Levendis Estate

Eating

Kitchens - each cottage has its own - are well-equipped, including a kettle, toaster, Villery and Boch crockery and Bodum coffee pot. There's an electric oven with 4 hobs, a fridge/freezer and plenty of crockery, pans, cutlery, glassware etc. On arrival, your kitchen is stocked with organic treats including home-made muesli, sheep’s milk yoghurt, Ithacan thyme honey, fresh bread and preserves, (plum and sage, lemon and ginger), local wine, and extra virgin olive oil.

Every morning, guests may help themselves to seasonal treats - cherry tomatoes, plump figs - hung in baskets outside the Coffee Shop, a wooden shack where Marilyn and her daughter Katie whip up delicious, nutritious breakfasts: excellent coffee, fruit smoothies, vanilla waffles with cinnamon butter. They will even make up picnic hampers for the beach or a boat trip, or marinade meat for you to barbeque, accompanied with mezedes like persimmon chilli chutney and red pepper and feta dip. Don’t worry about the washing up: the housekeeper will take care of it.

There’s no restaurant, but you can order ‘room service’ (24 hours notice), delivered by live-out chef Nadia on her moped. The Mediterranean menu reflects her diverse (Jewish / Lebanese / Belgian) background: maybe tomatoes stuffed with rice and feta, or sweet and sour chicken with basmati.

The nearest restaurant, Yefyri in Platrithia hamlet, is – happily – the island’s best. Bangers and mash and sublime cheesecake are a welcome reprieve from taverna fare. Bustling Stavros has several grocery stores and restaurants. Try Margarita’s crumbly kolokythopitta (courgette and feta pie) or dinner à deux in Polyphemus’ pretty garden. For fresh fish by the sea, your best bet is Remezzo at Frikes, where Kiki’s super-market stocks Marmite and Crunchie bars for homesick Brits.