Apart from its already well-known gastronomic identity, which is the reason for its recent inclusion in the UNESCO Network of Creative Cities of Gastronomy, Thessaloniki has also developed its own pastry culture.
Alexandros Alexiou, a seasoned pastry chef, has worked hard to form his own creative identity. A charismatic professional and creator of unforgettable flavourful memories. He constantly seeks new challenges and recipes that surprise. Today, he puts his signature and pastry skills on the menus of the Hyatt Regency Thessaloniki restaurants, while his professional activity extends to other Hyatt hotels around the world, such as Paris, Vienna, Istanbul and other cities.
“The secret of our success is the quality ingredients we use at Hyatt Regency Thessaloniki, which allow us to create desserts that are unique in both conception and flavour”, he reveals to Travel.gr. “The dominant word that visually describes our desserts is simplicity. The latter, expressed through creativity, touches our customers, making them come back, along with, of course, the rich sophisticated taste. For me, success is the smile and the joy that each of our creations evokes”, he adds.
What are the special features of restaurant pastry?
A.A: We need to make the distinction between sweets and desserts. Therefore, menus are formed in perfect harmony from dish to dish in order to achieve the desired result.
Each dessert is tailored so that, as the last dish of the menu, it is well-structured and ideal in quantity in order to impress with its appearance, taste and quality, rounding off the experience of a meal or dinner at our hotel.
What stage is pastry making in Greece? As far as Thessaloniki is concerned, do you think it is advanced?
A.A: Thessaloniki has all the potential to become a sweet tooth’s destination. It has the dynamics, the talent and the know-how. There are pastry shops that have become landmarks of our city – and that is what makes it stand out. I believe it’s time for people to start revisiting 5-star hotels to enjoy the delightful experiences offered by the hotels’ restaurants, beautiful terraces and lobbies. Be it for a dessert, a coffee or a unique cocktail. Pastry in Greece has evolved. I believe we are on the same level as many other countries. We have established patissiers all over the country; there are many places where one can try a delicious dessert.
What is your favourite dessert? And what is your favourite ingredient?
A.A: That’s a tough question cause I got the sweetest tooth. Yet, I’d say tarte tatin. I think it is the ideal dessert to top off a nice meal or dinner, it’s always a good idea no matter the season. I also like soufflés, especially when accompanied by some ice cream, but I am also a fan of strawberry tart. When it comes to favourite ingredients, I love fruit, especially summer fruits. Our country yields delicious fruits every summer, ideal for dessert and sorbet concoctions.
Hyatt Regency Thessaloniki
13th km Thessaloniki – Peraia highway, +30 2310 401234
Ambrosia restaurant at the Hyatt Regency Thessaloniki and Alfredo’s Garden at the Regency Casino Thessaloniki are two award-winning and well-established gastronomic landmarks of the city, constantly raising the bar.
The stay in Hyatt’s spacious rooms, the ultimate relaxation and rejuvenation experience at Harmonia Spa & Wellness, the excellent gastronomy served by award-winning chefs such as Apostolos Altanis, as well as the excellent desserts by top pastry chef Alexandros Alexiou are the reasons that bring us back to Thessaloniki again and again.
Regency Casino Thessaloniki
12th km Thessaloniki – Airport highway, +30 2310 491234
The new fad of living walls hits the Regency Casino Thessaloniki. Regency Casino Thessaloniki decided to surprise its guests with yet another new feature: it fitted its walls with a contemporary art form from Scandinavia, Moss Art.
It is made of natural lichen and moss and its main property is that it is a powerful mood enhancer, aiding concentration and boosting productivity. Apart from the freshness and renewal it brings to a space, Moss Art has another hidden trump card that makes it dominate decoration trends: it has sound-absorbing properties and also improves air quality. The “living walls” are found in the revamped outdoor play areas.
Green felt tables and poker chips, bright lights emitted from hundreds of slot machines and champagne glasses clinking with every jackpot are the dominant features that make up the setting of Regency Casino Thessaloniki.
Among other things, of course, the Regency Casino Thessaloniki also features Ian’s Bar, whose decoration is reminiscent of 1920s New York, reviving the era of Prohibition. For this week, the atmospheric bar with its sophisticated décor proposes a signature cocktail: the invisible strawberry Daiquiri called “Duck the Duke”. A refreshing long drink with rum, citrus and ripe wild strawberry flavour. Then round off the evening with a delicious dessert at the award-winning Alfredo’s restaurant, a gastronomic destination in itself.
Vergina Theatro
12th km Thessaloniki – Airport, +30 2310 491291
Located right next to the Regency Casino Thessaloniki, Vergina Theatro welcomes one of the greatest voices of Greece, the popular and unique in her genre, Glykeria. The singer presents a delightful musical show with hits from her long career and her collaborations with great artists. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Smyrna disaster, the show will have a strong emotional and national character that will stretch from Smyrna to Istanbul and the Bosphorus. It will be accompanied by the beloved Greek-Turkish singer Dilek Koc.
Performances every Friday and Saturday, 18, 19, 25, 26 and Thursday 24 March. Starting at 22.00
Choureal
7, Paleon Patron Germanou street, +30 2310 252766
At Choureal patisserie, you have the opportunity to enjoy tailor made profiteroles made right in front of you. On weekends, queues form on the pavement outside the shop, as people of all ages wait patiently to order the famous “à la minute” profiteroles.
Your fragrant choux are always freshly baked as they come out of the oven every hour. Immediately afterwards, they are filled with either velvety Madagascar vanilla pastry cream or fresh handmade ice cream, while delicious chocolates – milk, dark, white, praline – top off the sweet creation. In addition to profiteroles, Choureal also offers decadent choux, handmade ice cream, Paris-Brest filled with velvety cream or chocolate, and mouth-watering éclairs, classic or other flavours such as pistachio, mocha and lemon.
Opening hours: daily from 10.00 to 23.00, Sundays from 11.00 to 23.00
Hatzifotiou Pastry Shops
37, Pavlou Mela street, +30 2310 232166
With a history of seven decades, Hatzifotiou is one of the protagonists of pastry and bakery in Thessaloniki. Since 1946, Hatzifotiou’s traditional recipes still remain the same, enriched from time to time with brand new ideas that offer unique experiences. Try the famous mini cigars coated with dark chocolate with hazelnut praline, strawberry or banana cream filling. Especially for Lent, you can also find equally delicious individual Lenten cigars.
Among other things, this famous pastry shop in Thessaloniki makes almond rocks, mini wafers, syrupy desserts, biscuits, marzipan, nougat, truffles, cakes, cookies, etc. Open daily, from 07.00 to 22.45. They also offer delivery services.
Fleur Boulangerie Patisserie
6, Dimitriou Foka street, Pylaia, +30 2310 380620
Fleur Boulangerie Patisserie, already since May 2019, has been winning the public with its high quality pastry and more. Every day from 6am people flock here to enjoy freshly baked pies, naturally leavened sourdough bread (without the use of yeast), viennoiseries and French croissants. All made in store.
They also make amazing tarts, such as the lemon tart, which, as pastry chef and co-owner Konstantinos Tsenikidis tells Travel.gr, “we’ve been serving it since our first day of operation”.
They also make wonderful chocolate, Madagascar vanilla, seasonal fruits, Gianduja, milk chocolate mousse and forest fruit compote tarts, and – most recently – an “Ode to Apple’ tart”, as Mr. Tsenikidis describes it, with a crispy pâte sucrée, apple financier and pecan, caramel apple compote cooked with honey, butter and Ceylon cinnamon, green apple cut into thin strips, baked with caramel and vanilla syrup, etc. Open until 21.00.
Sugarela
12, Nikiforou Foka street, +30 2310 308979
In Sugarela’s small workshop there is only one secret: small production ensures that their sweets are always fresh and always home-made. Chocolate and natural vanilla beans are Sugarela’s favourite ingredients; in addition to fluffy muffins with a rich chocolate flavour covered in vanilla-flavoured butter icing and aromatic, buttery biscuits with colourful almond paste (and lemon or hazelnut and cocoa flavour), Sugarela stands out for its 3D cakes.
For the days of Lent, the workshop prepares Lenten cookies and cakes. Open daily from 09.00 to 21.00, on Sundays from 12.00 to 17.00.
Siropi apo tin Poli
19, Navarhou Kountourioti, +30 2310 555818
The pastry shop “Siropi apo tin poli” is famous for its syrupy desserts. The shop first opened on October 27, 2020, run by three associates, Pantelis Kyfos, Nikos Hantsaridis and Panagiotis Papadopoulos, all of them with origins from Asia Minor and with many years of experience in the pastry field.
Their sweets are characterized by handmade phyllo pastry, high quality ingredients and of course their love for their work. Nikos Hantsaridis is the pastry chef.
Delicious pistachio baklava, shell-like desserts filled with semolina cream and pistachios, fistik sarma, galaktompoureko, they are all made from scratch with handmade phyllo pastry. Try also their mouth-watering kantaifi and burma baklava (rolled baklava). Open daily from 10.00 to 21.30.
Averof
11, Vasileos Georgiou avenue, +30 2310 814284
For 60 years, since 1962, the Averof pastry shop has been writing a sweet history in the field of patisserie in Thessaloniki. During its long presence, it has been a reference point for residents and visitors alike. The company’s philosophy is to produce fresh and quality goods on a daily basis, while since 1997 it has been making sugar-free and low-calorie desserts as well.
So here every morning you will find delicious viennoiseries, croissants, biscuits, cookies, ice creams, cakes and syrupy desserts, as well as sugar-free desserts such as sugar free black forest cake. Open daily from 08.00 to 23.00.
Trigona Elenidis
1, Tsimiski & Iktinou streets, +30 2310 269555
Handmade phyllo dough, baked until golden and dipped in syrup just enough to sweeten while remaining crispy, filled with rich custard, made with fresh whole milk and farm eggs, plus a family secret.
Trigona, which in Greek means triangles, is a local speciality from an area on the outskirts of Thessaloniki, called Panorama. The man behind these delicious treats is Giannis Elenidis. Since 1956 until today, the phyllo dough is always handmade, the ingredients are carefully picked and the recipe is unique. Mr Elenidis put in a touch of inspiration and created these mouth-watering cone-shaped desserts whose reputation soon travelled all over Greece.
Today Vangelis and Kostas, the sons of Giannis Elenidis, carry on the family tradition, keeping the secret that makes their trigona stand out. We may only say that the crispy and syrupy phyllo pastry cones are filled with rich custard (made according to Mr Elenidis’ secret recipe) upon order. Open daily from 09.00 to 22.30.
Read also:
Love Thess: Yoga, film premieres and culinary experiences in Thessaloniki
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Love Thess: Thessaloniki, a city full of culture, gastronomy and entertainment
