3 Best Restaurants in The Cyclades, Greece

Romantic and rightly popular, Barriello has an enviable position with views of the sea and the Trypiti village square. A 150-year-old mansion has been repurposed to good effect by charismatic owner Takis. Local ingredients, mostly grown on their own farm, are sometimes playfully presented with elements of modern creative Greek cuisine. It's more fine dining than traditional taverna but the tastes are refined and recognisable and it is generally regarded as the best food on the island.

Alongside the infinity pool at the Bill and Coo Hotel, complete with shining stars that twinkle from the bottom, is served some of the finest food in Mykonos. A futuristic glass box or the outdoor terrace on balmier nights is the setting, for a master class in modern Mediterranean cooking. The ingredients are, of course, sublime but the seemingly unusual flavor combinations are applied to whimsical and off-beat presentations. Asian influences abound along with elements of molecular gastronomy but the cooking remains true to its island setting. It is cooking as theater—dramatic, emotional, and memorable.

An old ceramics factory with a jewel of a courtyard—all stone arches and climbing greenery—is the theater set for the most beautiful restaurant in Ermoupoli. With inspiration from around the globe, this is a very modern iteration of Greek food; ceviches and tartares feature, and some dishes are deconstructed to their constituent parts. An all-day brunch menu makes it an atmospheric place to hang out in the day but as dusk falls the romance notches up as gentle music plays, lights twinkle, and the food gets more ambitious.