Thessaloniki turned out to be a way better food city than I had imagined. I’ve always liked Greek food, but the sheer amount of amazing dishes that I’ve had here puts Thessaloniki on a shortlist of my favourite food cities.
The latest (and, alas, last) absolutely mind-blowing thing that I’ve eaten here: the galaktoboureko (custard pie) at Galyfianakis. Holy crap, that pie. It made me want to burn my passport and live here forever. I need constant access to that pie.
The crust is ridiculous. It is the platonic ideal of phyllo crusts. It was obvious it was going to be something special as soon as I cut into it with my fork. The sound it made was like a bundle of small twigs being snapped in half. It was perfectly — and I mean perfectly — crispy. The many layers were just crispy enough to be delightful, but never so crispy that they overwhelmed the filling or were annoying to eat.
The pie itself is quite simple: it’s just phyllo crust encasing a very thick layer of creamy, delicious custard. They also pour a little bit of extra syrup on top, making the dessert decadently sweet (but not overly cloying).
And that custard is so good. It’s super thick and creamy, with an incredibly rich flavour and a restrained level of sweetness (which is, of course, kicked up by the aforementioned syrup).
The bottom layer of crust is almost as crispy as the top. It’s also suffused with syrup, which works amazingly well.
The whole thing is insanely good, and honestly might just be one of the best desserts I’ve ever had. But then Thessaloniki is crammed with bests. It’s a magical city.
That would have been that, but the lady at the shop also threw in some bonus goodies, which was a pleasant surprise.
I’m not sure what these pastries were — one featured a peanut on top, and the other an almond — but they were both really good.
The one with the almond, in particular, was an absolutely delightful sugar-bomb. It featured super crispy pastry, with the whole bottom half being absolutely soaked in syrup (but not soggy at all). I mean, look at this thing:
It seems like it should be too sweet, but somehow, it isn’t. It’s not quite as good as the galaktoboureko (few things are), but it’s a top-notch dessert.
Location: Kon/nou Paleologou 3, Thessaloniki 546 22, Greece
How to find it: There’s no English on the sign, but just look at my photo of the store above and then find it. You’d be insane to come to Thessaloniki and not visit this amazing bakery.