We've kind of lost our way and passed by a small restaurant called " the Lemon Tree" and the day after we kind of thought about it and decided to go to have diner there. It was empty when we arrived, so we thought it was closed, but the owner "Marc" said he was open. The food was great and our four kids loved the place, the small ones played in te courtyard while waiting and the two elder ones said they had their best diner of the vacation. For ones they were right, the food was more then delicious and Marc turned out the be a great chap and fan of John Martin as well! We went back, because we wanted to have the second best diner of our vacation. Thanks a lot Marc! See you next time.

We arrived there walking, we were walking all Crete from East to West (www.e4crete.wordpress.com) and in Handras there is this strange blue house, Lemon Tree or Lemonia in greek, we met Mark, incredibe guy, he’s a chef, they have rooms too. Dinner is very interesting, Mark cooks “live”, you can see him cooking, the place is very small, you have the impression of being in a house. The dishes are very well presented, and the taste is fantastic. If you are tired of the normal greek food, always greek salad and tzaziki and so on, once try Lemon Tree! And if you are walking on the cretan E4 path, it’s absolutely recommended!

This is a quirky little restaurant in the South East of Crete that we stopped at for lunch. There was about a 30 minute wait for food as cooked fresh to order. We were the only customers so not sure how long you would have to wait if there were a large party or other customers. We were given warm bread and fava houmous which was lovely to pick at while we waited. My children and I had the fish and chips. Beautiful fish in breadcrumbs with a small stack of chuncky potatoes (14 euros) and my husband had cheese fried in breadcrumbs with lemon marmalade (7 euros).

I had a pudding 'Monks delight' which was a delight as Greek restaurants do not seem to a great line in puddings. I was suprised by it being hot and it reminded me of a traditionally English nursery type pudding. It was sponge with slices of cooked apples, lightly spiced with an orange marmalade on the top served with ice cream. The meal was completed with Mark giving us some lemon raki/liquor that he produced which was very nice. The whole meal cost (70 euros which included soft drinks, water and jar of marmalade). The lemon raki and maramalade can both be purchased from Mark.

Visited August 2011

Great food, excellent environment and a special night away from the city. Can’t wait for the winter so that we can enjoy the peculiar recipes by the fireplace along with some good wine.

We sit half expecting Gerald Durrel to arrive at any moment. The sun promised a wonderful day – a perfect follow-on to a good night and a superb evening. Mark provided us with a magnificent meal, a strange mix of the magic of Crete and the foods of good old England.

We loved it here, only the length of Crete and so much to see in so short a time preventing us from lingering for a few more days. How lucky those who follow us here are! Keep on cooking Mark.