If squeezing ripe Cretan avocados, sniffing fresh Laconia lemons and ogling great hunks of barrel-aged feta sounds like your kind of day out, then Paris’s exceptional Greek deli Kilikio is not to be missed. A good hour could spent marvelling at the elegant design and encyclopaedic stock of this shop, which has olive trees lining its entrance and stunning blue-green Aegean Sea mosaics plastered on its walls. In the middle of the room, jars of sweet-smelling olives are arranged in pride of place on a large wooden table, while the large iron racks around it burst with an almost overwhelming range of excellent Greek produce from a range of small growers (condiments, olive oil, honey, juices, tahini).
Opened by Kritonas Poulis – former chef and pâtissier with Pierre Hermé – in early 2015, Kilikio helps top quality producers not only with distribution, but also with branding and packaging. The fruits of these collaborations include the unctuous and aromatic Bruyère honey (€11.50 for 250g), as well as the rare Tsounaki olive oil (€16 for 500ml) and various items in the fresh section such as a 12-month-old feta and home made tarama and tzatziki. Many Parisians will be used to eating the mass-produced industrial varieties of such delicacies, but surely nothing as fresh and refined as this.
TRANSLATION: HUW OLIVER