We were rather glad to be introduced to The Good Heart by our local guide, Nikos, in Santorini. It’s a family-run restaurant that serves homemade food, largely prepared with (mostly their own) locally sourced produce. Needless to say, everything is fresh and tastes great. They also run a small shop and tavern at the side at which they sell a variety of their very own and other locally made food products and wines.

In fact, we were welcomed at the restaurant with a platter of their fresh and luscious produce that included red, white, rosé and sweet wines, cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and tomato paste, vine leaves, candied fruits and honey. Wonderful!

Feta me meli is a divine appetiser! Perfect for someone like me who loves cheese and honey. It is essentially a thick slice of feta cheese baked or fried inside a covering of filo pastry until crisp, and topped with toasted sesame seeds and a generous drizzle of honey. How/why I had never come across this delight before, I have no idea. But now that I have, I’m definitely an advocate for it! It’s the perfect balance of crispy and soft, salty and sweet, light and indulgent.

We also tried The Good Heart’s moussaka, a traditional egg-plant based casserole, baked together with a bit of potato, tomato and – in this case – shrimp. This is covered with a béchamel sauce that also gets baked, and is often topped with a thick sprinkle of feta. More commonly, minced meats such as beef or lamb are used instead of seafood. However, this combination that we tried was delicious. Proper comfort food.

And finally, here’s another speciality that raises a debate regarding whether it is of Turkish or Greek origin – baklava. Of course, it is a sweet of many shapes, forms and sizes that is enjoyed across the Arab world as well. We tried a few from Grigoris Bakery – one of the island’s most popular café-bakery chains, and they were definitely as rich and indulgent as they look in the images, with plenty of nuts (pistachio, almond, walnut, cashew), plenty of sweet syrup, and plenty of calories!