Symposium Restaurant

Our modern day SYMPOSIUM is situated in Platanias, a highly touristy area, minutes away from the main city of Hania. Platanias, becomes the home for European visitors for the best part of the summer. Symposium opened its doors in 1998, aiming and succeeding in providing an exclusive cuisine, the best service and a most relaxing atmosphere for our clientele. Our customers are referred to us by word of mouth, which has proven to be the best form of advertisement for us.

Initially, it is our friendly and warm atmosphere that strikes our customers. Symposium offers both an interior and an al fresco area where you can feel the, where you can feel the breeze of the beautiful Greek summer nights, while enjoying your dinner with the service of our friendly, bilingual staff. The best we have to offer though, is our cuisine. You can enjoy Mediterranean and European meals, alongside our traditional Cretan cuisine.

Today that people are aware of what a healthy diet really means, our visitors enjoy pure products such as extra virgin olive oil, pure Greek feta and fresh free range meats... We offer exactly what we enjoy having on a daily basis… Just think of the reports on Cretan diet and the statistics on our health!

Everything is freshly made and we cater for vegetarians, meat and fish lovers, customers with gluten intolerance and customers who…. dare to try anything new and traditional. Symposium is one of the highest profile restaurants in Platanias and the whole of the island of Crete where, rest assured, if you visit it once we guarantee you will come back again!

Our name is based on the idea of the Ancient Greek SYMPOSIUM. The ideal SYMPOSIUM in Ancient Greece was almost like a ritual. Its aim was to savor the aesthetic pleasure of the wine, to be intoxicated just enough to relax and release the mind from inhibition, and to stimulate conversation. It was a social institution where great philosophers and great thinkers were having deep and meaningful conversations stimulating the mind.
The SYMPOSIUM belonged exclusively to the privilege elite and it was characterized by its philosophical and political conversation and creative competition, in which elegies were sung to the accompaniment of a FLUTE and LYRIC songs by the LYRE. The SYMPOSIUM usually took place in the ANDRON the men’s room, the most well-appointed room in the house.  Its activities were dictated by a symposiarch, which decided up on the entertainment for the occasion and even how much water would be mixed with the wine.
The Symposium might end with the comus , a boisterous procession of revelers, accompanied by music and singing in honour of the GODS, to yet another drinking PARTY.
Unlike Ancient Greeks we cater for.... all sexes without a symposiarch to.... water down your wine!!!! Come and join our daily Symposiums and you will never regret it.