Plant-based Greek cooking,
done properly.
Greek food has always been half-vegetarian — built on olive oil, vegetables, pulses and the morning market. At Cookaki in Koukáki, that tradition isn't an afterthought menu; it's a daily dish cooked from scratch, five minutes from the Acropolis Museum.
Garden Dish of the Day
Each morning we cook a Garden Dish of the Day (€8.90) around whatever arrived from the local laïkí market — a seasonal vegetable stew or an oven-baked vegetable plate. Some days it's briám (roasted summer vegetables), some days gemistá (tomatoes and peppers stuffed with herbed rice), some days fasolákia (green beans braised in tomato and olive oil). It can usually be prepared vegan on request — just ask your server.
This is the heart of Greek home cooking: the ladera, dishes "of the oil," where vegetables are slow-cooked in good olive oil until sweet and silky. No imitation meat, no compromise — just the way Greek grandmothers have cooked vegetables for generations.
Naturally vegetarian, often vegan
Ladera & vegetable mains
Briám, gemistá, fasolákia, gígantes (giant beans), arakás (pea stew) and spanakórizo — classic olive-oil vegetable cooking, most of it vegan.
Salads & mezédes
Horiátiki (Greek salad), dákos with Cretan rusk, coleslaw, and a rotating set of vegetable mezédes to share. Greek salad is naturally gluten-free.
Gluten-free friendly
The Garden Dish and Greek salad are gluten-free, and many vegetable dishes can be adapted. Tell your server about any allergy and we'll guide you.
Good oil, real ingredients
We finish with organic, high-antioxidant Spartan olive oil and source vegetables from the neighbourhood market — flavour you can taste, not hide.
Why Greece is easy for vegetarians
Because of the Orthodox calendar's many fasting periods, Greek cuisine developed an enormous repertoire of nistísima — dishes made without meat, dairy or eggs. That means a vegetarian or vegan traveller in Athens isn't choosing from a token corner of the menu; they're eating some of the most beloved dishes in the culture. At Cookaki we lean into that: the kitchen's vegetable cooking is treated with the same care as the moussaka it's been famous for since 1956. Coming from the Acropolis or exploring Koukáki, you'll eat well here whatever you do or don't eat.
Petmeza 5, Koukáki — 11742 Athens
Open Monday–Saturday 09:00–16:00 and 19:00–22:00; Sunday 10:00–18:00. Call +30 21 0921 9818 or message +30 698 237 3505.
Vegetarian & vegan questions
Does Cookaki have vegetarian options?
Do you have vegan food?
Are there gluten-free choices?
How much does a vegetarian meal cost?
Eat your vegetables — the Greek way.
Reserve a table in Koukáki, or order the Garden Dish to your hotel. Either way, the market decides what's best today.