Sure, you could eat a healthy breakfast. Or you could eat a slice of bougatsa, a pastry that finds a sweet, creamy filling wrapped in crispy phyllo dough. It’s served with an extra sprinkling of powdered sugar and cinnamon on top. It’s basically dessert for breakfast, and it’s great.
It’s quite popular in Thessaloniki. It’s hard to walk more than a block or two without stumbling across at least one store serving up the stuff (there are also savoury versions filled with meat or cheese).
It actually reminded me quite a bit of a Portuguese custard tart — the components are effectively the same, just constructed a little bit differently. It even has the cinnamon and sugar on top.
The biggest difference is the filling itself. The filling here is a bit less custardy, with more of a sweet, creamy flavour. I’d probably give the edge to the custard tart, but this is still exceptionally good. I can definitely see why it’s so popular.
Location: Panagias Faneromenis 33, Thessaloniki 546 32
How to find it: Like with most places that sell this stuff, the pastries are on display in the window.