Wednesday, 9 July 2014

Taste the Med



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.

No comments:

Post a Comment