Alexis Dairy, a traditional creamerie in Corfu town, is tiny yet miraculous. Imagine just ten square metres of store space. As beautiful as it is, with its old-style charm and quaint pastel colors, it is hardly easy to spot in the old town, being secluded in a lane. A passer by who’s not in the know would never guess that this seemingly humble little store has gained worldwide fame.
Why? Because of its exquisite dairy products made from milk and butter that the owners produce themselves. The recipes have been passed unchanged from generation to generation and remain privy, to this day, exclusively to the Alexis family.
Alexis Dairy has been visited by the rich and famous for decades, as well as people from the international world of media.
One of the raw materials for the culinary triumphs on offer in this store is a fresh dairy butter of high quality that the family produces in their own farm. I swiftly photographed a huge block of the stuff that the lady behind the counter was weighing as I entered.
The butter has a healthy yellow tint, and as I came in feeling hungry, it made my mouth water. Especially because the divine smells of warm sweet milk and cinnamon had just hit my nostrils at the same time.
Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis and his wife Jacqueline (Jackie) Kennedy Onassis, legendary Greek politician Konstantinos Karamanlis, and former Russian president Boris Yeltsin are photographed in this newspaper article. They have been just a few of the many famous customers of Alexis Dairy.
As if on cue, my eyes wandered further, towards the many newspaper and magazine articles that are mounted all around, and especially on the large mirror on the side wall. One specific title caught my eye: “Even Onassis used to lick his fingers.”
It made me chuckle. Who was I to argue? I knew I would love my purchases, right there and then.
Reading on, the article revealed that Onassis, who often visited Corfu in his yacht back in the day, always made sure to stock up with lashings of organic butter from the shop as Jackie enjoyed it at breakfast.
Having now tasted the famous “Galaktoboureko” of Alexis Dairy, a cream custard with crispy phyllo pastry drenched in syrup, I can vouch for the yumminess of the butter.
The dessert tastes and smells divine because of it. You can either purchase a box of 4 large pieces of galaktoboureko or buy pieces individually, and even can enjoy your purchase in the shop if you can find a vacant table. Very few are on offer, seeing that the shop is so small.
One more tip: If you’re taking a tray of galaktoboureko with you and it’s warm from the oven, leave the box and carrier bag open to give it air to breathe until it’s cooled. But! It is imperative that you reheat it slightly before eating to enjoy the taste to the maximum!
Other products on offer at the store: Yoghurt (drizzled with honey, if you wish), rice pudding (optionally with cinnamon on top), cream or chocolate pudding. I also saw jars of honey for sale, and brown round packages wrapped in cling film that looked like “sikomaida”. It’s a delicious organic product made with sun-dried figs, and it is scented with laurel leaves.
Looking further around the shop and peering at the mounted photographs, I recognised many politicians and other celebrities from their visits to the shop.
After my visit, I went online and quickly confirmed what I presumed – i.e. that a host of non-Greek celebrities have walked into this tiny space over time as well.
In one of his interviews, the owner, Mr. Periklis Alexis, states that Konstantinos Karamanlis, the Greek politician who reinstated democracy in Greece after the Junta (Dictatorship of the Colonels between 1967-1974) visited the shop frequently at Easter.
At the time, Mr. Alexis was a child, and his father manned the shop. Mr. Karamanlis’s order was always the same: yogurt, which he preferred to enjoy in a ceramic bowl. He always ordered more to take with him back at his hotel, to enjoy throughout his stay.
Another legendary customer was former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who Mr. Alexis found quite unforgettable. He seemed incredibly tall to him, even though Mr. Alexis stood on a step behind the counter. Yeltsin, as Mr. Alexis recalls, ordered a rice pudding, which he had on the spot and seemed to enjoy greatly. 
Mr. Periklis Alexis seemed active during our short stay in the shop, dashing in and out, eager to help and chat with everyone. He struck me as a man who really loves what he does, a man of great drive. This is a real blessing in someone’s life.
You can see Mr. Alexis in the photo above (and my husband, Andy, standing before the counter). In another photo I posted further up, you can see Mr. Alexis again, this time in a newspaper article of many years ago.
The shop has not always been a creamery. It was initially opened as a fruit and vegetable shop by Mr. Alexis’s grandfather, back in 1926. But as the family owned the farm from back then, it soon made sense to change the place into a creamery and make use of the exquisite organic milk and butter that they produced.
With a stubborn contempt towards the world’s tendencies to change trends and looks over the decades that followed, the space hardly changed these past one hundred years.
And, as the Alexis family never compromised on the quality of the products they offered, they managed to be featured by magazines of gastronomy and in a number of TV shows on many channels around the world, all of them highlighting their commitment to excellence.
Mr. Alexis has three sons. The youngest, having studied Economics in Athens, continued his education with a degree in galactology (dairy science) from an academic school in Ioannina. This, undoubtedly, proves that the forth generation of Alexis Dairy is fully qualified and eager to carry the legacy further.
Truly, it is a remarkable feat for a small family business that resisted change for a century, remained hidden in the intricate lanes of Corfu town, and yet, managed to shine a beacon of excellence around the world all this time.
I hope my humble contribution to shouting out its name as far and loud as I can will help more people to get to know it, as it would be greatly deserved.
Now that I have discovered it myself, it will remain for me a favourite stop from now on, whenever I am on the island, for that creamy, homemade-quality galaktoboureko.
As my late mother used to make it, this dessert is very close to my heart. Having enjoyed lashings of warm homemade galaktoboureko straight out of the oven for most of my life, it is virtually impossible to buy it in a shop and expect to match the experience. And yet, Alexis Dairy made that happen for me. This makes it a precious gem of a find!
I hope you will find the opportunity one day to visit this amazing place and taste its organic dairy products. They are made with excellence, but more importantly, with love and dedication.
Read on, and I’ll tell you exactly where to find the shop!
You will find Alexis Dairy in the old market area of Corfu town with very little effort. It is situated near the ancient church “Annunziata” that has a characteristic, imposing bell tower. If you’re coming from Sarocco square, you reach a fork in the road where the church tower is fully visible. Take the road on the left side, heading towards Liston.
A stone’s throw away from the church you will reach an opening in the lanes with a stone well in the middle (see photo above). Turn left there into a tiny lane, BEFORE you pass the well. The dairy store is right there, on your left hand.
Visit Google here for the pin of the shop’s location.
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