As an education and cultural writer, I don't often get the opportunity to report on the culinary scene, but I jumped at the chance when I was told The Khronicles wanted a story on Paradosiako, that popular taverna on Anopoli Road in Kokkini Hani.

First of all, the sign itself says it all: Paradosiako, which means tradition and right under the name, is: all in the wood burning oven.

If you are a passerby who succumbs to the challenge of promised traditional food, surely you'll be completely satisfied. The explanation is simple. The owners, Nikos Papadakis, and his wife Vaggelio Mavroforaki, besides their natural hospitality, decided 12 years ago to create their own space, where, following the footprints of tradition, they offer gastronomic delights with authentic wood-burning oven aroma.

Thus, with absolute respect to Cretan cookery, but also based on the familial cooking tradition of two generations, Nikos Papadakis chooses to dedicate himself to  the world of flavours and tastes, things his father, who ran a taverna in Iraklion since 1945, instilled in him at a very young age.

Characteristic elements of the taverna, where, "the pot boils and the friendship resides," are the stone fireplace and the music wall with traditional musical instruments where anyone can look them over, or even play them, which has led to many impromptu jam sessions.