land explored: Patmos' Summer Kitchen
Australian-born Will Sapp first discovered the 2.5-acre plot of untamed land in Patmos that would become éla! through photographs sent by a local taxi driver. He leased the land, sight-unseen, with the intention of creating a regenerative farm and seasonal hospitality project. A few months into the first year, he was joined by his now-partner, New York-born Tess Gruenberg, and what began as a natural wine cave serving grilled vegetables and fish has now evolved into a summer kitchen entirely governed by the land.
Patmos, coined the “Jerusalem of the Aegean”, is unapologetically idyllic. With around 3,000 permanent residents, its rugged mountains are scattered with trees, while little villages are dropped into the valleys, connected by a labyrinth of narrow, cobbled paths. The Monastery of Saint John the Theologian stands proudly on the hill, a testament to the place where Saint John is believed to have written the Book of Revelation in one of the many empty caves of the island. The past prevails: there’s Byzantine-style architecture, arched courtyards, tiny domed churches, and whitewashed captains' houses flourished with ochre-coloured stone inlays.
Raw, wild, quiet. This is what drew a crowd of thinkers, artists, and creatives in the 1960s. There’s no airport on the island; it’s connected to Piraeus Port in Athens by an eight and a half hour ferry, or via smaller catamarans that set sail from the ports of the Dodecanese, such as Lipsi, Leros, Kalymnos, Kos, and Rhodes. As a result, the island attracts a certain type of traveller: whether drawn to Greek island escapism or enraptured by the island’s creative thrum. It says something about its draw that the beauty of the island could take hold of two city-borns, a writer and a trained lawyer, who have lived in the throngs of Mexico City, Paris, and London, to name but a few.
In 2020, Will travelled to Patmos. There, he got talking to a taxi driver, Michalis, and asked him to look out for plots of land to rent. Not long after, when Will was back in his then-base, Mexico City, Michalis sent him photographs of a patch nestled between the beaches of Kampos and the more remote Lampi. On it stood a century-old Patmian cottage amidst largely barren farmland. Sight unseen, Will signed the lease and moved into the house in spring 2021 to begin the first season of éla! in July. He converted the living room into a two-shelf cellar stocked largely with Greek and Georgian wines, and planted some trees, vegetables and fruit. It was the start of a project that, this year, saw the planting of over 100 trees and 7,000 vegetable plants.
In 2021, a few months into the first season, Tess came to Patmos and heard word of Greece’s first natural wine bar on this tiny island, curated by a man who was also preserving the architectural heritage of the land through organic farming. Fast forward to the sixth season of éla!, and Tess is still there.
Coined after the Greek word for “come”, éla! has no signage. This is one of the many experimental ways the kitchen “flips lots of catering rules on their head”, as Tess says. It’s a “pirate kitchen”, where a dinner party is thrown every night at “all-harvest tables” on the garden terrace, beneath a canopy shrouded by oleanders, vines, and bougainvillea. A 400-year-old olive tree, lovingly coined ‘Ms Olive’, is a central feature of the space.
The psychedelic wine cellar within the century-old cottage holds over 300 references. With no list to consult, it’s a matter of following the pair into the trove and hunting down the perfect bottle. There are wines sourced from Afianes Wines, which champions grapes picked in its mountain vineyard in Ikaria; an extensive allocation of Alice Bouvot; and crisp summer blends from Manfredi Wines in Sicily. The stories of visiting the makers and tasting the grapes help narrow down the choice.
Daily specials are scribbled on a chalkboard, the chefs gloriously challenged to cook everything fresh from the garden using two hand-crafted outdoor stone grills, outfitted and designed by Tess and Will. The menu is now curated by Australian-born head chef Connor Hartley Simpson, who, after a number of successful projects at Michelin-acclaimed restaurants – The Ledbury in London, Quince in San Francisco and Gastrologik in Stockholm, to name but a few – first came to éla! on a two-week residency. His partner and now sous-chef, Abigail Amen, became a permanent part of the puzzle this year, with her stone-fired flatbread becoming an iconic menu feature.
The dishes – whether an ember-charred lamb chop or grilled calamari served with sun-grown pomodoro – are all prepared over the live coal fire, alongside a harvest-heavy selection of charred eggplant with romesco, labneh with grilled courgette and lots of herbs. A perfect medley of fresh, local flavours. This season, the dessert menu favourites were pain perdu with fig leaf ice cream, tahini semifreddo and a refreshing summer fruit crumble.
When I speak to Tess, it’s clear that beyond the summer kitchen, éla! is an agricultural project. It’s a “slow-moving passion project” where each harvest is a testament to hard work, and where each dish turned out from the open kitchen is a tribute to the land. The hours spent in the garden regenerating this patch of land are just one of the reasons this island kitchen has grown far beyond an ordinary restaurant. It’s the experimental, off-the-cuff spirit of éla! that is so irresistibly charming – and certainly paying off.
Hannah Rees-Middleton
Wild swimming. Natural wine. Excellent exhibitions. And glorious country walks. These are a few of our editor Hannah Rees-Middleton’s favourite things. Whether she’s bouncing around Mexico, paddling through the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond or ogling another mound of butter at a fabulous supper club, Hannah is always in the midst of something cool. A consummate planner, a lover of beautiful things, a traveller never without a camera and a deck of cards. Hannah is many things (including the perfect resource for perfect travel tips).
