Sweet Syros: Traditional bakeries and recipes from Ermoupolis

In the heart of the Aegean, where neoclassical architecture meets the blue of the sky and the sea, Ermoupolis is not only the capital of the Cyclades – it is also the capital of memory. And for those who know, of… sweetness. From the beginning of the 20th century until today, the pastry shops of Syros were also places of social life, places of meeting and gathering, shelters of comfort and joy.

Amigdalotas, halvadopites, roses, loukoumia, puff pastries, nougatines and – of course – the famous “kouvanesa” are just a few of the emblematic sweets that were born or established in Syros. But behind the recipes lie the stories of people: refugees who brought back culinary traditions from Asia Minor, young people who left the seas to catch marisa, families who have preserved their art from generation to generation.

Tracing the roots of local pastry, we spoke to people who keep alive memories and traditions from the Syrian capital’s sugary past. We recorded their narratives as pieces of tradition and local history.

The sweet story of the Livadara family

Four generations with the scent of halvah pie and doughnut

It all started somewhere in 1890, when refugees from Asia Minor arrived in Syros. Among them was the family of Antonis Livadaras, who would write their own history in the world of sweets. Grandfather Antonis was born in 1894 and grew up surrounded by the aromas and flavours of confectionery. He took his first steps in the historic Mango confectionery in Syros, which had been operating since 1860. There he learned to make loukoumia, halvadopites, caramels, caramelized nuts and a halva with tahini that – as his grandson says – “was awesome.”

His grandson, Antonis Livadaras, remembers every corner of his grandfather’s bakery. He grew up there, and at 15 he already knew the secrets of the craft. His father, Andreas, along with his uncle Evangelos, kept the traditional recipes alive, continuing a tradition that had deep roots.

In 1983, Antonis took over along with his brother, Vangelis. And four years later, in 1987, they brought ice cream – made with fresh milk from Syros – into the game. One of their grandfather’s favorite recipes that they continue to make is sousamopita, a fasting dessert based on tahini halva, made without egg whites.

Grandpa’s original recipe? Written in ocadas and drams. And that’s exactly how Antonis continues to measure the ingredients to this day – no grams, no modern scales. “My grandfather used to say that the baking of doughnuts depends on the weather. It’s one thing if it’s blowing north, another if it’s south. He knew some secrets that today seem like magic,” she says with emotion. And he even remembers Turkish words he heard from his grandfather – he recognised them years later in TV serials. Beyond the recipes, however, the family kept something even more important: solidarity. “Grandpa helped all his colleagues. There was a beautiful connection back then. Today, we keep friendly relations with a few colleagues.” A sweet story, like their halvah pies – full of flavours, tradition and love.

Traditional Syrian sousage pie

Ingredients for 8-10 pieces
850 g glucose
1 tsp sugar
1 glass of water
200 g of chuene root or chalcedony
1 tsp sesame seeds

Execution
In a saucepan, add the glucose, sugar and water and boil over medium heat until caramelized and crumbly.

In another pot of water, boil the root, drain and reserve the water, and boil again following the same process three times. The last time, reserve half a glass of the water, pour it into a mixer and whisk until it bubbles like a meringue. Pour into a saucepan and add the hot caramel and stir over very low heat until the ingredients are combined and the mixture turns white. Pour onto a marble counter or baking sheet, shape into round pies and press around with your fingers to form “teeth”. Place the pies on a baking tray where you have spread the sesame seeds and leave to cool in a dry place.

Stavros Pastry Shop

Flavors with memory, heart and… chocolate in Ermoupoli

In the heart of Ermoupoli is the pastry shop of Stavros Roussos, a place that wins you over not only with its smells but also with its history.

Stavros didn’t find himself in the world of pastry by accident. He comes from a family of cooks and bakers and, as the saying goes, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. So he decided to study the craft he loved at the OAED school, from which he graduated in 1993. His first professional steps were taken in the historic pastry shop of Apergi in Ermoupolis and then for a few months in a bakery. But his restless, creative spirit couldn’t stay in the shadows for long. In 1997 he opened his own bakery, putting his signature on the island’s sweets. “I make classic sweets. I’m self-made and have a lot of experience in ice cream with fresh milk,” he says. Stavros loves tradition but doesn’t stick to it. He treads firmly on it and brings it into the present day, evolving decades-old recipes. One of his signature creations is the Syrian nugatina, a delicate dessert based on the “Syrian pea” and made with egg white, icing sugar, almond and cinnamon. The secret, he reveals, is good almonds. “The recipe dates back to the 1950s. I worked on it, loved it and developed it.”

Among the traditional flavours, mastichaki stands out, a special dessert made with white almond, sesame, mastic and egg white. “A dessert that passed from Andros to Syros and became established in the 1960s, pioneered by the legendary Mr. Mavros. And of course I could not fail to mention the… the legendary “Cubanese”. A sweet with a history that goes back to the Syros recruits’ camp, when a soldier from Kavala – who was “into sweets” – suggested to a local pastry chef that they try a new recipe,” Stavros says. The “quvanesa” is a chocolate bite full of surprises: chocolate patisserie cream, wrapped in a sponge cake sheet, with a glazed red cherry froyo in the centre and a dark chocolate coating, with a little green pistachio on top. Some people add whipped cream, but Stavros stays true to the original version. At Stavros Pastry Shop you won’t just find sweets. You will find pieces of memory, family heritage and creation with passion.
Zacharoplasteio Stavros, Ermoupoli, Syros, 22810 80377

The Homemade of Agni

Where smells become a family affair

There are some houses that you recognize them by scent before you even see them. One of them was the home of Agni Roussou. Anyone who passed by outside would remember the smell of freshly baked buns drawing you in like a magnet.

Agni learned the traditional recipes from her mother and never stopped making sweets for the family – with passion, love and trademark smells. Her sons, Nikos and Christos, grew up in this sweet atmosphere, and in 2009 they decided to take the next step and open their own confectionery – Agni’s Spitiko. Christos had just finished his studies at Le Monde school, while Agni, always by their side, never stopped sharing her knowledge and traditional recipes. “We make grandma’s cookies, traditional, without eggs and butter – just wine and oil,” says Nikos. And just like that, a family habit became a profession with a soul. One of their favourite traditional delicacies is the strawberry pie – a dessert with deep roots in the Catholic tradition of Syros, which used to be made by housewives in the villages, especially at Easter time. It is a sweet cheese pie with goat’s cheese, sugar, eggs, orange, cinnamon, cinnamon or mastic or almond and thyme honey. The recipe? It lasts for over 100 years. And the taste? True, like good old homemade – where it all began.
Agni’s Homemade, 22810 77302

Sunday prickly pear pie

Materials
850 g unsalted myzithra
700 g sugar
470 g eggs
Zest of 2 oranges
1 tsp cinnamon
100 g. thyme honey
Sesame seeds for garnish

Execution
In a mixer, add myzithra, sugar, eggs, cinnamon, orange zest and beat until combined. Pour into a baking pan and place in a preheated oven at 160-170 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow 10 minutes, then add honey all over the top and garnish with sesame seeds.

Stavros Kechagias remembers

A life full of sweets, the aroma of mastic and love for Syros

If you were walking along Ermoupolis beach a decade ago, there was one stop you could hardly pass by: the Kechagia pastry shop, where pastries were served by hand and soldiers ate standing up with longing. Stavros Kechagias, with his characteristic calmness and a smile full of memories, takes us back to the years when sweets were not just a delicacy but a family affair.

Stayrus Kechagias.

“My father, Nikos, came as a refugee from Asia Minor. After stops in Chios, Piraeus and Thessaloniki, he found himself in Syros in ’38, where his cousins, the Pavlidis confectioners, were already living. That’s how he entered the profession,” Stavros tells us.

In 1940, together with Stavros’ Syrian mother, they opened their first bakery on the beach. “Back then there were no refrigerators – sweets had to stand out of refrigeration for two days. Meringue pastes, pan cakes and a lot of imagination. A few years later, the small shop became bigger, a family business now,” Stavros explains and continues to unfold his memories: “Back then there were no machines. There were no machines. There were ten confectioners in Ermoupoli back then. There was solidarity. Other times… Me and my brothers and sisters grew up in the confectionery. The whole family worked.”

Stavros himself later joined the business. He was first a sailor for five years, but eventually returned with his brother Dimitri – the workshop’s master craftsman. “I was in charge of the trade, we brought DELTA to the island in 1985.”

Their father, however, was the great creator who had been making his own recipes since 1950. “After countless trials, he made his own nugatina: meringue with almond and buttercream in the center. Fluffy, light dessert. Fragile. It traveled from Syros in boxes and made its way to Piraeus and Athens,” Stavros recalls.

The mastichaki -sweet pancake with a pastry sheet, almond filling and mastic flavouring-was also a hit. As was the traditional parfait ice cream, made with fresh milk and flower milk.

“Since 1980 we have been making peaches with almond paste, whipped cream and pistachio filling, as well as the famous ‘cuvanes’. They were so chocolaty that someone named them ‘Cubans’, and so it stayed!” Stavros laughs and continues: “The puff pastry – a sweet bomb – had an almond filling, ground nuts, sesame seeds and syrup. The texture was like a walnut pie. Very filling, it was a crowd favorite.”

Unique, though, was the “upside-down ice cream”: two scoops of whipped cream ice cream with a regular scoop in between. “It was neither whipped cream nor ice cream. It was… Kekhayas!” says Stavros, adding “My father didn’t keep written recipes. Everything was in his head. He would open the shop in the morning, play backgammon with friends outside and, when someone asked him for dessert, he would respond with the classic: “Put it on yourself.” Life in the pastry shop was the way people went out in Hermoupolis. Morning, afternoon, someone would always have a sweet in their hand.”

It was a time when coffee shops served only coffee and pastry chefs served… everything everything. The Kechagias pastry shop closed in 2010, but the workshop is still there – today it’s run by Denaxas, one of the parasites who learned the craft there. “I’ll never forget the image of my father when someone asked him for some whimsical dessert, he would say ‘we put it in the meatballs!’ That was our Syros back then. Sweet and true.”

Kanakaris Confectionery

A story as sweet as a rose, written in Syros since 1970

In Heroes Square, there on Nikiforos Mandilaras Street, there’s a pastry shop that smells of tradition, love of detail and whipped meringue. It’s the Kanakaris Confectionery – a family affair that has been around for over fifty years.

The story begins in 1970, when mastro Tasos Kanakaris, one of Syros’ oldest confectioners, decides to open his own dairy bakery. At his side is his wife Maria. Together they make sweets with traditional recipes, such as roses, “kuvanezes”, nougatines, chocolatines and the characteristic white almond paste.

“Mastro-Tasos has been working in confectionery shops since he was 14 years old. His last professional years were spent next to Kechagia. When the time came, he opened his own shop with a lot of love and passion,” says Maria Roussou, Tasos’ daughter-in-law, who has been behind the counter at the sales desk for 30 years.

In 1987, the baton was passed on to his son, Giannis, who joined the workshop and continued the family tradition. Together with his wife Maria (yes, the two Marias of the family!), they opened a new, larger space in 1995. And in 2010 they moved into the privately owned pastry shop that still stands on the same beloved corner.

“Cuban is our trademark,” says Maria. “And we keep the tradition as it was. Our pastries are still… sweet. Not unsweets that are out there today!” And she explains: “The rose, a handmade almond paste with flower water, is handmade by John himself. He fills it with whipped cream and toasted almonds and icing sugar outside to give it the final, festive touch.”

And the nougatine? Mythical. John still whips the meringue in his hand, making two hemispheres of almond-flavoured bezels joined by whipped cream. All handmade, all just like the old days. The truffle is based on a traditional recipe, with sponge cake, chocolate chips and almond. It is formed into a ball, rolled into a truffle and adorned on top with whipped cream and a cherry – a little work of art.

Through the years, the Kanakaris Confectionery hasn’t changed in character. It remains one of the most beloved haunts of Syrians – and those who return to Syros to relive their childhood memories. “We are proud to keep this sweet continuity,” says Maria. And with one look at the counter, full of peaches and “cuvanes”, you know this is not just a confectionery. It’s family, memory, and a piece of Ermoupolis itself.

Django Gelato

The family of Konstantinos Karakatsanis has been serving handmade gelato for 20 years in Ermoupolis. Although Konstantinos studied engineering in England, when he took over the business in 2013 he didn’t want a conventional ice cream shop. “The first record of ice cream in Syros is from 1840. They served ice cream or sorbet during the interval of the Apollo theatre,” explains Konstantinos and continues with a smile: “I started experimenting with ice cream because I didn’t want to feed children ice cream with bad products. There is a constant evolution because I love what I do. The ice cream we make is a day-old ice cream and it never tastes the same.” Constantine introduced us to his ice cream in his Athens shop and is now preparing to spread his wings with a new shop in New York.

200 years

For its 200th anniversary, Ermoupoli remembered something that made it special: its sweets. There, in the heart of the Aegean, where goods from all over the world – from local rose water to exotic raw materials – once arrived, the art of pastry making took shape and taste from every corner of the map.

On Sunday, June 1, just after sunset, the Apollo Summer Cinema was transformed into a scene of culinary creation. In a setting charged with memories and history, renowned pastry chefs from Athens and abroad, as well as local craftsmen from the island, gathered.

The Syros Gastronomy Club, together with the Friends of Gastronomy and with the support of the municipality, put together an event full of flavours, stories and imagination. Among the guests, well-known names of the Greek pastry scene, such as Stelios Parliaros, Manolis Stithos, Rena Oroklou, Mina Apostolidi from Brussels, Thanasis Tsagliotis, Yannis Nyktaris and others, presented their own versions of traditional pastries – not as copies of the past, but as modern narratives based on the roots.

Visitors had the opportunity to discover what “Cubanese” was after all – and how the “Celia Cruz” version gives new meaning to the name. They learned about the rose, a stuffed almond puff with royal punch, the difference between puff pastry and Copenhagen, and what happens when one mixes Syrian bezedes, rose loukoumi, halvah pies and Cycladic almond puffs – all in the same sweet vision. It was a sugary evening that reminded the old and taught the young that gastronomy can be memory, identity and perspective all rolled into one. An Ermoupolis that was not content to look back, but made sure to sweeten the future.