Greek Berlin: a table full of small plates

Spanakopita at Philomeni’s, mezze at File Asto and grilled dishes at File Asto Taverna: three places, three ways to eat Greek food in Berlin.

Philomeni's – spanakopita on Knesebeckstraße

Philomeni's on Knesebeckstraße, a few steps from Savignyplatz, is bistro and deli at once. The counter carries Greek delicacies from small manufactories, dried fruit and homemade sweets in dense rows; much is made in-house, the rest comes from small producers.

At lunch order the spanakopita, thin filo with spinach and feta, or the moussaka. Takeaway from the counter costs less than eating in – stay inside or on the terrace and you pay a surcharge. Closed on Sundays.

File Asto – a mezze bar with no warm kitchen

File Asto on Kollwitzstraße is a Greek mezze bar with a strictly cold kitchen. The menu is homemade cold mezze for sharing – tarama and tirokafteri, dakos salad, graviera and other Greek cheeses – plus a serious list of wines from small Greek estates. Small and tightly edited inside, with a terrace onto the Kiez.

Start with the tirokafteri, then work your way through the wine list. If you're expecting a warm main, you're in the wrong place – that's what the same house's taverna in Kreuzberg is for. Open Tuesday to Saturday.

File Asto Taverna – off the grill, for sharing

File Asto's second place, on Reichenberger Straße, pulls the kitchen toward fire: Greek grilled meat and fish, plus mezze like taramasalata and fava. Open kitchen, personal touches on the walls – Athens today, not the Athens of cliché.

Come as a bigger group and order across the grill, with taramasalata and fava: the mains land on wax paper in the middle of the table, for sharing. As a pair, you get less out of it. Closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.