What Clean Monday is
Clean Monday (Καθαρά Δευτέρα) is the first day of Great Lent in the Orthodox calendar, 48 days before Orthodox Easter, and a public holiday in Greece. Its date moves with Easter: the next one falls on Monday 15 March 2027. The day is spent outdoors when the weather allows, flying kites, and at a long table.
The next Clean Mondays
- 15 March 2027
- 28 February 2028
- 19 February 2029
We open on Clean Monday
Monday is normally our closed day; on Clean Monday we open. The hours of the day are announced on our Google profile and Facebook page, as all holiday hours are. Our online form only offers the regular opening days, so for a Clean Monday table please call +30 210 9404 518, and call early: a seafood holiday is a busy day at a fish taverna.
The Clean Monday table
There is a standard table that Greeks eat on the day, and it is a seafood table, because the fast allows no meat, eggs or dairy and no fish with a backbone, while shellfish and molluscs are fine: taramosalata with λαγάνα, the flat bread baked only for Clean Monday, then octopus, squid and cuttlefish, shrimp, mussels and clams, with olives, pickles, boiled greens and halva. We do not publish a menu for the day; ask when you book.
Kites next door
The Stavros Niarchos Park begins at the end of our street, about 100 m from the door, so the kite and the table are an easy pair; the park has its own opening hours.
Ο Θαλασσινός στις Τζιτζιφιές έχει αποδειχτεί διαχρονική αξία στον κατάλογο με τα στέκια για καλό ψαροφαγητό.
LiFO, «Οι καλύτερες ψαροταβέρνες για την Καθαρά Δευτέρα», Νίκη Μιταρέα, 2015 (our translation from the Greek: “Thalassinos in Tzitzifies has proved a lasting fixture on the list of places for good fish.”)
