Ettore Botrini brought a refined hand to Cretan cooking, on the water in Chania's Venetian harbour. Dakos, beef tartare and smoked eel, raised to fine dining without losing the island.
The kitchen
AlmyVita is the Chania restaurant of Ettore Botrini, a Greek-Italian chef known for his Michelin-starred cooking in Athens and on Corfu. Here the material is Cretan: the island's produce, herbs, oil and fish, handled with technique rather than nostalgia. Dakos, beef tartare and smoked eel are the dishes reviewers return for.
The room
The restaurant moved in 2024 into the heart of the old town, on the Venetian harbour with the lighthouse in view. The setting is historic and the service unhurried, the kind of room that carries a long dinner without pushing it along.
The proposition
Crete rewards those who eat where the island actually cooks. AlmyVita is that, with a serious kitchen behind it: local raw material, refined method, and an evening worth planning around rather than stumbling into.
At a glance
The TGC view
AlmyVita is our table in western Crete for the island's cooking at its best rather than a harbour tourist menu. TGC arranges the reservation and the evening around it.
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We hold the relationships, the rooms and the access. Tell us the dates and we handle the rest.
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