May 14, 2024

Cafe Athena in El Nido: Greek Mediterranean Along the Shore

A passion project of a couple who fell in love with Palawan, Cafe Athena is a Greek Mediterranean restaurant along the busy beach-side streets of El Nido.

Their theme matches well with the beachside location making the restaurant a popular food destination with locals and tourists alike, that they even opened their first branch in Vanilla Beach Mall in Sitio Marimegmeg.

They have all these refreshing and healthy Greek Mediterranean dishes in store for all! / IMAGE from Philippine Primer

You can’t miss Cafe Athena along Serena Street / IMAGE from Philippine Primer

With a mix of Greek-Mediterranean and El Nido’s great seafood choices, Cafe Athena offers dishes that are both savory and healthy. One such example is the bestseller Horiatiki Salata, a traditional Greek salad of tomatoes, cucumber, and red onion with feta cheese.

Tossed with a red wine vinegar dressing, it is a very bright, healthy, and fresh salad dish to start the day!

Horiatiki Salata / IMAGE from Philippine Primer

And what is a Greek restaurant without Souvlaki, a popular quick bite skewers served with garlic yogurt sauce, home-made pita bread and French Fries!

Cafe Athena’s Souvlaki comes in many types of meat or vegetable options such as chicken, seafood, beef, lamb, and vegetarian.

Chicken and Beef Souvlaki / IMAGE from Philippine Primer

Whenever possible, Cafe Athena sources their ingredients locally and as fresh as they can be. They are very proud of their seafood selections as they offer the catch of the day like the Seafood Platter.

This dish is a selection of grilled seafood, tuna steak, squid, and shrimp served with Greek salad and Baked potatoes. While the restaurant started without the Seafood Platter on the menu, they decided to add it due to popular demand.

Seafood Platter / IMAGE from Philippine Primer

The owners constantly take their customers’ requests into consideration like how the Moussaka came into the menu. It is a baked eggplant-tomato dish with a generous layer of mashed potato that has become a staple in many Greek Mediterranean restaurants.

Moussaka / IMAGE from Philippine Primer

Wash it all down with drinks such as Calamansi Juice and Vitamin C, a fresh mix of pineapple, calamansi, and orange or Detox made of apple, celery, cucumber, and malunggay! So take a taste of the Mediterranean at the shores of El Nido at Cafe Athena!

Vitamin C, Detox, and Calamansi Juice / IMAGE from Philippine Primer

How to get here

• Cafe Athena is along Serena St. in Buena Suerte, El Nido.
• Vehicles are not along the small street but some motorcycles can if you are renting from the city. If you are coming from your island hopping tour, you can ask your boatman to drop you along the beach and it will be a short walk to the shore and to Serena St.

This first appeared in Philippine Primer’s Japanese and English Magazines March 2020 issue.
Written by Heloise Diamante