Georgianna Hiliadaki

The Climb

Formal training at University of Reading and Institute of Culinary Education set the base for a career built through control, authorship, and repeated openings. Georgianna Hiliadaki’s path moved from study into kitchen leadership, then into the creation of her own rooms. Today, Georgianna is chef/owner of Modern Greek Food Group, owner and co-founder and executive chef of Funky Gourmet (since 2009), executive chef and co-founder of OPSO Restaurant (since 2014), and owner and chef of IODIO (since 2024). Those roles show a progression from training to ownership to a wider professional footprint across Athens and London. Modern Greek cuisine stays constant, but the work is not static: each title adds another layer of responsibility, and each opening extends the same line of thought through a different operation.

Today

Her current work spans chef/owner of Modern Greek Food Group in Athens and London, owner and chef of IODIO in Athens, co-founder and executive chef of Funky Gourmet, and executive chef and co-founder of OPSO. Georgianna Hiliadaki keeps Modern Greek cuisine at the center while working across two cities and multiple kitchens. The pattern is direct: training, co-founding, ownership, and then another opening. IODIO reads as part of that sequence rather than a break from it. In the context of her broader practice, it adds to a body of work already defined by movement, revision, and scale. Modern Greek cuisine, in her hands, is something carried between projects rather than confined to one address.

Signature

Georgianna's signature dishes include frozen greek salad and pastitsio peinirli. The pair sits squarely inside a Modern Greek frame: recognizable references, handled without nostalgia. They show a practice that works from familiarity but pushes toward a cleaner, contemporary expression. That is consistent with the broader shape of her kitchens, where the point is not preservation alone, but reinterpretation with intent.

In Their Words “Hello! I’m Georgianna Hiliadaki, a Greek chef and restaurateur, best known as the co-founder of the two-Michelin-starred restaurant Funky Gourmet in Athens.” “I originally studied European Studies and Italian in the UK before following my true passion and training as a chef in New York at the Institute of Culinary Education.” The statement gives the sequence in plain terms: study first, then training, then kitchens with a defined authorship. It also clarifies the move from a broader academic base into the discipline of cooking, which mirrors the structure of the rest of the career.

Recognition

Georgianna's honors include 2 Michelin Stars, Best Female Chef in Greece, and 4th Best Female Chef in the World. Those recognitions register as markers of scale, but they sit alongside the more durable evidence of the work itself: Funky Gourmet (since 2009), OPSO Restaurant (since 2014), and IODIO (since 2024). Taken together, they map a career built through continuity rather than one-off distinction.