6Corfiot Cuisine
Corfiot cuisine is one of the most distinctive regional cuisines in Greece. It combines Greek ingredients with strong Venetian, Italian and wider Mediterranean influences.
Some of the island’s best-known dishes include:
- Pastitsada: Beef, veal or rooster slowly cooked in a rich tomato sauce with wine and aromatic spices, usually served with thick pasta.
- Sofrito: Thin slices of veal or beef cooked with garlic, parsley, vinegar and white wine.
- Bourdeto: A spicy fish dish prepared with red pepper and traditionally made without tomato.
- Bianco: Fish cooked with potatoes, garlic, lemon, olive oil and black pepper.
- Tsigareli: Wild greens cooked with garlic, olive oil and spicy red pepper.
Corfu is also known for local olive oil, honey, cheeses, wine, kumquat products, sykomaida fig cake and noumboulo cured pork.
Visitors searching for something more adventurous can also read about Corfu’s unusual local foods, including frog legs, snails, frigadelia, tsilihourda, bitter-orange salad and other dishes that many tourists have never tried before.
My local advice: Ask the waiter which local dishes are freshly prepared that day. Some traditional recipes are not available every day because good family tavernas prepare them in limited quantities.
It is also sensible to check the menu and prices before ordering, especially in the busiest tourist areas and restaurants with premium sea views.
