JESTER

Livadh · Himarë · Albania

A beach taverna
under the olive trees

The culinary traditions of Greece and Albania, through a contemporary Mediterranean perspective.

Book a tableGet directions
The hand-painted JESTER's sign, a blue plank board with the jester's-cap mark, standing above a rope-lashed white timber beam and lit at night

Everything comes to the middle of the table and everybody reaches.

The bill of fare runs from the garden to the water: salads, then meze, then the fish. It is set out below in the taverna's own courses.

A painted table laid with plates of pasta, tomato salad, beetroot and marinated anchovies, black enamel pans of fried cheese and of a coral-coloured dip, and a bowl of chopped octopus

Course I

From Farm to Table

  • House-Made Dips
  • Beetroot Salad
  • Dakos Salad
  • Seasonal Wild Greens "Tsigariasta"
  • Agioritiki Eggplant Salad
A white bowl of chopped octopus with herbs, red pepper and olive oil over a purée, on a turquoise painted table

Course II

Meze

  • Goat Cheese with Honey
  • Fried Atherina
  • Fried Calamari
  • Sautéed Shrimp
  • Grilled Octopus Souvlaki
  • Tuna Carpaccio
  • Amberjack Tartare
  • Sea Bass Ceviche
  • Marinated Anchovies
A whole grilled fish being lifted from the bone on a white plate with lemon and potato, on a turquoise painted table

Course III

The Heart of the Meal

  • Fish Soup
  • Grilled Amberjack Fillet
  • Fried Red Mullet
  • Scorpionfish Kakavia
  • Grilled Swordfish
  • Shrimp Kritharoto
  • Octopus Ragù
  • Crispy Fried Cod
  • Grilled Sea Bream

Course IV

Cocktails

  • G&TT
  • The Melon – Honey Rhapsody
  • Rakomelo
  • Aperol Spritz
See the bill of fare

The garden

Tables outdoors, and lights overhead

The taverna is a walled garden a short walk up from the shingle: olive trees, a long reed-thatch roof on white timber posts, and bulbs strung under the pergola.

  • Tables outdoors, under olive trees and strung bulbs
  • Tables can be reserved ahead
  • On Livadh beach, Himarë
The taverna garden at night: festoon bulbs strung under a white timber pergola, an olive tree behind it, a white table with green-framed chairs to the left and a woven willow screen to the right
The taverna's long reed-thatch roof on white posts at dusk, lit from beneath, against a dry-stone wall and olive trees

The score

4.9

out of 5 on Tripadvisor

Read the reviews on Tripadvisor

Livadh

On the long bay west of Himarë

Livadh is the long pebble bay west-north-west of Himarë town — 1.6 km out in a straight line, 5.1 km by road. The taverna sits at 40.10603 N, 19.72910 E, some twenty-five metres up from the top of the shingle.

Get directionsGetting here
The sun low over the Ionian from the shingle at Livadh, with a boat on the water and the headland to the right

Questions

Before you come

  • Where is Jester's Taverna?

    Jester's Taverna is on Livadh beach at Himarë, in Vlorë County on the Albanian Riviera, at 40.10603 N, 19.72910 E. Livadh is the long pebble bay west-north-west of Himarë town, 1.6 km out in a straight line, and the taverna's own logo calls it the beach taverna of Livadhet. The postal code is 9425.

  • What kind of food does Jester's Taverna serve?

    The kitchen sets out the culinary traditions of Greece and Albania through a contemporary Mediterranean perspective, in the taverna's own words. In practice it is seafood-led: the bill of fare runs from farm-to-table salads and meze — dakos, tsigariasta, marinated anchovies, grilled octopus — through fish soup, kakavia, shrimp kritharoto and whole grilled fish.

  • Can I book a table at Jester's Taverna?

    Yes. The taverna takes reservations by telephone on +355 69 52 97 700, and by WhatsApp on the number published on its own site. Tables can be reserved ahead, which is recorded on its map entry as well as on its own pages, and it is worth doing in high summer for a table under the olive trees.

  • Is there outdoor seating at Jester's Taverna?

    The taverna is an outdoor one. Tables sit in a walled garden under olive trees and strung bulbs, along a terrace roofed in reed thatch on white timber posts, a short walk up from the shingle of Livadh beach.

  • How is Jester's Taverna rated?

    Diners score Jester's Taverna 4.9 out of 5 on Tripadvisor, which is where the score on this page comes from. The reviews behind it are open to read in full on that listing.

  • How do I get to Livadh beach?

    Livadh lies below the SH8 coast road, west-north-west of Himarë town. Drivers leave the highway about a kilometre out of town and take Rruga Shen Varvara down to the bay: 5.1 km and around eleven minutes from the town centre by road, against 1.6 km in a straight line. Buses on the Vlorë–Sarandë route set down in Himarë town rather than at the bay. There is parking along the beach road, and directions open straight into Google Maps from the find-us page.