Caper leaves and capers we get from the island of Tinos, from a very nice old man who collects them for us in bags. He then ships these bags to Paros, where my mother receives and cures them. We get our herbs and spices delivered in small bundles from a small village in Thiva, from where we also order half of our daily bread! In addition to that, we order bread baked in wooden ovens from Paros.
We never use butter for our dishes, only cold- pressed olive oil – Sitia 03 from Crete. Even when we make béchamel, instead of butter we use yoghurt. Our dishes are very light and healthy and even our mousaka is a wonderful example of that.For our desserts we sometimes use staka, a kind of butter used in Crete, which is a roux made from the residue of clarified butter with an addition of flour.

Nothing happens out of pure chance here. We turn Greece up side down in order to find new and exciting products and the best regions and people who produce them. Every Sunday our restaurant is closed. This is when we set out to discover new places and the unique products they offer. We are team not only as chefs but also as friends who share the same interests and passion, which is food in all its facets. So every Sunday, Manolis and I and Giorgos and his wife, we wake up early in the morning and we make a little excursion, visiting places. Each small village has very special products.

One foreign customer recently called us to his table and simply said one thing: "Please, don’t change!" Comments like these make us feel like we are on the right tract.

How do you get such fresh fish?
We get a daily delivery of fresh fish from the island of Paros, or alternately from Leros, and it’s never the same fish. The main criteria that determine what fish arrives from these islands to our restaurant are quality and freshness. Therefore, our delivery depends on what has been recently caught and is of superior quality. We actually have had guests who complained that they could never order the same fish twice, because we only serve what happens to be best.

Do you believe there is something inherently special about Greek cuisine and, if so,
what is it?
There are so many things inherently special about Greek cuisine. Even products that exist in other Mediterranean countries taste differently when they come from Greek soil. Just to name a few, I’d mention the sun-dried tomatoes, or our white eggplant that is as sweet as dessert.

Even more characteristic of Greek cuisine is the way we prepare our dishes. Cooking in casseroles is a classic example, especially the casserole dishes we cook using a light lemon and olive oil sauce (avgolemono). In addition, I would certainly mention our pitas (pies with phyllo dough) filled with all those wonderful vegetables and cheeses Greece produces, or even with meats. Or, think of the aubergine. Where else do they use this vegetable in so many different ways?
In Greece we make spoon sweets, pickles, filled aubergine, mousaka, we fry it...

Argyro Barbarigou is an award-winning cookbook author and host of a popular food show. She is also an experienced restaurant owner and well-known chef, especially to habitués of the Cycladic island of Paros, where, in the little harbor of Naoussa, she opened her first restaurant.

Now she and her co-chef, Giorgos Kostas, are blowing a bit of the Aegean breeze into central Athens with the opening of their new restaurant, Papadakis. There they are serving traditional, though not necessarily well-known, Greek dishes prepared only with the best artisan, locally-sourced products.

Greece has gone through difficult economic times but at the same time it is a country that has been blessed by nature. We produce wonderful and unique products and, as a people, we have a flourishing imagination to create a very special cuisine.

What other restaurants do your frequentand why?
During the week, we are always at the restaurant – the place that has become our second home. On Sundays, this one day the restaurant is closed, we are off on our little excursions outside of Athens. So we do not really have the time to frequent other restaurants in the city. The only restaurants we do visit are the ones we find at the places we’re exploring. We are fans of gourmet ingredients, not of gourmet cuisine. We much rather leave the city on Sundays to get fresh air and fresh ideas.

How would you define your cuisine?
Our cuisine could be defined as "Creative Greek" with the use of only the most exceptional artisan products from all over Greece. In order to accomplish this, our Sundays become ritualistic treasure hunts.

We are trying to re-discover Greek cuisine and its forgotten or neglected products.
The inhabitants of the big cities are especially unfamiliar with many regional, traditional dishes and products once cherished by our ancestors.

Here at Papadakis we are doing the opposite of fusion. We are trying to elevate and discover Greek cuisine and its products in their traditional, pure form because we believe that this is as perfect as it gets.