Restaurant · Kalami · €€€
The White House, Kalami
Lunch at the water's edge, in the house where Lawrence Durrell wrote
Literary waterside institution
Lunch at the water's edge, in the house where Lawrence Durrell wrote
There are restaurants with a view, and then there is a table set on the very rock where twentieth-century literature happened. The White House sits at the southern tip of Kalami bay on Corfu's northeast coast, so close to the Ionian that spray reaches the front tables on a windy day. Lawrence Durrell lived here with Nancy from 1935 to 1939 and wrote Prospero's Cell in the rooms upstairs; his brother Gerald roamed these olive terraces collecting the animals that would fill My Family and Other Animals. Today the ground floor is one of the most quietly assured tavernas on the island — white-shuttered, family-run, and best approached the way the Durrells did: by boat.
Ask for one of the front-row tables on the waterside terrace — they are the ones worth planning a day around, so reserve ahead in July and August. The kitchen does classic Corfiot and Greek cooking with unusual discipline: start with taramosalata and grilled octopus, then commit to the fresh fish of the day, sold by weight and grilled over charcoal, or the local pastitsada if you want the island's Venetian-spiced signature. The wine list leans Greek; a cold Robola from neighbouring Kefalonia is the right call with fish.
Come at lunch for the full turquoise spectacle of the bay, or at dusk when the Albanian mountains across the strait turn violet — this stretch of water is barely two nautical miles from the coast you may have sailed that morning. Linger: nobody at The White House has ever rushed a table.
Kalami is a 40-minute drive from Corfu Town, but the memorable arrival is by sea. Rent a small self-drive motorboat from Kalami, Kouloura or Agni (no licence needed for the smaller ones) and tie up at the restaurant's own moorings, or ask your skipper to drop you at the jetty as part of a northeast-coast day cruise. The Durrell pilgrimage is real, too: the upper floors of the house are rented as apartments, and a small exhibition honours the family's Corfu years.
Stay minutes from this address — shortlist on request through our concierge.
Villas, yachts, tables and crossings between Albania and Corfu — one point of contact, same-day reply.
Enquire with our concierge