{"id":518501,"date":"2026-01-09T14:47:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T12:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.noupou.gr\/?p=518501"},"modified":"2026-01-09T14:47:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T12:47:07","slug":"tartare-one-of-athens-oldest-french-restaurants-is-in-glyfada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.noupou.gr\/en\/food-drink\/tartare-one-of-athens-oldest-french-restaurants-is-in-glyfada\/","title":{"rendered":"Tartare: One of Athens\u2019 oldest French restaurants is in Glyfada"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tartare in Glyfada is a historic restaurant. Not only as one of the oldest active French cuisine restaurants in Athens, founded in 1999, but also as one of the oldest restaurants in Glyfada, on the Athens Riviera. There, Odysseas Polymeris can proudly say that he has been feeding generations of regulars.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe opened the restaurant with my father after I returned from my hospitality studies at Les Roches in Switzerland, and after I had gained the necessary work experience\u2014my baptism by fire. He already had experience in French cuisine from \u2018Spyros & Vasilis\u2019, so it was an easy choice for us,\u201d Odysseas recalls. \u201cOf course, after a few years my father stepped away from the restaurant, and the responsibility remained with me. I still remember the first day, when a regular noticed his absence and asked me, \u2018So who\u2019s going to make my tartare now, you?\u2019 It\u2019s a responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sense of responsibility, however\u2014the way he treats each guest individually, winning over new customers while honouring old ones\u2014does not go unrewarded. Tartare has built a very loyal customer base that returns again and again, sometimes several times a week. \u201cWe even have second-generation regulars,\u201d he continues with a smile. \u201cChildren of old customers, even 17\u201318 years old, coming with their friends. Tartare has become part of life in Glyfada in a family-like way. Glyfada is a village, after all.\u201d At Tartare, it certainly feels like a neighbourhood. \u201cIt often happens that half the restaurant stands up to greet the other half. People stop by tables, the atmosphere is always warm. Over the years, we\u2019ve become friends with many customers. But friends outside the restaurant. Here, they are customers, and customers are treated as they should be. For us, every guest is unique, whether it\u2019s their first visit or their fifth this week,\u201d he concludes, with a sense of duty in his voice.<\/p>\n\r\n\r\n

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A post shared by Tartare (@tartare_restaurant)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The space at Tartare is classic and generally very well put together. The tables have that French urban aesthetic, with crisp white tablecloths, perfectly aligned silverware and waiters wearing the classic apron-vest that suits an old-school establishment so well. The layout leaves air between tables in the indoor dining room, allowing for a sense of privacy from one party to the next, unlike the currently enclosed semi-outdoor area, where things feel more \u201cfriendly.\u201d The exceptionally polite waitstaff, with the proper service set-up\u2014all with at least 15 years of experience\u2014prepare several dishes tableside, such as the Caesar salad and the restaurant\u2019s namesake tartare.<\/p>\n

Before talking in detail about flavour, the sense of place matters\u2014and that sense begins with the restaurant\u2019s history. Tartare is not simply \u201cfrom 1999,\u201d which for Athens is not all that old, but it has kept many things exactly the same since 1999, something extremely rare in Athenian dining, which constantly chases what\u2019s new. From the people\u2014chefs, waiters, suppliers\u2014to the recipes and the menu, many things have remained unchanged for 26 years. That is the Tartare experience. A steady, reliable cuisine that does not chase new flavour trends, serving Proven\u00e7al cooking as it was brought to Glyfada in 1999 by two well-travelled people.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ll start, then, with the namesake steak tartare (\u20ac33). A generous portion, with clean flavours led by the meat and the mustard. Pickles, onion and herbs add depth to the dish, but delicately, without straying from the flavour of the central pairing. A very clean dish, rooted firmly in French technique. A tartare doesn\u2019t need much to be delicious, and this one is exactly that.<\/p>\n

I was also very positively impressed by the Caesar salad (\u20ac14), made properly (finally!) and served with the necessary croutons. Tender green leaves, perfectly embraced by the sharp acidity of the dressing and the subtle intensity of garlic that perfumes the fresh composition. Rustic pieces of anchovy and crunchy croutons create a pleasant sense of contrast that keeps things interesting from bite to bite. I recommend it without hesitation.<\/p>\n

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I also recommend the p\u00e2t\u00e9 de foie (\u20ac36), an excellent p\u00e2t\u00e9 served with toasted bread. The bread itself is nothing special, but the p\u00e2t\u00e9 more than makes up for it. Rich umami fat, aromatic and slightly sweet, it makes a perfect introduction to any of the meat mains on the menu.<\/p>\n

Another \u201csecret\u201d of Tartare is that, according to Odysseas, the recipe for the Caf\u00e9 de Paris sauce they serve is the authentic one, passed down from a family friend chef who worked at Caf\u00e9 de Paris in Geneva, and it contains more than 40 different ingredients. I haven\u2019t tried the original, but I can say that this sauce was excellent. Aromatic with curry and herbs, with a hint of tarragon crossing the palate at the outset. No sense of heaviness despite the butter, and an appealing sweetness that discreetly accompanies the meat through to the finish, without sharp edges. We paired it with Ch\u00e2teaubriand (\u20ac90 for two). A good-quality cut, cooked perfectly\u2014after all, the centre of the fillet needs nothing more.<\/p>\n

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We also tried the c\u00f4te de boeuf (\u20ac82\/kg), from rubia gallega beef, an excellent cut from Spain. The larger piece of beef carried all its rich, meaty, fatty umami flavour, coating the tongue in a completely different way from the delicate Ch\u00e2teaubriand. Generous, full-bodied and with a strong personality, it\u2019s a variety not often found in Greece, for true meat lovers.<\/p>\n

The meal ended with the traditional chocolate souffl\u00e9\u2014airy, flavourful, just sweet enough. A very old-fashioned ending by today\u2019s standards, but for most of us nostalgic, and exquisitely executed, closing such a classic meal exactly as it should.<\/p>\n

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Tartare, surprisingly, impressed me the next day. Writing this piece, I didn\u2019t think, \u201cI\u2019d like to go back and try the rest of the menu,\u201d as I often might, but rather, \u201cI\u2019d like to go back and eat the dishes I tried again.\u201d That\u2019s how it has kept its regulars\u2014and that\u2019s how it creates new ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tartare in Glyfada is a historic restaurant. Not only as one of the oldest active French cuisine restaurants in Athens, founded in 1999, but also as one of the oldest restaurants in Glyfada, on the Athens Riviera. There, Odysseas Polymeris can proudly say that he has been feeding generations of regulars. \u201cWe opened the restaurant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":514004,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6165],"tags":[6186,6240],"real_estate_agency":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noupou.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518501"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noupou.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noupou.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noupou.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noupou.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518501"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.noupou.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":518504,"href":"https:\/\/www.noupou.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518501\/revisions\/518504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noupou.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noupou.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noupou.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noupou.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518501"},{"taxonomy":"real_estate_agency","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noupou.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/real_estate_agency?post=518501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}