Best Places to Eat in Telendos: Tavernas, Seafood & Waterfront Dining
Telendos may be tiny, but it has a surprisingly good choice of places to eat.
Most of the island’s restaurants and tavernas are concentrated around the waterfront settlement, so there’s no need to plan complicated journeys for dinner. Telendos is car-free, and you can simply walk from your accommodation or the boat landing to virtually anywhere you want to eat.
The emphasis is on fresh fish, seafood and traditional Greek cooking, with tables overlooking the sea and Kalymnos across the narrow channel.
For an island this small, the dining scene is one of the pleasures of staying overnight rather than simply visiting for a few hours.
1. To Kapsouli
Best for: seafood and a leisurely dinner
To Kapsouli is one of the best-known tavernas on Telendos and a strong choice if fresh fish and seafood are high on your list.
The setting is a big part of the experience. Telendos is an island where dinner is best enjoyed slowly, preferably at a table close to the water.
Fresh fish and seafood are obvious choices, but you’ll also find familiar Mediterranean and Greek dishes.
If you’re ordering fresh fish, ask what’s available that day rather than arriving with a particular species in mind.
This is somewhere I’d consider for an evening meal rather than rushing through lunch before catching a boat back to Kalymnos.
2. Rita
Best for: traditional Greek food and fresh fish
Rita is another established Telendos restaurant and a useful all-round choice.
The menu centres on Greek cooking, with fresh fish and seafood among the highlights.
This is particularly good if you’re travelling with people who don’t all want the same thing. You can combine fish with salads, vegetable dishes and other familiar Greek favourites.
Rita is also a convenient option earlier in the day, making it useful for breakfast or lunch as well as dinner.
For a first-time visitor who simply wants a traditional Greek meal beside the water, Rita is an easy choice.
3. Drop Anchor
Best for: casual lunch
Drop Anchor provides a more casual alternative to a full taverna meal.
It’s particularly appealing for lunch after you’ve spent the morning walking or swimming.
Seafood features alongside lighter café-style options, making it useful when you don’t necessarily want a large meal in the middle of the day.
Telendos lends itself to this style of eating.
Swim in the morning, wander back towards the waterfront, stop somewhere for lunch and then decide whether to head to another beach or simply stay beside the sea for the afternoon.
4. Barba Stathis
Best for: traditional Greek cooking
Barba Stathis is another good option for travellers looking for straightforward Greek food.
The menu combines traditional dishes with grilled food, meat and seafood, providing some variety if you’ve already eaten fish several times during your stay.
This is worth remembering because Telendos’s waterfront setting naturally encourages visitors to order seafood at almost every meal.
After a few days, a plate of grilled meat and traditional side dishes can provide a welcome change.
5. On The Rocks
Best for: combining swimming, food and drinks
On The Rocks combines a restaurant and bar with a seaside setting, making it somewhere you can spend considerably longer than the duration of a meal.
The menu includes Greek dishes such as dolmades, moussaka, souvlaki and tzatziki alongside seafood and fresh fish.
Local ingredients also appear in some dishes, including herbs and honey from the surrounding area.
This is a particularly useful option after swimming or walking because you can stop for food and stay for a drink rather than immediately moving somewhere else.
It also offers cocktails and Greek beer, making it one of the places to consider if you want to continue into the evening.
What Should You Eat in Telendos?
Fresh Fish
With fishing still closely connected to life around Telendos and Kalymnos, fresh fish is one of the obvious things to eat.
Ask what’s available that day.
If whole fish is priced by weight, ask about the price before ordering so there are no surprises when the bill arrives.
Octopus
Octopus is another excellent choice.
You’ll find it served in different ways, including grilled or incorporated into salads and other dishes.
Combined with a Greek salad and a few shared plates, it makes an ideal summer lunch.
Fylla
Look out for fylla, a traditional local dish associated with Kalymnos and the surrounding islands.
It consists of vine leaves stuffed with a mixture that can include rice, minced meat and herbs.
It’s exactly the sort of regional dish worth choosing when you see it rather than ordering something you could eat almost anywhere in Greece.
Local Honey
Kalymnos and Telendos are associated with locally produced honey.
You may encounter it incorporated into dishes or served with cheese and other ingredients.
It’s also worth looking for as something to take away from the island.
Greek Meze
One of the easiest ways to eat well in Telendos is to forget about ordering an individual main course.
Choose several dishes for the table instead.
Greek salad, cheese, vegetables, octopus, dolmades and a fish or meat dish can turn lunch into a long, relaxed meal.
That’s particularly appropriate on an island where there’s no reason to rush.
Where Is the Best Place to Eat in Telendos?
There isn’t really a restaurant district because the whole settlement is tiny.
Most dining revolves around the waterfront and can be reached easily on foot.
For seafood, I’d start with To Kapsouli.
For traditional Greek cooking and fresh fish, try Rita.
For a casual lunch, consider Drop Anchor.
For traditional food and grilled dishes, try Barba Stathis.
And for somewhere that combines food, drinks and a seaside setting, On The Rocks is particularly useful.
If you’re staying several nights, there’s no need to choose just one.
Telendos is small enough that you can try most of them.
Where Should You Eat on a Telendos Day Trip?
If you’re coming across from Myrties for the day, I’d make lunch part of the experience rather than trying to fit in as much sightseeing as possible.
Arrive in the morning and explore the settlement.
Walk to Potha or Paradise Beach for a swim.
Return towards the waterfront around lunchtime and choose one of the tavernas.
After lunch, explore some of the archaeological remains or have another swim before catching the boat back to Kalymnos.
A long waterfront lunch is one of the best things about a day on Telendos.
Where Should You Eat for Dinner?
Dinner becomes much more interesting if you’re staying overnight.
Once many of the day visitors have returned to Kalymnos, Telendos becomes quieter.
Choose a waterfront taverna, order several dishes and enjoy the evening without worrying about driving anywhere afterwards.
Because the island is car-free, your journey home involves little more than walking along the waterfront and through the village.
It’s one of the strongest arguments for spending at least one night here.
Where Can You Have a Drink?
Telendos isn’t a nightlife destination, but that doesn’t mean everything shuts down after dinner.
There are places where you can have a beer, wine or cocktail beside the water, with On The Rocks one of the obvious options.
The atmosphere is relaxed rather than party-oriented.
If you’re looking for clubs and late-night entertainment, Telendos isn’t the right destination.
If sitting beside the Aegean with a drink sounds like enough entertainment, it works very well.
Do You Need to Book Restaurants in Telendos?
Most of the time you can remain fairly flexible.
However, Telendos has only a small number of restaurants, so summer demand can make popular places busy surprisingly quickly.
This is particularly relevant in July and August.
If there’s somewhere you particularly want to eat, ask about a table earlier in the day.
Otherwise, one of the advantages of Telendos is being able to wander along the waterfront and decide where you feel like eating.
Are Restaurants Open All Year?
Don’t assume they are.
Telendos has a very small resident population and a tourism season strongly concentrated around the warmer months.
Restaurants can operate seasonally or change their opening days and hours outside summer.
If you’re travelling in the quieter months, check what’s operating when you arrive rather than relying on information from a previous season.
Is Telendos Expensive for Eating Out?
Telendos is primarily a traditional taverna destination rather than a luxury dining destination.
You can keep costs relatively modest by ordering salads, vegetable dishes, grilled food and shared plates.
Fresh fish can be considerably more expensive, particularly when sold by weight.
As elsewhere in Greece, asking the price before ordering a whole fish is sensible.
A Perfect Food Day in Telendos
Start with breakfast or coffee around the waterfront.
Walk to Potha for a morning swim and perhaps continue towards Paradise Beach.
Return to the village for a leisurely seafood lunch.
Spend the afternoon walking, exploring the archaeological remains or swimming again.
Later, head towards the western side of the island to watch the sunset.
Then walk back into the settlement for dinner.
Order several dishes for the table, have a glass of wine or beer and enjoy the fact that there’s absolutely no need to think about a taxi or car afterwards.
Final Thoughts
Telendos has a much better selection of places to eat than you might expect from such a tiny island.
Try To Kapsouli for seafood.
Choose Rita for traditional Greek food and fresh fish.
Stop at Drop Anchor for a casual lunch.
Try Barba Stathis when you want traditional dishes or grilled food.
And consider On The Rocks when you want to combine food with drinks and a relaxed seaside setting.
Most importantly, don’t treat eating as something that interrupts your sightseeing.
On Telendos, sitting beside the water over a long Greek lunch is one of the things you came here to do.