Varoulko Santorini

Chef Lefteris Lazarou opened the original Varoulko in Piraeus in 1987 and held a Michelin star continuously since 2002 — making it one of the longest-running starred establishments in Greece. His commitment to seafood as fine dining, at a time when most European chefs treated fish as a secondary concern, helped define what modern Greek cuisine could become. His Santorini chapter at Grace Hotel Auberge in Imerovigli brings that accumulated knowledge to one of the Aegean's most dramatic settings.

The Grace Hotel occupies a position above the caldera between Fira and Oia, with an infinity pool that appears to extend directly into the volcanic bay. The dining terrace overlooks this view from slightly higher still, placing guests between the water and the sky in a way that few hotel restaurants in the world can match. The setting serves Lazarou's food well — his approach to seafood is always about the relationship between the sea, the landscape, and the plate, and here that relationship is literal rather than metaphorical.

The Lava tasting menu — named, one assumes, for the volcanic rock that defines this island's character — is the definitive way to experience the kitchen. Red shrimp with caviar is a pairing that demonstrates Lazarou's understanding of luxury without ostentation. Crab preparations that work in harmony with local white Santorini wine. Octopus treatments that would be taught in cooking schools. The menu moves through the spectrum of Aegean seafood with the authority that two decades of Michelin recognition and a lifetime of coastal Greek cooking can provide.

The broader menu is described as relaxed but polished, with classic Greek seafood given a modern treatment that never feels overdone. The kitchen exercises restraint in a way that some Mediterranean restaurants do not — the Aegean produces extraordinary ingredients, and Lazarou trusts them. A whole roasted sea bass, properly sourced and precisely cooked, makes more of an argument for Greek cuisine than any elaborate preparation.

Service is warm and expert with occasional inconsistencies that do not detract from the overall experience. The sommelier team navigates the wine list — which is weighted heavily toward Greek producers — with confidence. The Grace Hotel's overall quality of hospitality elevates the dining experience in ways that freestanding restaurants cannot replicate.

The infinity pool terrace at Grace Hotel creates one of the finest solo dining environments in the Mediterranean. Eating alone with a Michelin-starred tasting menu and an Aegean sunset requires a certain kind of confidence — and Varoulko provides the context in which that confidence is entirely warranted. The chef's counter seating option positions solo diners with direct views of the kitchen and the sea simultaneously. A glass of single-vineyard Assyrtiko, the Lava menu moving through the Aegean's finest catch, the caldera slowly deepening in colour as the sun descends — this is what the solo dining occasion looks like when it is executed correctly. An experience you tell people about for years.