Bougatsa is a Greek breakfast worth waking for

This custard-filled treat, which dates back to the time of the Byzantine Empire, is a delicious slice of Athens life

- Prachi Joshi

Bougatsa is not just a breakfast but a piece of living history.

Most Greeks have coffee and cigarettes for breakfast," says my guide Katerina Lolou, who is taking me on a food tour around Athens.

"What about Greek yoghurt with honey?" I enquire. She finds the very notion hilarious; "we will think of ten other things before considering yoghurt for breakfast," she says. And one of those things is bougatsa, a filo pastry stuffed with mildly sweet semolina custard that I grew obsessed with during my week-long Greek holiday.

Before visiting Greece, I was only aware of spanakopita, the spinach and feta stuffed filo pie that is perhaps one of the most well-known Greek foods. But I discovered very quickly that the Greeks have taken the art of stuffed filo pastry pies to another level. We begin the tour at Creme Royale, a bakery-cafe on Athinas, one of the streets that leads off the central Monastiraki Square. Its display case is filled with freshly baked pies like spanakopita, kotopita (chicken and cheese pie), and savoury bougatsa with minced meat filling. The night before, I had tried a slice of galaktoboureko, another custard-filled filo pie doused with sugar syrup. It was delicious, of course, but a bit too sweet for my taste. What I'm most keen to sample is the traditional bougatsa me krema.