and girl "helped" daddy to serve the guests, and the kids loved it. The boy followed his father like a puppy, and in that way children are tuned to the family business.

To Limionari

Nice family run restaurant in Myrties. Mostly seafood.

There were only a few guests, when we visited in September. It was getting out of season, but we were treated very good, and it was quite sweet when the wife placed some incense by Helle's feet to scare off mosquitos.

We ordered fish soup for starters and stuffed peppers for main course. The waiter explained kindly that the fish soup was a main course, and unless we were very hungry that would be sufficient.

The fish soup turned out to be a vegetable soup with a dash of cream, and besides there were three fishes to share. The fish had big red heads and looked like a relative to the father lasher.