Dakos: The Number One Greek Salad in the World

Dakos: The Number One Greek Salad

Dakos, a traditional Greek salad from the island of Crete made with barley rusks, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, and feta cheese, has been ranked as the best Greek salad in the world by TasteAtlas. With a score of 4.7 out of 5, dakos is praised for its simplicity and freshness.

Dakos or ntakos is a traditional Cretan dish consisting of a dry barley rusk called paximadi that is topped with crumbled myzithra cheese chopped ripe tomatoes, whole olives, capers, fresh oregano, and a few generous splashes of high-quality olive oil.
It’s recommended to use olive varieties such as Koroneiki, Lianes, or Tsounates. Myzithra cheese is traditionally used, and not feta, which is usually reserved for tourist restaurants. The rusk is often gently rubbed with a small piece of garlic and lightly sprinkled with sea salt.

Greek salad, also known as village salad or horiatiki, is Greece’s national dish. It consists of quartered tomatoes, sliced red onions, and chunky cucumber slices. Depending on the region, olives, green peppers, feta cheese, oregano, salt, pepper, or a typical dressing made from olive oil and lemon or vinegar (optionally) can also be added.

When feta cheese is present in the salad, it is usually just sliced, but in some cases, it’s mixed in with a fork until slightly crumbled. Its name suggests that it was a rural dish when farmers would take some essential ingredients to the field and mix them together. 

Here is the full ranking of the top six Greek salads on TasteAtlas:

Here is the full ranking of the top six Greek salads on TasteAtlas:

1. Dakos (4.7)
2. Horiatiki salata (4.5)
3. Horta (4.2)
4. Patatosalata (4.1)
5. Pantzarosalata (4.1)
6. Tonosalata (3.9)

What Is TasteAtlas? 

Social media has exploded with food bloggers and professional and not-so-professional food and restaurant reviewers in the past decade. But while many sites focus on Michelin-starred restaurants or tourist favourites in any given city, TasteAtlas focuses on authentic regional dishes and the best places to eat them.