Chrisostomos

Chrisostomos is a small family restaurant on the corner of Defkalionos and Ikarou streets in Chania, a ten-minute walk east of the Venetian harbour. Owner Chrisostomos Orfanoudakis is from the Sfakia region — the mountainous southern coast of Crete — and the menu is a direct export of the Sfakian home-cooking tradition.

The defining dish is the Sfakian pita — a thin round pancake filled with local myzithra cheese and finished with thyme honey. Other menu anchors include a mountain lamb stifado with red wine and cinnamon, a slow-cooked goat in tomato-and-oregano, apaki (smoked pork from the family's own village smoker), and the Cretan wedding pilaf (gamopilafo) made with goat broth.

The 50-seat dining room is plain — whitewashed walls, dark wood tables, a small bar at the back, one large communal table that often gets filled with walk-in parties. Music is traditional Cretan lyra, usually at low volume but occasionally live on Saturday evenings.

The wine selection focuses on local producers — Lyrarakis and Manousakis in particular — with a house raki that Chrisostomos distils himself from the family's vineyards. Prices are on the low end for Chania (€25-35 for a full dinner with wine); the restaurant takes cash only.

Chrisostomos is the Crete solo-dining address. The 50-seat room has a communal table that welcomes single diners, the 10-minute walk from the harbour is away from the tourist crush, and the Sfakian menu gives a traveller eating alone a reason to sit for two hours. For first dates on a budget, the €25-35 total is the value choice in Chania.