In December, Dimitris Katrivesis will first lift the “curtain” on the pop-up before officially opening Smoku Athens. The renowned chef is launching a 60-day Japanese izakaya as a trial experience ahead of the full opening of the space and fine dining restaurant, scheduled for early 2026. For two months, Thiseos Street in Syntagma will transform into an urban izakaya social club with a Greek signature.
Pop-up izakaya: a teaser before the grand opening
At the Smoku pop-up, the concept is clear: a small Japanese Izakaya with a strictly limited seating menu that moves between raw preparations, fire, and umami. Essentially, it is a teaser menu introducing the philosophy of Smoku before the space enters its next phase.
Meanwhile, at the front, Smoku Bar is already operating, as seen during Athens Bar Week, with Japanese highballs, cocktails featuring honey, chamomile, artichoke, figs, and Japanese citrus, along with small fire-kissed bites and izakaya classics. The menu will include tuna belly with tahini and pistachio, artichoke with ponzu and bottarga, taramas with wasabi, tuna ceviche with tiger milk, and beef tartare. Hot dishes will feature yakitori, miso butter potatoes, wild mushrooms with yuzu truffle, while desserts play with matcha, yuzu, t?k?, and “burned milk” ice cream.
A project in “phases”: from the pub to the tasting room
Smoku is not just a restaurant but a multi-layered project opening gradually. Up front, the urban Japanese bar serves cocktails and small dishes, while further inside, a speakeasy culinary space acts as a “prelude” to Smoku The Tasting Room, a 20-seat fine dining restaurant set to open in early 2026.
The Tasting Room will be curated by Dimitris Katrivesis alongside Swedish chef Ebbe Vollmer – a Michelin-starred chef for the restaurant Ebbe in Tampa and formerly two stars for Vollmers in Malm?. The concept is a ritualistic tasting menu based on fire, fermentation, raw cuisine, and Japanese craftsmanship, always using Greek ingredients.
A model tested abroad – now coming to Athens
Launching a pop-up izakaya before opening a permanent restaurant is not entirely new internationally. In Philadelphia, for example, Khyber Pass Pub hosted pop-up izakaya nights as a “taste of the future” for the soon-to-open Royal Sushi & Izakaya, while similar preview izakaya concepts have appeared at places like Oak + Oyster in Milwaukee or at culinary festivals in Australia.
The idea is simple: the pop-up acts as an idea lab and a test drive for the public before finalizing the restaurant’s format—a strategy now openly recommended in professional guides for starting izakaya projects. In Athens, however, it remains a relatively new practice.
The chef and the “fire” behind Smoku
Dimitris Katrivesis has built his reputation on the idea of tradinnovation – the meeting of tradition and innovation. He has trained at Ferran Adri?’s three-Michelin-star El Bulli, Dos Palillos in Barcelona, and Ryugin in Tokyo, while in recent years he has moved between pop-up projects and travel concepts from Tenerife and Tulum to Santorini.
With Smoku Athens, the chef returns to the city with something that is neither simply a bar nor just a restaurant: an urban izakaya social club, as described by his team, where the Japanese ritual of fire meets Greek ingredients, clean cocktails, and the sounds of Japanese hip hop & afrobeat.
For now, the challenge is the pop-up: 60 days to discover what a Japanese izakaya “born” in Athens looks like—before moving on to the full fine dining chapter of Smoku in 2026.
(Thiseos 14, Syntagma | Tel.: +30 210 3313733 | Monday – Sunday | 18:00 – 02:00 * During the holidays, open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from noon).
