Barbarossa, fish at its most party-ready mood

Before you move on to the seafood table, it’s worth living the experience of a resort unlike any other, set in an exotic landscape that hosts the most luxurious camping in the country. Eleni Psyhouli heads down to Voula for NouPou and writes about the restaurant Barbarossa.

• 30/12/2025 12:22

In the heart of Voula, where summer never really ends, there is a gateway that leads to another world—perhaps you might suspect one of those ultra-luxury hotels that a suburb so devoted, since its very birth, to seaside holidays in their most Riviera-style version of glamour has learned to love. The lush green route that slopes down towards the sea to lead you to Barbarossa will be offered to you comfortably and seated, via the resort’s electric buggy service for its guests. Yet from the three spectacular tennis courts at the entrance—built to Roland Garros standards—and until you reach the restaurant, it is worth walking this enchanted path, through everything entirely different that happens in this corner of Voula and almost as if inside a parenthesis separating you from the real world, to transport you to the planet of dreams.

Alongside the pools and exotic gardens, here you won’t encounter buildings, constructions, or infrastructures—nothing that resembles a hotel in its classic sense. An entire camping site of tents, each of which contains the absolute epitome of luxury; different tents, made from innovative materials, housing a different vision of what a resort can be, without weighing down the landscape. An experiential form of accommodation, the kind you would find in the savannas of South Africa, focused on ecology and wellbeing. Everywhere you feel that this distinctive Domes complex loves sports, yoga, and anything that trains or nurtures body and soul. It’s no coincidence that famous tennis players and athletes use it as a refuge for a stay that combines pleasure with benefit.

Between the pools and the Saronic Gulf, however, there is also a world of relaxation and high spirits hidden here, with many meeting points, and it is no coincidence that Barbarossa has been chosen as the central option and gastronomic identity of this select universe—one in which you too, as a local, are welcome and warmly received.

Those of us who are older will always remember the picturesque little ouzeri with its tsipouro, sun-dried octopus and “gounes”, set against the dreamy little harbour of Naoussa in Paros. From 1987 to today, Barbarossa evolved first as a distinguished seafood restaurant, with its risottos and famous grouper pasta dishes. Following cutting-edge seafood dining—which in the meantime has added sushi, ceviche and a strong inclination towards international raw cuisine to its menu—Barbarossa has grown further, expanding to Bodrum and Cairo, and is now preparing new outposts in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Barbarossa, however, is not simply another restaurant you go to for your fresh fish, arriving from Paros, in a special setting with royal treatment.

For years now, it has known how to combine partying with iodine, with DJs and regular live performances that raise the mood to Dionysian decibel levels, against the backdrop of an orzo dish with king crab leg. A southern secret is the Sunday midday revelry, which starts at noon and carries on into the early night—beginning with Thodoris Apostolopoulos on the decks and continuing with the voice of Angeliki Kelekidi. Island sounds, folk tunes, recent crowd-pleasing hits on the menu: music that brings together all the different tribes of a resort into one universal celebration.

The menu is signed by Thanos Kakaras, head chef of the Barbarossa Group, who together with the head chef of Barbarossa Athens, Nikos Koutsoukos, has made sure to include all the classic flavours that built the name of the Parian pirate in its Glyfada kitchen. We started with a creamy taramosalata in a generous portion, which gains texture as well as a second, intriguing flavour from bottarga crumble and garlic sprouts. You accompany it with warm, crispy strips of Rhodes ladopita or with their own homemade warm walnut bread, which welcomes you with Barbarossa olive oil and a small bowl of the most gigantic olives you’ve ever tasted. The king crab tartare is a starter you certainly haven’t tried anywhere else.

A spread made from the delicious flesh of the crab, with spicy mayonnaise, yuzu-scented oil-and-lemon dressing and a subtle touch of truffle oil, served on crispy bok choy, baby gem, asparagus, carrot and rocket, creating a pleasantly crunchy contrast. A Barbarossa salad combines winter and summer vegetables with fig, pine nuts, orange, Naxos graviera cheese and soy sauce, before moving on to the crayfish—an emblematic dish of the Barbarossa philosophy that translates a classic saganaki into the most iodine-rich simplicity: properly sautéed crayfish meat, vongole, sautéed cherry tomatoes, feta cubes in just the right amount, fresh chilli for a spark, and a little pea shoot for earthy flavour.

For the main course, we opted for the classics: fricassee with wild greens from Paros, fish fillet and an aromatic, refined lemon sauce instead of the traditional avgolemono. The orzo with crayfish stock and bites of lobster fillet, properly bound and scented with fresh herbs, is the dish that is almost never missing from any table.

To finish on a sweet note, we tried the pistachio semifreddo with caramelised puff pastry, pistachio cream and mousse—another take on a mille-feuille—and we were very pleased to see that the menu also offers a lovely selection of ice creams and sorbets, such as mango and the utterly delicious lemon with basil. The most refined way to rinse the sea from your lips.