Keto at a Greek taverna

The carbs of a night at a taverna start before you have even ordered, with the bread that reaches the table first. Then come the chips beside the meat, anything fried in flour and a couple of dishes you would never suspect. The grill itself has almost none, and the olive oil flows freely.

The figures are from the food database, for the portion shown next to each dish. How many carbs a whole day can take is covered in the guide How many carbs a day on keto.

What to order

Meat or fish from the grill, boiled greens with olive oil and lemon, and a yoghurt dip: a table like that stays under 15 g of net carbs. Lamb chops with boiled dandelion greens and tzatziki, say, come to about 12.

When you order from the grill, ask for it without the pitta and chips; most places will put a salad or some greens on the plate instead.

Share the Greek salad

A Greek salad suits keto, although a whole one for a single person comes to 13 g. That is with 150 g tomato, 80 g cucumber, 30 g green pepper, 20 g onion, 20 g olives and 80 g feta. More than half comes from the tomato (4 g) and the feta (3.1 g), while the onion, at just 20 g, adds 1.5.

Split between two people, it drops to 6.5 g each. If it is all yours, leave some of the tomato and the onion on the plate and pour on plenty of olive oil, which has no carbs.

Dishes that hide carbs

Squid gets a coating of flour before it goes into the fryer, which is why fried squid in the database has 7.8 g per 100 g and a 200 g portion reaches 16. Squid on its own has 3.1, so if the kitchen will grill it, go for that.

Mussels carry carbs of their own, with no flour or sauce needed: boiled, they have 7.4 g per 100 g, almost 15 in a 200 g portion. Octopus is lighter, at 4.4 per 100 g.

Saganaki is fried cheese with almost no carbs, except that it is floured before it hits the pan. Ask whether they can make it without, or order grilled halloumi instead.

Taverna bifteki and meatballs usually have bread or breadcrumbs in the mix, so ask before you order. At home an egg binds them just as well and the bread can go: Bifteki (Greek burger patties) with salad and tzatziki.

What to skip

A single portion of most of the dishes below goes over the 20 g limit by itself. Bread needs the most care, because stopping at one slice is hard.

The figures for pastitsio, moussaka, dolmadakia and courgette fritters come from ready meals in the database; at a taverna they will vary with the cook. For home versions there are our recipes Keto moussaka without potatoes and Keto pastitsio with courgettes.

Drinks

Plain spirits such as tsipouro have no carbs. Wine and beer do; the guide What to eat on keto gives the figure for each glass.

We have three of these taverna dishes as recipes for home: Grilled sardines with boiled wild greens, Prawn saganaki with feta and Roast chicken thighs with Greek salad.