The Best Organic Restaurants in Crete

Traveling to Crete? While you are there make sure not to miss out on some of the best organic restaurants the island has to offer.

As our last course in Crete this year comes to a close I began to reflect about my time there  and remembered all of the beautiful meals that I ate! After I completed my first Wildfitness course earlier in June I decided to stay in Crete for another week. This meant I was able to make the most of the Cretan food available and I wanted to share what I found with you.

1. Milia Taverna, Milia
This is one of my favourite meals of the day and Milia put on the most amazing spread every morning for the Wildfitness clients. The table is full of fresh produce grown on site and neighbouring farms. This is one of the reasons we love this location so much as it perfectly embodies our philosophy of food; local and sustainable.  The greek yoghurt is exactly that, rather than 'greek-style' yoghurt.  I never realised that what I was buying in the supermarket could be so different from the real thing!

2. La Boheme, Chania 
I spotted this gem of a restaurant whilst having a peek down a narrow side street, near the old port in Chania Town and I am so glad that I did. You can sit in the courtyard full of tall trees, plants and fairy lights.  Not only is the setting here beautiful but so was the food. I ate a delicious tomato salsa salad to start and, having not had flour-based food for a week, I allowed myself the vegetarian tacos (pictured here).

3. Sto Scolio, Anidri 
This restaurant was recommended by everybody I met in Paleochora. As the name suggests, the restaurant is situated in an old school building in Anidri Village. It has stunning views of Anidri gorge all the way to the sea. The food here is all organic and the menu is heavily weighted towards vegetable dishes that make it impossible to choose. It acts as a mid-point for walkers on the Anidri gorge hike and it is a very welcome stop. 

4. Anidri Beach Cafe , Anidri
From Sto Scolio, we began our ascent to a miniscule chapel at the top of a hill which then descended through Anidri Gorge. This walk was such a perfect way to spend a morning in Crete. The gorge is a naturally constructed Wildfitness obstacle course. We were springing from boulder to boulder and we even slid down a 'waterslide'; rock that had been smoothed and carved by the water that runs through the gorge in the winter. At the mouth of the gorge we quickly changed into swimsuits to cool down in the sea followed by a well deserved greek salad and a cheeky beer at the taverna at the edge of the beach. 

5. The Palm Tree, Paleochora   
The last supper before leaving this beautiful island was spent in The Palm Tree. It is a wine bar with an array of Cretan wine as well as food with unique twists on classic greek dishes. We ate stuffed courgette flowers, squid with orange dressing, anchovies, and a large filo pie.

6. Milia Taverna, Milia.
I have to say more about Milia because I could not finish my run-down of best Cretan restaurants without mentioning the dinner that we ate in Milia. Every night we would sit on the terrace of the taverna and were served a mix of vegetarian dishes and meat dishes too numerous to list here so I'll tell you about my favourite. A must try is the goat. It is slow roasted and oozing with flavour. It goes beautifully with any of the salads but particularly anything with tomatoes in it because I don’t believe you can find better tasting tomatoes anywhere in the world.