Taverna, Protopapadaki
Naxian Capriccio, Protopapadaki
Naxian Capriccio was a nice restaurant. However, having been to Taverna the night before my standards had been set quite high. There's no topping Taverna, at least not in the Protopapadaki area of Naxos. Naxian Capriccio was still a nice restaurant and I ordered a tortellini pasta dish. The tortellini contained naxian cheese and the dish was served with rocket, pesto and shavings of parmesan. It was a nice meal, but I hate to say it wasn't anything particularly special. They do a nice Aperol Spritz, but so do lots of places. I wouldn't not recommend it, but I wouldn't urge you to go.
Hug Me, Protopapadaki
Just behind the main strip of restaurants by the harbour, in a backstreet market area, is Hug Me. Hug Me looks like a lovely spot for a cup of coffee. It has a slight Shoreditch / Hackney coffee shop vibe and seems like the kind of place where both influencers and men wearing beanies and drinking Americano's would congregate. However, I don't think I've ever been to a worse restaurant in my life. Maybe my standards were set high by the amazing restaurants we visited in Greece prior to this, but it was honestly a massive disappointment since I'd spotted it and decided I had to go there for a coffee at least, as soon as I stepped off the ferry in Naxos. I ordered a spaghetti with tomato sauce. It's a simple meal and very hard to get wrong, especially at a restaurant. I thought, wrongly I must admit, that ordering a simple meal would be fine because they would do it so well. I still dream about the basic tagliatelle with chopped tomatoes I had at a restaurant in Sardinia last year. It was simple but mind blowingly delicious. However, Hug Me fell short. Very short. The pasta was undercooked and the meal as a whole was not very exciting. It doesn't seem very hard to be able to cook the pasta properly. That's basic stuff. I ordered a mojito as well, but unfortunately it was just a cup of ice with a drizzle of mojito to accompany. Definitely not worth the €10 I paid. They gave us a free bottle of wine at the end of the meal, which seems nice. However, you have to question how badly they must be doing to be being such begs. The wine was absolutely minging. They probably got it for £2 at Lidl or something and just put their own label on the bottle. It absolutely stank and we had to pour it down the sink. The restaurant would get a 2/10 rating from me, and I would never go back. However, I did return the next day to get a coffee. The coffee was alright. Nothing special though.
Bossa Cafe, Protopapadaki
Bossa Cafe is right by the water at the very edge of the harbour and it is a lovely cafe. We spent a long time sat here on our last day in Naxos killing time before our ferry. We went for brunch and I ordered a berry smoothie bowl which was absolutely AMAZING! It came with chai seeds, blueberries, raspberries and granola on top. The different textures worked really well together and in general it was just delicious. I also got a nice Freddo latte and, later in the day, a strawberry smoothie which was also delicious. They also gave us some mini Nutella croissants on the house (I love all the free food in Greece). It was a really nice spot and geese were waddling up and down the beach next to us, which was a nice bit of light entertainment during our meal. I'd really recommend Bossa!
Naxos Bakery, Protopapadaki
Whilst its not a restaurant, it's worth mentioning Naxos Bakery as they had really delicious mini chocolate croissants, that we bought for breakfast one morning. They also had really great gelato and great baklava, which they added walnuts to (works well). I didn't buy any of it, but they also had fuck-off massive croissants and pain o chocolate's which looked very nice.
