Ayia Anna Taverna
Ayia Anna Taverna has gained
a far-reaching reputation that attracts meze connoisseurs from all over the
island.
Costas, whose family have
been chefs for generations, set up the restaurant a decade ago driven by a
passion to keep Cypriot cuisine alive. He serves up to thirty dishes in one
sitting, and that's not counting dessert.
Food and wine alike are
presented in traditional red oven-fired clay. Live folk music and Greek dancing
on weekends afford a pleasurable, authentic dining experience.
Taverna Trimithos
A favourite with locals is
the modest but friendly taverna at the bottom of the road specialising in
sheftalia, charcoal grilled lamb sausages, along with other regional dishes. It
goes without saying the meal commences with a couple of dips – yoghurt and
cucumber tzatziki and sesame tahini – to accompany pitta bread.
Another noteworthy lamb
speciality is kleftiko, probably the island's signature dish, deriving its name
from kleftis or 'thief' after brigands who would steal a sheep to be
slow-roasted on the bone in an underground oven, sealed so no smoke would be
visible.
Archontiko Papadopoulou
Cypriot fine dining at its
best, the restaurant spills into the candle-lit courtyard of an old mansion in
the dreamy village
of Kornos.
A delight to eye and palate
alike, the international award-winning chef imaginatively presents sea bass in
vine leaves cradled in a terracotta roof-tile, prepared in a wood-fired oven.
The wine list is a
near-exhaustive catalogue of the island's better vineyards and the sommelier is
happy to offer suggestions. Don't miss the house's own sweet red Commandaria to
finish.
Taverna Koutsonikolias
A friendly family-run taverna
in the village of Kalo Chorio, only five minutes away, specialising in
authentic cuisine from the Karpass
Peninsula on the north of
the island.
This meze offers an
interesting alternative to the standard fare on offer in most Greek restaurants
of the south. Another novelty is the succulent roast lamb served from a mobile
domed oven wheeled to your table.
