The places in Heraklion the guidebooks miss.
The places in Heraklion the guidebooks miss. locals-only counters, after-hours rooms and the spots tourists walk past.
Chagiati hides on Erotokritou in Heraklion, Crete, a small dinner-only mezedopoleio that grills sardines and pours raki for a room of regulars.
Why locals love it: A dinner-only mezedopoleio on a lane most visitors never turn down, with a room that fills with locals by nine.
Tip: Closed Sundays, dinner only from 18:00, and small enough that arriving after 21:00 usually means waiting outside.
Ouzeri tou Terzaki has worked a quiet port alley in Heraklion since 1978, and it stays hidden from the seafront crowds a hundred metres away.
Why locals love it: A 1978 ouzeri tucked into a port alley off Plateia Agiou Dimitriou, invisible from the seafront promenade.
Tip: Aim for the port end of Lochagou Marineli. The alley is narrow and the sign is easy to walk straight past.
Erganos sits uphill from the Heraklion museums beside Kazantzakis park, a 1986 taverna that most visitors walk past on their way somewhere else.
Why locals love it: A 1986 taverna beside Kazantzakis park that trades almost entirely on locals and word of mouth rather than passing trade.
Tip: Ask what the kitchen cooked that morning rather than reading the whole menu top to bottom.
Alla ki Alla stands a minute from the busiest restaurant in Heraklion and stays half empty, which is the whole argument for eating there instead.
Why locals love it: A minute from Peskesi on Kagiampi, and consistently overlooked because of the queue outside its more famous neighbour.
Tip: Go here when Peskesi is fully booked. Order the stuffed mushrooms and the fried zucchini balls.
Crumb Healthy Living Lab is the Heraklion bakery coeliacs and sugar-avoiders end up recommending to each other, well away from the tourist streets.
Why locals love it: A health-focused bakery on Papanastasiou that labels gluten-free and sugar-free clearly, which almost nothing else in the city does.
Tip: Useful if you avoid gluten. Check the cabinet labels rather than asking, because they mark every item.
Veganato is the fully plant-based kitchen on Vourvachon in Heraklion, cooked to order by the owners and missed by almost every visiting diner.
Why locals love it: A small fully vegan kitchen on Vourvachon run by an owner couple, easy to miss on a street of parked scooters.
Tip: Everything is cooked to order in front of you, so allow more time than a takeaway counter would need.
The Whistler Espresso Bar is the Agiou Titou room in Heraklion that does two jobs well, specialty coffee by day and cocktails with snacks by night.
Why locals love it: An espresso bar on Agiou Titou that quietly turns into a cocktail room, with free nibbles sent out to every table.
Tip: Come in the hour before dinner, when the coffee shift ends and the bartenders start work on the drinks list.
Hovoli works the charcoal on Daskalogianni square in Heraklion, Crete, a plain grill house the guidebooks skip and the neighbourhood keeps busy.
Why locals love it: A charcoal grill on Daskalogianni square that locals use as an overflow when Lions Square is packed with visitors.
Tip: Worth knowing in August, when the central squares are full and this one still has tables at nine in the evening.