In Corfu (Kerkyra – as the locals call the island) on one of the streets of the old town you will find a small shop of maybe 9 square meters, spread over two rooms, with a few tables outside. We also call it Alexis’ shop, or Alexis Periklis. We stop for butter, rice pudding, and even more often galaktoboureko.

You would probably walk by and pass by. I’ll write to you shortly why it’s worth stopping here.

Opened in 1926 as a fruit shop, it was later “requalified” as a dairy shop, because the Perikliai family started raising animals. The current owner (Alexis is already quite old, thin, small, with a mustache, but he often stands behind the counter) says that “all the products come from my cows”. As it is fashionable to say now – organic, BIO, etc. Well, a villager doesn’t understand why those fancy words are needed – he simply knows that the products are the most genuine and natural.

The interior of the shop, the recipes of the products have not changed for almost a hundred years. The same. Every evening, the surrounding neighbors sit on the shop chairs – for a long Greek evening and conversations. Only the number of photos and magazine clippings on the walls is increasing. With famous people who have visited this shop.

When you walk in, you’ll definitely see the biggest cone of butter on the counter. It’s the wonderful real butter from Corcyra, which is why shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis would send a plane from London every week so his wife Jacky could enjoy a fresh treat for breakfast.

That’s what we call that butter now – Onassis’ favorite. Kerkyra butter is special – it’s yellow because Pericles’ cows graze in the field, while the grasses in Corfu that the cows graze on are different… It’s not me, it’s the owner who says so.   

The longest-serving Greek Prime Minister, Konstantinos Karamanlis, who served two terms, also knew this shop well. Alexis Periklis remembers: when the leader flew to Corfu for Easter, Alexis’ father would specially prepare yogurt in a clay jug and take it to Karamanlis’ hotel.

Well, I buy galaktoboureko (a traditional Greek syrup-flavored cake with a delicious milk and semolina cream) almost every time I find myself near Alexis Periklis’ shop.

So what is the secret of those products? “The fresh milk we use is the secret of all our products ,” says Mr. Kostas Alexis, the son of Periklis Alexis, who continues the family tradition.

Get ready to taste a little bit of Corfiot gastronomic history.

P.S. For breakfast, Greeks usually eat like this: they spread butter and honey on bread.

Address:

Alexis Pericles’ shop

Corfu Town Old Town

Aghiou Vasiliou 12