Ora: At One&Only Aesthesis, signed by Ettore Botrini

When the most dazzling name in global luxury meets the name of Greece’s most influential chef, you have plenty of reasons to feel unique. Eleni Psyhouli heads down to the Athens Riviera for NouPou and writes about the restaurant Ora.

• 30/12/2025 12:43

From Dubai to the Maldives, from Mexico to Mauritius and from Cape Town to the Aesthesis in Glyfada, One&Only has achieved something unique in the world of relaxed global luxury: becoming a vision and a life dream, for many the ultimate purpose of a getaway. When you think of One&Only, you don’t just think of a star-studded resort, but of a fairytale, where your wildest desires can come true in the most dreamlike setting.

Crossing Poseidonos Avenue, your mind struggles to imagine what could be hidden behind the walls that separate the city’s traffic from a paradise where there is room only for the view of the water, bungalows that brush the waves, magical gardens, pools with cinematic lighting, vast open spaces dressed with furniture from major international and Greek design houses, olive trees emerging from illuminated ponds, a sense of the Mediterranean at its most glittering moments, on the edge and almost in the embrace of the city. In front of the impressive architecture with curves reminiscent of an ocean liner, the towering palm trees and the three pools that almost intertwine with the Saronic Gulf, Ora appears almost unreal, in one of the most unique locations on the planet, in the heart of the Athens Riviera.

For the festive season, a small Christmas market lights up the kiosks with its celebratory glow, housing last-minute gifts with a distinctly Greek identity and a unique aesthetic. Inside, the semi-private booths with their comfortable banquettes make you feel one & only and at home at the same time, while the most beautiful open kitchen—with a wood-fired oven the likes of which we have never seen before in a Greek restaurant—whets your appetite for what is to come. We have long associated Ettore Botrini with molecular cuisine, with his singular creativity that treats fine dining as an emotional journey through the landscapes of his homeland, Corfu, while at the same time embracing the Mediterranean more broadly.

At Ora, however, you are pleasantly surprised to discover a different Botrini: more democratic, more grounded, with dishes that empathise with the clientele of a hotel that must satisfy different tastes and categories of guests. With this different Botrini, everyone can identify—even those who are not particularly interested in trends or in highly cerebral haute creativity.

Reading the menu, you feel that it wants to introduce Greece to those who don’t know it, while at the same time not taking them completely out of their comfort zone, away from the Mediterranean they know and trust. And the first introductions come with a wonderful, aromatic Koroneiki olive oil and a small bowl of olives. With such a beginning, you are eager to try his take on traditional dishes: an eggplant salad, fava, or taramasalata. Earthy yet ethereal executions that leave you with the pure taste of Greekness, accompanied by a warm loaf of sourdough bread.

In the realm of raw fish, Ettore plays mischievously with bourdeto, a cooked, spiced dish from his homeland, which he serves raw and refreshing, with tomato, mint, paprika and lemon. You are also very curious to try his take on peinirli, which he prepares with a crisp yet fluffy, buttery dough, fills with artichoke and serves with fresh truffle, in a version that is entirely his own and most welcome—generous and indulgent.

Chicken cacciatore, an old dish that restaurants have sadly forgotten, also takes you back to the Italian influences of Corfu. Here it is cooked deliciously and almost classically, with chicken raised exclusively on corn, rosemary and porcini mushrooms. Fricassee, on the other hand, translates the traditional dish into a more international dialect, with French-cut lamb and lettuce hearts that have not been overcooked, finished with a light, European-style lemon sauce.

For a sweet finale, tiramisu is the expected dessert from a chef who thinks in Greek and Italian at the same time, while winter camomille is a more technical creation, brought to the table with an ice cream scented with pollen and spring meadow. The kitchen is led by Fanis Karadimas, a chef who has shared Botrini’s kitchen for over a decade and is the most capable person to execute the secrets of Hector’s culinary philosophy without betraying them.