Kosher food in Athens: the complete guide
Kosher food in Athens: the complete guide. Where to eat certified kosher in the city, and why King David Burger is the place to start.
Every kosher traveller in Athens knows the moment. It’s eight in the evening, your legs ache from the Acropolis, everyone around you is eating souvlaki, and you’re staring at the map again, asking the same question: where can I actually eat? For years the honest answer was salad, hummus, and a bag of fruit from a corner shop. Now there’s a better one, and it’s on Ermou 78, a minute from Monastiraki Square: King David Burger.
What certified kosher actually means here
Real kosher in Greece doesn’t come easy. Plenty of places will describe themselves as “kosher-friendly” with nothing behind the phrase, and that’s exactly where the silent maybe-calculations begin, the ones nobody wants to run while hungry in a foreign city.
At King David Burger there is no maybe. It runs under Mehadrin supervision (the strictest level) certified under Tiferet Yisrael (Vaad Rabbanei Europa), supervised by Rabbi Harel Asher Yazdi. The supervision covers the meat, the preparation, and the kitchen itself; the certificate hangs on the wall for anyone who wants to read it. We’ve laid out the full detail, names and grades included, on the kosher page, but the short version is that the checking is already done. You just sit down and eat.
What’s on the menu at King David Burger
The heart of it is kosher beef over a live flame. The David Burger (the headliner) is a double patty on a sesame bun with tomato, iceberg, pickles, and onion. Around it: an Asado Burger, a Mushroom ‘n Onion David, shawarma, and a full chicken section of nuggets, schnitzel, and fillet. For sides, crinkle fries, sweet potato fries, onion rings, and potato wedges.
It’s all meat, there’s no dairy in the kitchen, and every count has already been made on your behalf. The only thing left for you to decide is how many sides.
The second venue: King David Kosher Food, Fokionos 12
The group runs a second place, King David Kosher Food on Fokionos 12, a few minutes’ walk away, and this one is a proper grill house, with a broader cooked menu and less grab-and-go. The hours shift a little: Sunday 10:00–22:00, Monday–Thursday 10:00–21:30, Friday 10:00–19:30, closed Saturday. Same ownership, same Mehadrin standard (each venue with its own supervising rabbi), so if you liked one, trust the other.
Practical information
King David Burger, Ermou 78, Athens 105 51. Right by Monastiraki, about 15 minutes on foot from the Acropolis. Open Sunday–Thursday 11:00–23:00, Friday until 19:30 (closing for Shabbat), reopening Saturday night at 21:00 after Havdalah. Eat in, or order on Wolt.
From Monastiraki metro it’s two minutes; from the Acropolis Museum about fifteen, through Psyrri, a neighbourhood worth wandering through anyway.
What’s still missing in the city, worth knowing in advance
To be fair, here’s what isn’t here yet: no standalone kosher supermarket in central Athens, and no certified kosher bakery. For Shabbat meals, the local Jewish community (Beth Shalom synagogue, Melidoni 8) sometimes arranges something. Worth contacting ahead. King David handles your hot meals through the week; for Shabbat supplies, bring your own.
Related: King David Burger: the full menu and venue · Our kosher certification