What's On Cyprus

Specialising in sound, light, and automation, without doubt Andreas' expertise is evident, with many top bars and clubs trusting in his knowledge and experience, to be honest, I've never met anyone who knows audio better than this guy, and listened with interest as he critiqued the sound and light system at Ministry of Sound in London on our visit a few years back, ask him to tell you about it 😉 

My initial interest was to find out about their gins, Aris explained, "it's what originally brought us back to Cyprus, 'to create a quality craft gin'.  Our initial inspiration was the aroma of The Troodos Mountains after a long dry summer when it first rains and we wanted to capture exactly that and put it in a bottle and we called it Aoratas Dry Gin which in fact last year won a gold medal. 

This is as traditional an English pub as you’ll find in Cyprus.  It’s on a corner for starters, with wooden decking and comfy seating outside on the shaded, decked, beer terrace, inside its cosy, with lots of dark wooden beams, bar stools, pictures and railway memorabilia and a gorgeous open fire for the winter, to warm your brandy on … with regular eat-in clients and a successful entertainment programme ...

Pretty much every Friday and definitely every Saturday, and the day before a bank holiday they host live Rock gigs with big name international bands and the very best local Greek and English Rock Bands ... they even squeeze in a little Rhythm and Blues, Indie, Folk, and the occasional Reggae and Disco night too ... I've even caught them doing The Candy up on stage ... adding a bit of live comedy these days ... You'll love it here !

Fāinā told me "We originally opened a French restaurant in Makarios Avenue, introducing Lebanese cuisine after 2 years, but when we moved our restaurant here we switched to a Lebanese Restaurant with just a few French dishes as our customers were mostly locals.  These days its a more varied international mix as more and more tourists have discovered us.  As the years past, we found more and more of our customers were asking us to cook French cuisine for them".  She laughed and said "ha! but many restaurants cook Frogs Legs, but none can cook them like ours!  And, then she added; just wait til you try our Duck!"

A place with a cool atmosphere, to enjoy good food, but with big portions, served fresh from the Charcoal Grill, hosting regular events and of course showing all the live sports on the 4 big screens.  The decor traditional taverna style, inside it's spacious, comfy, a lovely log burner for the chilly winter evenings and outside a covered courtyard for the balmy summer nights ... oh I'm loving the new extended bar with RGB lights, looks well cool ...

As one of their clientele once said ''Scarabeo is a home to the artists, the musicians, the fans, the misfits, the creative ones, the alcoholics, the sane and insane ones" ... sounds like a good night to me !

Coming up to their first anniversary in Cyprus I asked Nicola to tell me about the Menu ... Nicola said; "We sort of split it into three cuisines, Fresh Fish, Fresh Sushi, and Vegan Platters & Snacks ... Our head chef has been with us since day one, his qualifications and previous experience in Cyprus, the very best Sushi eateries, including Sushi La and Wagamama" ... I was suitably impressed!

If you are anywhere near Oroklini, this is an excellent choice, if you're not, it's definitely worth the drive, whether you fancy breakfast, lunch, or dinner, you can sit inside in traditional surroundings, or out front in the beer garden, or out back by the gorgeous pool, or maybe enjoy a fun-filled night with live entertainment, or just pop in for a quick pint and sit next to the huge tropical fish tank while enjoying a little Sushi!

Over a delicious Illy coffee, I asked Charbel how it all started; he said, "In the past, I was an HR Operations Manager in the F&B Sector ... Then we found this place, and between 2016 to 2021, we took Rise of the past, and Re-Branded it ... it was during the pandemic where I got the idea to take it to a new level and we had the time make some improvements, the idea was to 'Elevate your Hotel Experience' ... it's not just about the decoration it's about culture and spirit"