Cypriot foods and the exotic tastes..
Tavernas, restaurants and hotels offer French, Italian and "international" menus. But they take pride in preparing Cypriot food and specialties, especially in the tavernas and the popular restaurants. These are some of the Cypriot dishes, which delight both tourists and residents alike.
Mezes
When you order Meze (or mezedes or mezedakia) in a Cyprus hotel or restaurant, you are served a rich collection of appetizers and savories in up to 20 saucerlike dishes. For example various cheeses, like halloumi, kaskavalli or feta, tomatoes, olives, celery, sliced artichokes or smoked ham, houmous (ground chick peas, with olive oil and garlic), octopus (or squid), shrimps, fresh fish, such as barbouni (the delicious red mullet), succulent snippets of chicken or turkey; cucumbers, green peppers, tomatoes, seftalia (homemade sausage), koupepia (stuffed vine leaves).
The local bread made of homegrown wheat and the village salad with fresh coriander, green olives, olive oil, lemon and feta cheese make the mouth water. So can taramosalata, a delicious dish made from fish roe, olive oil and lemon.
Main Courses
This consists of moussaka, made from minced lamb or beef and herbs covered with layers of sliced potatoes, eggplant and zucchini, or tavas, a veal, onion and herb dish served in little earthenware bowls straight from the oven and sprinkled with "artisia " spices.
Souvlakia 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', a flat, unleavened bread.This dish is often a meal in itself, especially if served in a big 'envelope' of bread together with delicious local yiaourti (yogurt). Such a feast is followed by a cornucopia of excellent juicy fresh fruit - oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, melons, lemons, apples, pears, cherries, apricots, figs, pomegranates, bananas, purple plumbs, grapes, dates, almonds, walnuts etc.
Souvlakia 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', a flat, unleavened bread.This dish is often a meal in itself, especially if served in a big 'envelope' of bread together with delicious local yiaourti (yogurt). Such a feast is followed by a cornucopia of excellent juicy fresh fruit - oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, melons, lemons, apples, pears, cherries, apricots, figs, pomegranates, bananas, purple plumbs, grapes, dates, almonds, walnuts etc.
If all this seems a bit too much for you to eat - and such a meal can cost less than three pounds - you can order a three course meal, which can also be Cypriot food and style. Some of the best dishes are Cyprus raviolis (a pasta dish) or avgolemoni (lemon and egg soup), patcha (a kind of lamb stew served with lemon).
Lemons in Cyprus go with every meal and every meat. Kleftiko (lamb roasted in traditional oven) or suckling pig with roast potatoes are delicious. Cyprus grows some of the finest potatoes of the world. Other famous dishes include grilled or fried fresh fish, such as synagrida, fagree, red mullet, vlachos, trout.
For people who like a more simple meal, Cyprus has the national dish of sailors' beans, called "fasolada", or there is the sturdy afelia, which is pork soaked in wine, sautéed with oil, coriander and wine. There's also zalatina (highly seasoned brawn), Cyprus smoked sausages, flavored with pepper and lentisk, or laurel.
Game abounds in Cyprus, including partridge, hare, woodcock snipe and pheasant. And there are specialties like koupes, pourekia, kattimeria - thin semolina paste delicacies filled with meat, almonds or eggs and cheese, etc.
