From the Byzantine contaminations that have enriched Greece throughout a thousand-year of history to the heroes narrated by its great poets, to Homer to Constantine Kavafis, until the depth of the sea that Vasiliki compares to her cuisine, full of good things to discover that blend together according to the rhythms of nature.

Thus, the first thing that strikes you when you enter the small restaurant are the colors, a metaphor of these cultured suggestions: the Pompeii red on the walls, the gold of the brass that symbolizes the sun, the blue of the sacred Aegean waters. A design studied in every detail that Vasiliki created together with two friends: the designer Luisa Vanzo and the antiquarian and artist Luca Vitali. She has also enriched the rooms with personal “homy” touches, such as the two original statues of women in traditional clothes that can be found above the bar counter or the lampshade decorated with Karagiozis, a character from the Greek traditional theatrical comedies.

I like to take inspiration from the depths of the sea, full of good things to discover that blend according to the rhythms of nature

(Vasiliki, chef & founder)

Opened in 2016, the restaurant is a masterpiece of fate. Vasiliki, born in Kalamata, famous for being the city of black olives, a love for good food transmitted by her grandfather, who was a restaurateur, and her mother, who worked as a cook, decides to study economics. Then destiny happened: thanks to a sentimental disappointment, she embarked on a journey and, thanks to a chance encounter on the ship, she changed her plans and landed in Milan where she continued her studies and began an “office” job. But you know, some true loves make huge turns and then come back. Out of passion, she started to cook for friends, then to practise as a home chef and from there, to open her restaurant, the step was short as it always happens when things are “energetically right”.

With the collaboration of chef Gikas Xenakis, Vasiliki elaborates traditional Greek dishes with taste and balance, doing a great deal of research on the raw material and enhancing it with an original use of spices, fruit and vegetables originating from her land. Thus, among the dishes to be tasted you will find the delicious taramas meatballs and the moussaka, but also more refined dishes, of her invention, such as octopus with honey, bay leaves, caramelized onions and caper leaves, the chicken roll, stuffed with pistachios and Graviera from Naxos or the old Athens salad with cod and mayonnaise with seaweed and crispy bread.

The wine list favors natural labels, all coming from Greek vines to savor all the aromas of this extraordinary land.

All these yummy flavors can also be delivered at home: Vasiliki Kouzina offers an online shop where you can buy many top quality food and wine specialties Made in Greece: from delicious organic Corinthian currants to aged Santorini vinegar, perfect ingredients to give a special touch to any recipe.

The Greece that created the myth of the Beautiful and the Good, the kalòs kai agathòs, is really all here.

The Secret

The red color protagonist of the restaurant also has another meaning, in addition to remembering the mythical Pompeii. Red, precisely in this shade, was in fact the kitchen of Vasiliki’s first apartment in Milan where she began the home cooking adventure. A tribute, therefore, to where it all began.

Useful Info

Vasiliki Kouzina
Via Clusone 6
20135 Milano
Tel. +39 02 94381405

Starters and first courses: 9 —14 euro
Second courses: 12 — 22 euro