Casa Delfino

Eating

Casa Delfino has a small kitchen which serves breakfast only, taken outside in the courtyard, or inside in the unlikely event of rain. Cakes, eggs, yoghurt, fruit and fresh orange juice tart up the standard offerings, while the combination of excellent filter coffee and a nearby foreign press kiosk is likely to have you lingering a bit longer than intended.

The small bar alongside the reception desk is not the cosiest of places for a drink, but you can wander out to the courtyard for a late night metaxa under the stars, or have your pre-prandial ouzo brought to your room (don’t worry – there are plenty of other tipples available).

For dinner, the old town of Chania positively teems with characterful, buzzing tavernas, the liveliest of which line the waterfront (be prepared to ignore the hawkers), the best of which are hidden up small alleys inland. I can recommend Antigoni (on the far end of the waterfront beyond the Porto Veneziano) for outstanding fish soup and seafood; Semiramis for better than average cooked food (butter bean stew, Cretan ratatouille called boureki and various pies); of the seafront places, Monastiri is the friendliest, the most wind-protected and serves the best food, including a ‘little devil’ (spicy sausage pieces) and a ‘nun’ (ice-cream, halva and fruit baked in an earthenware bowl). If you don’t mind a short taxi ride, book a table at the Thalassino Ayeri (tel 56672) east of the centre, hidden down an unlikely lane but serving the freshest of fish.