At the corner of 125 Mitropoleos and 12 Nikiforou Foka streets, you will find “Feyrouz”, one of the most interesting and quality new entries in the gastronomic scene of Thessaloniki. Small, but truly miraculous, “Feyrouz” brings levantine cuisine in the form of street food to the city center, continuing the FNL Best Restaurant Awards 2022 award-winning tradition, started years ago by the same family, in the center of Athens.

We promise you that you will taste the most delicious and light lachmacun, the excellent peinirli (pizza boats) with coq au vin, original handmade pies, multicultural soups and handmade sweets with the aroma of the East, accompanied by white, rose and red wines of natural cultivation. A unique combination in the city. An equally unique venture, flavors that stand out.

If the name “Feyrouz” seems familiar to you and you have heard it somewhere before, there are at least two reasons: one is the singer Feyrouz, known as the “soul of Lebanon”. The second is the highly successful venture of the Kiltsiksi family, which has conquered Athens since September 2014. The Levantine street food restaurant was named “Feyrouz” after the family’s mother and cook, Feyrouz – Eleni Kiltsiksi, who was born in Antioch and lives in the area of Zografou, and for nine years she has moved many street food lovers and more, with her special cuisine. The great success of the first store in Athens, with the savory flavors, led in 2019 to the operation of the second one in the capital, the one with sweets and wines.

The Levantine cuisine

It all started with the need of Feyrouz-Eleni’s mother to “play with her pots” and enjoy the cooking process, after her retirement. Originally from Antioch herself and her husband from Constantinople, they each brought a strong tradition in gastronomy.

Their son Andreas, again, was more interested in the research and history of the cultures found in Levantine cuisine. The mix between cultures, the interaction of Persian, Arabic, Jewish and Ottoman cuisine, the culinary “flirt” of Armenians with Catholics. According to him, Antioch is considered as one of the greatest culinary capitals in the world, a great “quiver” of ideas, based on which one can make whatever he wants, with the elements of the cuisine of the minorities, the respect for seasonality of the products and the culture of “meze”: complete meals, in small plates.

Speaking fondly of what they do at “Feyrouz”, he remembers the birthday tables of his childhood and the discoveries of “culinary secrets of centuries of coexistence”.

As he says, “the silent exchanges between the minorities over time, in terms of materials as well as techniques, gave birth to a new cuisine, with a common identity and a common goal: the ritual of shared enjoyment”.

Based in the Middle East, Levantine cuisine combines it all.

Feyrouz SKG

After Athens, “Feyrouz” came to Thessaloniki in 2023, with the distinctive title “Feyrouz SKG” and a menu representative of the two stores already operating in the capital: the one with savory dishes and the one with sweets and wines. The small corner hangout, at the corner of Mitropoleos and Nikiforou Foka streets, is the first “ambassador” of the family’s franchising plan, in collaboration with the Thessaloniki team, which introduces us to the magical kitchen of the project.

The proposals of “Feyrouz SKG”, come as a taste supplement, in relation to what proposals we experience every day in gastronomic Thessaloniki.

In a small, compact and organized menu, we will find the most representative items of all three sectors of the Athens project and within 30′ we can have taken care of ourselves, in the best possible way. To start with a savory meal, which can be or be accompanied by soup, to taste a glass of wine of gentle human intervention exclusively from selected Greek producers, personally known to the people of “Feyrouz”, from the list edited by Peris Panagiotakopoulos and to close our meal with a handmade dessert and ice cream, from Louizos Simeonidis. Soon, we will be able to try cold brew coffee from “Create Athens”.

Soft, complex and delicate flavors

What stands out in the “Feyrouz SKG” menu? Definitely the lachmacun, its main product. The “flagship” of the store, a mix of three countries, we find them with minced beef and a mixture of herbs which is also the basic recipe and in wholemeal dough with eight different vegetables, with za’atar (Syrian wild thyme) and soon also in the form of vegan feyrouz, with organic soy mince.

The soups. With a variety of ingredients, from red lentils and pumpkin, to spinach, sour apple and ginger, they are recommended either as a main course or as a side dish, with the names “mahlouta i anakati”, “bordura” and “ispahan”.

Vegetarian pies, with wholemeal dough and rich flavor combinations, filling and ideal for those who do not eat animal products.

And the peinirli, always with handmade dough. The “kusbashi” with pork fillet and smoked eggplant puree, the roostic with coq au vin and mozzarella, the peinirli with sujuk, with chicken, with pastirma.

Why try it?

Because “Feyrouz” has already proven its worth for the many years it has been operating in Athens and now invites the people of Thessaloniki to taste trips.

It chooses to constantly evolve, it wants its kitchen to be inventive, modern and imaginative. It creates with tradition as its starting point, while also following the new trends and techniques in modern urban cuisine. The visitor here is invited to let himself be free, to care and be taken care of, through a holistic experience, tasting handmade dishes based on the philosophy of a la carte cuisine, by a team that is constantly being trained, that roasts its own spices, grinds its own flours , in short, gives importance to every stage of the preparation process. Always having access to a vegetarian and vegan menu, which follows the seasonality and locality of its raw materials and is based on fasting Levantine recipes, but also on more modern versions of the folk cuisine of the East.

It is not only the combination of four cultures that is found in the menu of “Feyrouz SKG”. It is also the particular care down to the smallest detail, and research-based way of preparing each dish, that really captivates you. Therefore, whether your road brings you to it or not, you should definitely visit it”Feyrouz SKG”. We promise that after your first visit, you’ll want to come back often. It is a … rare find in the city!