Almyra

Almyra sits on a wooden deck at Mole 3 of the Marina Heraklion, on the eastern edge of the harbour, with the fishing fleet moored fifteen metres from the table. The fish on the chalkboard at the entrance arrived on those boats that morning, and the kitchen does not bother with anything that did not. It is the most serious seafood restaurant in Heraklion and a destination dinner for any visitor staying more than a night in the city.

The kitchen is uncompromisingly Cretan-classical. Whole grilled red mullet (barbouni) with olive oil and oregano; sea bass salt-baked at table; octopus grilled with vinegar and capers; the iconic kakavia fisherman's soup; lobster pasta with tomato and basil. The kitchen runs a daily fish board and will let any guest pick directly from it, weighed at the table.

The wine list — about 150 references — runs heavily into the Greek white programme that pairs with seafood: Santorini Assyrtiko (deep vertical), Cretan Vidiano, Naoussa Malagouzia, Roditis from the Peloponnese. There is a short but serious French Champagne and Provence rosé section for celebration tables. The sommelier is the proprietor's son and is happy to walk the harbour-front Greek wine list with any interested guest.

Service is led by the proprietor's family and runs at the unhurried Cretan harbour pace. The deck handles long summer evenings with the soft acoustic that the harbour edge provides; the small interior dining room handles winter dinners. The bill, considering the quality of the fish, is genuinely fair. It is the best birthday dinner in the city for a fish-loving guest.

Almyra is the birthday dinner the harbour was built for. The deck above the fishing boats, the daily fish board carried to the table, the slow Cretan summer pacing, the bottle of Assyrtiko poured cold against the warm evening — every element of a Heraklion harbour-front celebration is present. For a milestone-birthday dinner that wants the city itself to do the work, no other table in Heraklion handles the brief more completely.