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Starting with breakfast , most Athenians survive on a thimbleful of coffee, but if you need a bit more to set you up for the day, you'll easily find a bakery, yogurt shop or fruit stall. Koukáki is particularly good for this, with the Nestoras Tzatsos bakery at Veïkoú 45, another at no. 75, and still another on pedestrianized Olymbíou, just off Platía Koukáki, offering excellent wholegrain bread and milk products. For a regular English breakfast , there are several options in and around Pláka. For a proper American or Continental breakfast, from croissants and pastries to multi-filling omelettes, head for Neon at Mitropoleos 3.

Later in the day, a host of snack stalls and outlets get going. If your budget is low you can fill up at them exclusively, avoiding sit-down restaurants altogether. The standard snacks are souvláki me píta (kebab in pitta bread), tyrópites (cheese pies) and spanakópites (spinach pies), along with bougátses (cream pies) and a host of other speciality pastries. There is a cluster of good souvláki stands around Exárhia square, while those in the immediate vicinity of Omónia are best avoided. At Omónia square 18, however, and at several other points in the city, such as Tsakálof 14, Kolonáki, look out for the Everest chain, which does a nice line in pastries, sandwiches and ice cream and stays open past midnight.

Krinos at Eólou 87, an old-fashioned cafeteria operating since 1922 behind the central market, has delectable loukoumadhes (pastry puffs soaked in honey-citrus syrup and dusted in cinammon), tyrópites and rizogalo (rice pudding). There is a Bagel Café at Karayeóryi Servías 9b, just below Syndagma, while the Aríston around the corner at Voulís 10 has been famous for years for its good, inexpensive tyropites .

For main meals , Pláka's hills and lanes provide a pleasant evening setting, despite the aggressive touts and general tourist hype. But for good value and good quality, only a few of the quarter's restaurants and tavernas are these days worth a second glance. For quality Greek cooking, if you're staying any length of time in the city, it's better to strike out into the ring of neighbourhoods around: Mets, Pangráti, Exárhia/Neápoli, Koukáki, Áno Petrálona or the more upmarket Kolonáki. None of these is more than a half-hour's walk, or a quick trolleybus or taxi ride, from the centre - effort well repaid by more authentic menus, and often a livelier atmosphere.