Cheffe Dina Nikolaou : the Female Goddess of Authentic Greek Cuisine
- Awarded best foreign restaurant Paris 2017
- TV Icon in Greece
- Succesful book author
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Dina’s gastronomical quest begun at a very young age and despite the fact that she started studying Finance & Marketing in Paris, her passion soon took over and pushed her into studying the culinary art.
To make her lifetime dream come true, she studied in famous French culinary institutes such as «Le Cordon Bleu», «Ritz Escoffier», «Alain Ducasse formation» and «Lenotre». In Paris, Dina & her sister Maria created Evi Evane (www.evievane.com), a restaurant that would communicate their passion on gastronomy, Greek cuisine, Greek local products and their love for their home country.
They soon created two delicatessen stores Evi Evane Traiteur & Evi Evane mézès where one
can find more than 150 different products coming from Greek local producers and order strictly Greek food. Dina has always believed that in order to succeed you must gain valuable knowledge and she wanted to share her knowledge, passion and experience through teaching in the culinary schools of Greece & France (Chef d’ Oeuvre, Le Monde, Le Cordon Bleu).
In 2017, restaurant Evi Evane reaches the top when Gilles Pudlowski, the publisher of the
French gastronomy guide Publo Paris declares it as “The best restaurant of foreign cuisine in
Paris”. In 2017, Evi Evane receives the Greek Cuisine Golden Award in Tourism awards for its
successful course.
In 2018, in the event of the 1st International Hellenic Gastronomy Conference 2018 “Greek taste beyond borders”, which was supported by The Greek Ministry of Tourism, The Greek Ministry of Economy & Development and the Municipality of Athens, Dina Nikolaou receives the award of Ambassadors of Taste 2018.
In 2018, DIKEPA the host of OINOXENIA 2018 declares Dina Nikolaou as the Ambassador of
the Corinthian raisin. In 2019, in FOODEXPO ATHENS, Dina was declared as the Ambassador of Greek Cuisine for her 15-year constant efforts in promoting the Greek gastronomy.
Since 2011, Dina is the Ambassador Cheffe for gastronomic promotion in front Mount Athos and Official Consultant of the Gastronomy Festival of Chalkidiki Mount Athos Area Kouzina.
Since 2013, Dina is an honorary member of the Festival of Cretan Cuisine.
Since 2016, she participates together with Evi Evane restaurant in the global food expedition of Paris “SIAL” where she demonstrates Greek recipes and techniques. From December 2016 to March 2019, she was organizing cooking dinner classes at Yoleni’s, a gastronomy-oriented multiplex with emphasis on Greek local products. Since 2016, Dina is the Head chef of the “sugar baking” (Zaharoplathoume) concept by Jotis. Since 2017, Dina and Evi Evane participate in the international festival Village International de la Gastronomie et des cuisines populaires held by France, in Paris, in order to promote Greek cuisine. In 2017, She participated in the Mediterranean festival Food in Sud where she presented Greek gastronomy. In 2018, the French Embassy of Greece organized «MaziChef» competition and Dina played a key role as a member of the jury in order to declare the best Greek macaron. In 2019, she participated in the competition Elles ont du Talent – part of the Equipôtel exhibition, as a member of the jury. The competition was targeted mostly on female chefs and gastronomy-oriented professionals. In 2019, Marie-Sauce Bourreau invited Dina in the competition Cuillère d’Or to participate as a
member of the jury in order to bring out the four finalists. In 2019, the French Embassy of Greece organized «MaziChef» competition. Dina as a member of the jury helped declare the best Greek éclair.
In 2006, She begun her TV career as the cook of the morning show “Proinos kafes”, in ANT1
channel.
From 2009 to 2011, she continued with the show “Nistikoi praktores”, in Star channel.
In 2010, she started her first tv show in the French TV under the name «Ma cuisine grecque»,
where she was presenting dishes and recipes from around Greece.
In 2012, she makes a come back in the Greek TV with her show “Dina’s Kitchen”, in Star
Channel.
In 2013, she hosts the show “Greeks’ tastes”, in SKAI channel.
From 2014 – 2015, she begins a TV gastronomical journey around Greece under the name “A
Table full of Greece”.
In 2017, she hosts the show “Made@Home”, in Alpha channel.
In 2019, she starts a new collaboration with Ant1 channel and hosts “Dina’s Bakery”.
In 2021-2022 cooking at OPEN Beyond and the Open Weekend show.
“Cooking with fruits” was published in 2002 – a book that fruits and juices play a key role in
creating delicious everyday Mediterranean dishes.
“Savory & sweets tarts” were published in 2002 by Technikes publications which belongs in a
series of books under the title “Creating within the Kitchen”. “Savory -sweet cakes and side
salads” followed the first book.
In 2005, she wrote the cooking book of the culinary institute Chef d’ Oeuvre and gained the first award in the International competition for World Cookbooks “Gourmand”, which was voted as the best professional cookbook for Greek cuisine.
«Grece cuisine familial et traditionnelle» was published in 2008 by the Swiss – French
publications “La Martiniere”.
«What are we eating today?» was published in 2009 by Kathimerini publications. The book
attempts to solve our everyday nutritional “quest”.
“My mum’s kitchen” was published in 2010, by Fereniki publications. This book was dedicated
to her hometown Kirtoni and is full of tasteful memories of her mother and grandmother.
“Alone in the kitchen” was published in 2014, by Minoas publications. This book is a tool for
youngsters, students and bachelors that are not familiar with cooking. This book is of great
emotional value since all copyright earnings go straight to the bank of bone marrow volunteer
donors of the Elpida & Orama Elpidas foundation.
“Dina’s favorite recipes for the lent” was published in 2016, by Minoas publications and
includes 114 vegan recipes ideal for the fasting period.
In 2016, her cooking diary “Greece for every month” comes out with 48 delicious recipes – easy
to make. Dina has chosen a different area of Greece for every single month and presents her
version of the local specialty.
In 2017, «Grèce – La cuisine Authentique» was published by Hachette publications in France, in
her attempt to attract the French audience and present the authentic Greek cooking culture. The book includes her favorite Greek recipes that are based on tradition and selected local Greek products. For eight straight years, she was a food editor in «gastronomos” magazine whilst today she is collaborating with “Olive” magazine.
