Thessaloniki is the region’s main city as well as gastronomic hub. Trigona, the triangle-shaped cream-filled pastry sweets that have made the Panorama suburb famous throughout Greece, can nowadays be found almost anywhere in the country, but the affluent suburb of Thessaloniki still holds the key to the original recipe. The cream-filled mpougatsa pie is always a Thessaloniki favourite, while kazan dibi, a mastic-scented oriental crème brûlée, is a typical example of the city’s Constantinopolitan culinary heritage.

One hundred miles to the North, in the city of Serres, the word for sweet is akanes. This local delicacy looks like Turkish delight but has the taste of fresh butter and cooked almond, and can only be found in Serres, as the recipe is a local secret. Its peculiar name comes from the Turkish word for "stir" and the Greek word for "yes": as tradition has it, back during the Ottoman rule, the local governor would smell the scent and immediately ask if they were stirring his favourite delicacy to be answered in the affirmative.