Μake us preferred on Google I never get tired of walking around Exarchia. It’s one of the few Athens neighborhoods that always seems to have something new to reveal, no matter how many times you visit. A bookstore you hadn’t noticed before, an old-fashioned café that seems untouched by time, a new bar, or a tiny shop that catches your eye and makes you stop in your tracks.
But it’s not just the shops. Exarchia has a character all its own, an atmosphere that draws you into its world. Every narrow street, every old apartment building, every pedestrian alleyway has a story to tell. They’re stories of the people who make up a neighborhood that’s constantly changing without ever losing its identity. That’s where its beauty lies.
It was during one such stroll, along Solomou Street, that I stumbled upon Craquelin entirely by chance. A little pastry shop that piqued my curiosity and made me stop. There are no tables, no sprawling display cases overflowing with sweets. Just a tiny display window beside the entrance and an equally tiny workshop. From the moment you walk in, you realize that pastry-making follows a different philosophy here.
That’s where I met Grigoris Moutzouris, a young pastry chef who is responsible for much of the shop’s daily production and customer service.
Craquelin is one of those little shops that immediately draws you in. But it’s the flavors that win you over. Photo: Alexandros Alexandris
He clearly loves what he does. He talks enthusiastically about the desserts he makes and is already thinking about his own professional future. Our conversation began with profiteroles and Basque cheesecake, the two desserts that have put Craquelin on the map, before moving on to carefully selected ingredients, experiments in the kitchen, relationships with neighborhood customers, and his personal ambitions.
Among those ambitions is a dream of opening his own pastry shop one day, dedicated to the classic, retro-style desserts he loves so much.
Grigoris Moutzouris is responsible for much of Craquelin’s daily production. A young pastry chef with plenty of enthusiasm and big dreams for the future. Photo: Alexandros Alexandris
A Short Menu, a Lot of Hard Work
Craquelin opened in April 2024, founded by pastry chef Panos Lolos. In the beginning, Grigoris explains, there was more room for experimentation. They tried different desserts, including large filled choux pastries and combinations featuring almonds, nougat, chocolate, and other flavors.
Some ideas were promising; others proved difficult to produce, particularly in such a limited space. Gradually, the selection was narrowed down to the creations that resonated most with customers.
Today, Craquelin focuses on two main offerings: profiteroles and Basque cheesecake. During the summer, the menu also includes homemade soft-serve gelato, which has been temporarily discontinued for the colder months.
The crisp choux pastry puffs: the foundation of every good profiterole, including the ones made fresh in front of customers every day at Craquelin. Photo: Alexandros Alexandris
“It’s much easier for customers when you give them just a few options,” Grigoris tells me. And he has a point. How many times have we found ourselves overwhelmed by endless display cases, eventually choosing something simply because it caught our eye?
At Craquelin, things are simpler. The choices are limited, the flavors have been carefully tested, and every dessert receives the attention it deserves.
Profiteroles Take Center Stage
If you’re a profiterole lover, Craquelin gives you six different reasons to come back: Biscoff, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, tiramisu, pistachio, and Bueno.
There’s a great deal of work behind every one of these flavors. Almost everything is made in the tiny workshop, using ingredients carefully selected by owner and pastry chef Panos Lolos. The choux pastry, creams, cookies, and toppings are all homemade. Even the pistachio paste is prepared on-site.
“We roast the pistachios and then process them to make our own paste,” Grigoris explains. It’s a process he takes care of personally.
There’s plenty of hands-on work behind every profiterole flavor. Everything is made in-house using carefully selected ingredients. Tasos, who is currently completing his internship at Craquelin, prepared a Biscoff cream profiterole for us. Photo: Alexandros Alexandris
What’s particularly interesting is that, after experimenting with numerous desserts and flavor combinations, Craquelin eventually settled on the ones customers loved most.
That doesn’t mean the experimentation has stopped. New creations appear from time to time, some making their way onto the menu for a limited period. So even if you’ve already found your favorite profiterole, there’s no guarantee you won’t discover a new sweet surprise on your next visit.
Different creams and toppings mean there’s a perfect profiterole for every customer. Photo: Alexandros Alexandris
A Basque Cheesecake Worth Trying
The second dessert to have developed a devoted following is the Basque cheesecake. Here, too, the details are worth exploring.
Unlike its classic American counterpart, Basque cheesecake is baked at a high temperature, giving it its characteristic deeply browned top while leaving the inside exceptionally creamy.
The individual-sized version of Basque cheesecake, Craquelin’s other signature dessert. Photo: Alexandros Alexandris
At Craquelin, the team uses a cheese sourced from small producers in France through a special supply partnership developed specifically for the workshop’s needs. The result is a cheesecake with a rich flavor and an exceptionally smooth texture, which you can enjoy on its own or with one of the available toppings.
The rich cheesecake filling at Craquelin is made with cheese sourced directly from France. Photo: Alexandros Alexandris
The most distinctive accompaniment is the homemade strawberry jam. Grigoris is quick to point out that this is nothing like your average overly sweet jam.
They use a generous amount of fruit and very little sugar—approximately 10%—to preserve the strawberries’ natural flavor and acidity. The strawberries are cleaned and cooked with the sugar, but not until they completely lose their texture. As a result, the jam retains pieces of fruit, adding a pleasant freshness to the cheesecake.
There are also pistachio and Biscoff options for those who prefer richer flavor combinations.
Grigoris often takes the time to explain to customers exactly what they can expect from their first spoonful of Basque cheesecake. Photo: Alexandros Alexandris
Interestingly, Basque cheesecake is still unfamiliar to quite a few customers.
“Many people confuse it with American cheesecake,” Grigoris tells me. So, along with serving the dessert, he often gives customers a little explanation of what they’re about to taste.
Quality Starts With the Ingredients
What particularly impressed me during our conversation was the emphasis on ingredients.
Panos Lolos, the owner and creative force behind Craquelin, has chosen to work with a select group of suppliers and small producers, seeking out products that meet the exacting standards of his recipes.
The eggs come from Megara, a town in western Attica, while the cheese for the cheesecake is sourced from France. Chocolate, nuts, and fruit are selected with the same level of care.
But what’s most important is how these ingredients are used: everything is transformed into finished products entirely in the workshop. There are no ready-made creams or toppings, nor any commercially prepared pastes that might make production easier.
Homemade choux pastry, creams, and toppings are what make Craquelin’s profiteroles so special. Photo: Alexandros Alexandris
This approach requires more time and daily effort, particularly when both the workspace and the team are small. But it also allows the pastry chefs to maintain complete control over the flavor, texture, and freshness of every dessert.
The same philosophy extends to the summer soft-serve. It’s homemade gelato produced in-house, with Madagascar vanilla as its constant base flavor and a second flavor that changes.
Among the varieties they’ve experimented with are tsoureki—a traditional Greek sweet bread, particularly associated with Easter—and pistachio. The experiments are ongoing.
Homemade soft-serve gelato. We’re already looking forward to discovering next summer’s new flavors. Photo: Alexandros Alexandris
Grigoris and His Own Sweet Dreams
Grigoris has been working at Craquelin for about a year. He’s usually the person you’ll find behind the counter, having taken on much of the daily production and customer service, with Panos’s collaboration and support.
He speaks enthusiastically about his work, and especially about interacting with customers. What moves him most isn’t necessarily receiving a compliment about one of his desserts. It’s when someone tells him they’ve had a difficult day and that stopping by the shop has managed to lift their spirits.
Working at Craquelin is also an important step in his own professional journey. Panos has given him the opportunity to take on responsibilities, organize production, and gain first-hand insight into what customers are looking for.
One of the things Grigoris enjoys most about working at Craquelin is his daily interaction with customers. Photo: Alexandros Alexandris
Grigoris has dreams of his own, too. One day, he hopes to open his own pastry shop, a place devoted to classic, retro-style desserts. Those familiar flavors that generations have grown up with and that continue to hold a special place in our hearts.
The Little Shops That Make All the Difference
I have a real soft spot for this new generation of small food businesses that have been popping up across Athens in recent years. Tiny bakeries and pastry shops operating out of just a few square feet, without large dining areas or elaborate interiors. Places that don’t try to do everything, but instead focus on a handful of products, perfect them through hard work and persistence, and gradually develop an identity of their own.
Craquelin is one of them.
You pick up your dessert and continue your stroll through Exarchia, perhaps without ever imagining just how much work goes into every spoonful. And the neighborhood seems to have embraced this little business.
As Grigoris tells me, people are increasingly looking for quality. They’re paying more attention to what they eat and are willing to discover new flavors and small shops that take genuine pride in what they do.
An exceptional dessert to take on the go, made by people who genuinely care about their craft. Craquelin is my first stop whenever I visit Exarchia. Photo: Alexandros Alexandris
As I leave, I take with me Grigoris’s enthusiasm, both when he talks about the desserts he makes and when he describes the pastry shop he hopes to open one day. And, of course, I leave with another address I know I’ll be returning to.
In fact, I have one more reason to look forward to my next visit. Christmas is approaching, and the team at Craquelin is already preparing its holiday creations.
Last year, they experimented with vanilla and chocolate. This year, we’re waiting to see which flavors will make a limited-time appearance.
Having already tasted what this little workshop is capable of, I have high expectations. After all, some of Athens’s most delightful culinary surprises are hidden behind its smallest doors.
Craquelin
23 Solomou Street, Exarchia, Athens
Open from 1 p.m.
Closed every Monday.
