Traditional Cretan yoghurt with thyme honey.

Taste Crete · Amazing Villas in Crete

Taste Crete: Food, Oil and Wine Around the Villas

A villa comes with a kitchen, which changes how you eat on holiday. You shop, you cook some evenings, you eat out on others, and the good things are usually made a few kilometres from where you are sleeping. This is where that side of the stay lives.

By Argyris Skordilis, owner and host · Updated October 2026

Already part of a stay

The food that is already here

Three things exist today. Everything else on this page is reading.

The Cretan Breakfast BasketOlive oil, cheese, olives, bread, paximadi, jam, fruit and herbs from small Cretan producers, waiting at the villa. Included with every direct booking, at every villa and for all dates.At the villa, on requestA chef who cooks in your kitchen, groceries waiting when you arrive, an olive oil or wine tasting in the garden, or an afternoon cooking together. Arranged for your dates, never booked from a page.MagazakimThe local-hospitality side of the family business: selected Cretan products, the producers behind them and the land around Asteri. In development, and it says so.

Guides

Reading before you cook

Guides with real food content. This section grows as guides are written; we would rather publish five useful pages than twenty thin ones.

Questions

Eating well in a villa

Is there a supermarket near the villas?

Yes, within a short drive of both Asteri Village and Stavromenos, and smaller shops closer still. Hours change with the season and on Sundays, which is why the first 24 hours checklist exists.

Can we get food waiting at the villa when we arrive?

Yes, on request. Send Argyris a shopping list and it can be in the kitchen when you open the door; the final list is confirmed at least two days before you arrive.

Do you recommend particular tavernas?

Argyris will, in person, for your dates — not on a web page. Places change hands, change cooks and close, and a recommendation that is two years old is worse than none.

Is the Breakfast Basket a full food shop?

No. It is a Cretan breakfast: enough for your first morning, not for the week. Contents and quantities vary with the season.

Can we visit a producer or a mill?

Sometimes, but nothing away from the villa is promised: it depends on the people who run the place, their season and how you would get there and back. Ask and you will get an honest answer for your week.

What is worth eating that we will not find at home?

Whatever is in season that week, which is the point. Ask Argyris when you arrive — in April it is one thing, in October another.

Ask before you shop

Tell Argyris when you arrive and what your group eats. He will tell you what is in season, what is worth arranging and what you can leave until you get here.

Ask Argyris Experiences at the villa