Almira

Almira became one of my favorite restaurants during my stay in Santorini. Kamari Beach has about 8 km (5 miles) of restaurants, shops, and markets along the beach that is maintained by the city. The walkway is completely pedestrian after 10 am (deliveries of supplies to the shops and restaurants have a few cars using the roadway in the early morning hours.)

Finding the great restaurants along the string of tourist traps is like trying to find the diamonds among pebbles which make up the black beach, but Almira is definitely a gem.


The warm glow of the tables of Almira are a harbinger of the good things that come out of their kitchen. The multilingual and very efficient staff are the perfect balance of professionalism without being pushy restaurant "hawkers" that some neighboring restaurants use to get diners to their tables.


Their Greek Salad was the BEST I have ever eaten; a perfect composition of locally grown ( in volcanic soil) tomatoes and cucumbers, with fresh feta, olives, and red onion shavings. This huge salad was only $6 US and could have been a meal by itself. I ordered a glass of the local wine ($6 US) and I was very happy to have it served cold and dry as I had requested.


My favorite dish here was the grilled Gilt Head Sea Bream in a tomato, olive, and caper sauce (about $18 US), served with carrots, potatoes, and rice. This was so delicious, that I came back twice for this same dish in later days because I could not get my mouth to stop watering for it. It is a huge portion, so on later visits, I skipped the salad so I would have room to finish it.


With the bill came a complimentary shot of ouzo to "ease the pain of paying", but really there was absolutely no pain, only pleasure at finding a great restaurant on the beach.