γεία σα = hello!
geia sas
Cyprus food is full of characterMezze are small dishes Lovely breads,olives with coriander seeds, pickled vegetables can be radish,celery, raw onion and slices of lemon
Tahini Dip is also a must with all starters- Traditional dish served with Cypriot Meze.
Cyprus Beers are Kheo,Mythus,Leon(my favorite)and Carlsberg.Kheo dominates the market.
A typical Cypriot salad includes:Sliced cucumber,tomatoes,feta,lettuce, some times cabbage or rocket are added.
Lamb is The National Meat,I've tried barbecued,in lovely stews and cooked in clay oven, the last one is delicious and so tender that melts in your mouth.
You must try ‘Koupepia’ which is stuffed wine-leaves(with rice)cooked in tomato sauce.The culinary in Cyprus has a big Middle East influence. you can find Couscous,from Israel,kebabs from Turkey.
Souflakia or Kebab, is either bits of lamb or pork skewered and roasted by slow charcoal fire and eaten with chopped onion, salt and pepper in a pitta bread.
IN the Pitta you will find also
Shiftalies they are small charcoal-grilled sausages made of minced meat. Thousands have tried to guess the secret of its unique taste, but the Cypriot’s aren’t telling!
National cheese is Halloumi: salty white cheese, made from lamb's milk
Desserts and Sweets Soutjouko is made by threading a piece of string with nuts and then dipping it in the hot grape juice mixture which is made from grape juice or Moustari (as the Cypriots call it, some also call it Epsimo) and flour. This is boiled in a large cauldron then threaded onto the nuts. The string of nuts is dipped in the grape mixture a few times depending on how thick the household likes it, then hung out to dry in the sun..
They use almonds,pistachio, honey, rose water in their traditional sweets.
They also use a syrup extracted from Carob tree The fruit is very sweet, tasty and often used for feeding animals. In Cyprus it is also consumed in form of pekmez spread. The resin extracted from the seeds is also used in cosmetics, paper and textile industry.
To finish this feast you have a Cyprus Coffee with Loukoumades: similar to doughnuts with honey.
In case you are invited to someone's house to drink a coffee, don't be surprised if they turn their cups upside down onto the saucer after drinking the coffee. There are some people that say they can read your future from the coffee drains.
With a Special thanks to my new friends
Solis and Eleftherios whose opinions and help where essential to my food research in Cyprus
θα σε δω σύντομα
tha se do syntoma!(See you soon!)
The staff are friendly and welcoming although service can be slow and they can get stressed. Japanese stressed?! Yes, the staff were a little bit stressed, maybe because it was busy, but the Sushi Chef kept calm all the way. The photo top right shows deep fried Oysters and the photo at the bottom shows baby squid. They were both fresh and crispy. Try them with a Sapporo Japanese lager. I recommend it!
