We chose to stay at the Kivo Art & Gourmet hotel for our main summer holiday and had booked half-board through Thomson so were able to enjoy delicious creative Greek food every night. As the weather was warm in June/July, we were able to sit outside and enjoy the magical views across the Aegean Sea towards Skopelos. Service from the hard-working, friendly serving staff, especially young Kris and Arity, was excellent. The menu, devised by award-winning chef Giannis Baxevanis, is based on the traditional Cretan/Mediterranean diet with plenty of local wild greens and herbs; some gorgeous aubergine dishes; fresh fish; seafood; lamb and pork. Cool Mythos beer is on tap and bottles of Greek craft beer are also available, as is an excellent wine list that includes wine by the glass.
My absolute favourite meal was a smoked aubergine(egg plant) dip with fresh bread rolls; a Greek salad with generous amounts of chopped tomatoes and cucumber; sea bass in orange sauce; sticky pastries with nuts and honey. The dark carob bread is an acquired taste that went well with the smoky flavor of the aubergine dip and there was plenty of white and brown bread also on offer. My partner’s favourite was grilled octopus salad, upside-down pork souvlaki, stuffed chicken with sweet onions, raisons, walnuts served with a celery puree and mushroom sauce, and fresh fruit.
The restaurant also offers a sushi menu but we did not sample this as we were too busy enjoying working our way around the Greek a la carte.
During our stay every table was taken every night, so I recommend making a booking. The hotel also offered a free transfer service to diners booking online – this was advertised on the back of all the free maps available in the airport. As we were half board, our four-course meals had all been prepaid through Thomson at £28 per night for the two of us. This turned out to be an absolute bargain following the drop in the British pound against the Euro post-Brexit. Appetizers and desserts were typically 6 to 10 Euros each, salads were 10-15 Euros each, main courses varied from 15 to 60 Euros (the 60 Euros was for Lobster which was not available during our stay.) Without half-board we probably would have opted for a three course meal costing around 30 Euros each before drinks.
