The wild volcanic landscape with rugged cliffs, breathtaking caldera, wild nature, stunning shores and volcanic beaches, make Santorini in Greece a very popular tourist destination. Everyone knows the beautiful pictures of buildings with whitewashed walls and blue domes. Picturesque Oia, a small village on the northwestern tip of Santorini, is where restaurateur Sellia Georges opened restaurant Mia’s to honor her grandmother. Chef Elli Mitrai turns the best local products into delectable dishes that can be enjoyed while overlooking the gorgeous views or unforgettable sunsets.
Concept & location
Mia’s is located at the beginning of Oia, the quiet side of the village, and is built on top of the cliff side. It is the first restaurant of the old road in a neighborhood which is mainly residential. As most properties on the island, it is conceived in the traditional Cycladic architecture and is characterized by its whitewashed walls. The restaurant was created by Sellia Georges, who is Greek but who grew up in the United States in a family of restaurateurs. Her grandfather, father and uncle opened their first restaurant in 1982 in the States.
Since that moment, the whole family has been running Greek restaurants, bars, breakfast places and all-day diners in the US. Georges spent her youth in the family restaurants and organically also grew into a career as restaurateur. When one day she visited the island after being away for eight years, she decided to stay in the small hotel that was back then situated where now Mia’s is. The owner of the hotel knew that Sellia had restaurants in Chicago and he told her that, if she would ever be interested, that he was willing to sell the property to her. Georges truly loved the place, the view and the atmosphere. Quite fast, she decided that she wanted to turn the hotel into her own Santorinian restaurant. She loved the feeling of being back where her family roots are and of which she still had many wonderful childhood memories. She grew up in Chicago, but every summer her mother would send her for one month to Santorini to spend time with one of her grandmothers. Her name was Maria but Sellia called her Mia, what means ‘the one’ in Greek language, as a sweet gesture to the woman who taught her the Greek language and who introduced her to traditional Greek cooking.
When she had to decide on a name for the restaurant, the decision was then also easily made. Choosing the concept was at first not that easy. She was convinced that it should be a Greek restaurant. Inspired by her grandmother and the great flavors of Greece, step by step the concept was built. Georges found out that there was a gap in Santorini between tavernas and high-end gastronomy. She wanted to fill that gap with something casual and accessible but with very good food. That led to Mia’s as it is today. Traditional Greek flavor profiles are turned into contemporary dishes by a modern presentation style. Mia’s serves rather large portions and as such, most dishes can perfectly be shared. From everywhere in the restaurant, through the windows or from on the terrace, you have stunning views. Guests who decide to enjoy the food inside, can also take in the kitchen activity as the food is prepared in an open kitchen.
The Chef & the team
In that open kitchen we find Chef Elli Mitrai, who was born in a small village in the northern part of Greece. Mitrai grew up in a small, mountainous town together with her parents and her brother and sister. Already from a very young age, her mother would share recipes with her as she was expected to cook for her siblings after coming from school. Mother was working and had no time to prepare food for the family, so Elli would take up that role. She started to love cooking and decided to go to culinary school in Athens at the age of eighteen.
She got her degree at the age of twenty and immediately started working in several restaurants of famous chefs in Greece. During those years, she specialized in traditional Greek fine dining. A trajectory which was the perfect preparation for what she is doing now in Mia’s. Mitrai is still very young, humble and at times shy, but she knows exactly how Greek food needs to taste and she succeeds in translating the quality products, that she mainly gets from the region surrounding her, into fabulous dishes. The kitchen team consists of five people including Elli. There is also a pastry chef.
Gastronomy
The cooking style of Mia’s is characterized by the fact that they use a minimal amount of ingredients to get the maximum flavor out of a dish. They forage simple products from the island that they turn into something better without adding too much complexity. Do not expect foams, spheres or any other contemporary cooking technique here. It’s all about baking and grilling. The star of the kitchen is the Josper, which is used to increase the flavor of many of the proteins that are being served. What ends up on your plate can best be described as traditional Greek food, presented in a modern way.
Georges and Mitrai try to source their products as much as possible on the island, but that is not always possible as there is simply not enough available. They use local tuna and cod, which is delivered at night by fishermen who catch them by spear. Seabass comes from Athens. Many of the remaining products are found in Creta. But for meat for instance, they do not shy away from going further away from home. They buy Kobe beef in Japan and American wagyu in the States. Georges and her chef select the producers they work with together and focus on finding the right balance between quality and price.
The restaurant is open for lunch, and runs three services for dinner : one pre-sunset dinner, one at sunset and one after sunset. Even though the restaurant is based on an à la carte approach, there is also a set menu available at lunch and before or during sunset.
Some of the dishes we tried :
Service & Wine
The service in Mia’s is polite and friendly. The team aims at giving guests the feeling that they are enjoying food in their own house but at the same time still are being taken care of. In general, the atmosphere is casual but with a lot of attention to details.
There is a Greek sommelier in the restaurant and he is in charge of building the wine list. At this moment, the restaurant has about 160 labels in their cellar, of which a large part are white wines from Santorini. On top of those, you find wines from all over Greece, but also from France, Italy and the US. The service team consists of twelve people during the high season.
Why go?
Based on the huge amounts of tourists that visit the island every summer, we are sure that we do not need to convince you to visit the stunning island of Santorini. Breathtaking views and sunsets you will never forget, make this Greek island the perfect location to spend a few vacation days. For who needed an additional reason to go, there is Mia’s. The traditional Greek food prepared with high quality local products by chef Elli Mitrai and the warm hospitality of the team, in combination with mesmerizing views, make this a must do on every trip to the island.
