With the opening of his Athens restaurant Aneton in 2005, Vasilis Kallidis heralded the arrival of new Greek cuisine (although “new” in this instance involves a revival of interest in traditional Greek ingredients).

“I want to revisit the roots we forgot. After the Olympics in 2004, Greeks wanted to show the world their cuisine was more than just souvlaki. And so chefs started to open restaurants and people started to buy Greek produce again,” says Kallidis over breakfast at Eatit, an independent café group with a Greek slant. Kallidis comes here every day for fresh pomegranate juice and a Caesar salad wrap with intensely flavoured Kasseri cheese.

After breakfast, we walk to the Pnyka bakery where we are greeted with wafting smells of sourdough bread. A baker for the past 60 years, owner Dimitri Kotsaris is a well-known figure for both his bread and his attire – under his white baker’s coat he always sports a suit, tie and immaculately polished brogues. “Pnyka doesn’t use salt in its bread and Dimitri scours Greece for the best wheat that they blend themselves,” says Kallidis.

From Pnyka we head to To Pantopoleion, a store that works with rural co-operatives in Greece and stocks products from over 2,000 artisanal companies. When we visit, Vasileia Christodoulopoulou is hosting a tasting of Malevos wines. We try a red made from Koliniatiko grapes.

“I buy everything for my house here, including rare fava beans from Santorini. A couple of years ago no one would have been interested in buying such specialist ingredients,” says Kallidis before he whisks us off to Athens’ central market, the Agora, and his butcher Angelis in the meat section.

“Milk-fed lamb is the pride of Greek meat. When you make lamb chops it just melts,” says Kallidis before we pop into Ipiros opposite, a popular breakfast spot with other butchers. The patsas (tripe soup) at Ipiros isn’t for everyone, but it’s a popular local hangover cure garnished with vinegar or pepper flakes.

At the Dimitra Arapi stall in the fish market next door, father and son Vasilis and Giorgos Arapi stock the freshest catch, including razor clams and sea urchins, which Kallidis serves raw on bread at his restaurant.

Heading out of the market, we see an extensive queue outside the Bahar spice market, which stocks over 2,500 varieties including the Greek mountain tea Tsai tou Vounou, a home staple. Then it’s off for lunch at Sardelles, a fish restaurant where we have grilled sardines, squid and bakaliaros skordalia, deep-fried salted cod with garlic potato puree. “I eat here so often, it’s an extension of my house. In the summer, they give you basil or oregano pots to take home,” says Kallidis.

After a gruelling schedule that sees Kallidis head to the studios of Mega TV each morning at 07.00 to record one of his cookery shows – then the rest of his hours at his restaurant until late – he heads home for a well-earned nap.