Guide: The ultimate Corfu town experience

For those not attending my retreat this week, here's some of my favourite spots...

This past week I’ve been running around like the crazy cooking Corfiot that I am, taking a group of brilliant guests to some of my most secret and special places, on Corfu, my favourite place on earth.

My island is the lushest in all of the Greece - it bursts with green and glorious tropical flora and my favourite time to experience Corfu is off season. Hence a September food retreat promising not ‘wellness’ but eating well and feeling truly nourished and enriched.

You can find out more about my retreats here and paid subscribers get special discounts to future retreats as well as first option to book onto the retreats with a special newsletter announcement just for them.

Up to now we’ve woken up in a Venetian manor home and strolled the pastel hued old town. We’ve hiked deep onto the olive groves and taken dips into cool blue water, dined on the sea’s edge and sipped on local wines at my favourite local vineyard.

Yiayia also made a guest appearance to critique my food on the first evening (always enjoyable…) There’s Greek dancing and Rebetika to come but for now, here’s a little guide to Corfu town for my paid subscribers. These are the spots I like to keep to myself or else highly recommend to friends. There’s a selection of places to eat, enjoy a coffee or an aperitivo and to shop and it’s where we spent day 1 of the retreat this week…

The food to try

Untouched by the Ottomans and conquered instead by the Venetians, French and the English, Corfu’s gastronomic offering has become as rich as its history. The stifado - from the Italian ‘stufato’ - for example, was gifted to the island by the Venetians over 600 years ago. A rich, slow cooked tomato stew of beef, rabbit and octopus (the latter being very on-trend with the restaurant kitchens of Corfu right now) infused with the combined flavours of sweet shallots, bay leaf, red wine, cumin, cinnamon and nutmeg and served with pasta or orzo stifado is a dish that represents the island. As does the spicy bourdeto - scorpion fish cooked in tomatoes, garlic and red pepper. Or the similarly hot-on-the-tongue tsigareli, a wild greens side dish that packs a spicy punch. We Corfiots are not ones to take it easy on the spice rack.

Where the locals eat