Eating Out

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!

Times have changed as far as the fascia goes, but for the past 28 years, the service is still exemplary and the cuisine is as traditional as it gets.  It's a family-run restaurant, from Luigi's warm welcome to the homemade Cypriot specialties using mum's secret recipes and the lovely touch of complimentary seasonal fruit, grown in dad's orchard, that they'll bring to your table for afters.

I really enjoy my job, even more so when I find something a little different and was thrilled when Valentina and Yiannis invited me to meet them at their Traditional Romanian Restaurant in Paphos … They asked me if I'd like to try one of Yiannis' Soups for lunch, and I said "just a little please" and they served me Meat Ball Soup with some warm pitta and green chili peppers on the side … I just have to say; "I wish I hadn't said 'just a little' … it really was delicious!"

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!"

I popped into meet Stelios and Eleni, inside its clean cut, minimalistic, Italian designer style, with wooden flooring, comfortable seating for around 25 people inside and a few tables outside for Al' Fresco dining … Stelios told me "we wanted to make it feel like Home from Home" … I loved the really cool photos chosen by Eleni, especially the one saying "Eat the Spaghetti to Forget your Regretti", brilliant"!

Stephanos said; "We got together often, looking for the best place where we could open an authentic Greek Restaurant.  We could have done it in Thessaloniki, but there's lots of Greek Restaurants there, so it was a calculated decision and we chose Larnaca because it reminded us most of Thessaloniki and then of course the weather here in Cyprus had something to do with it"

Vangelis said he had extensive training in Naples, not at collage but at an academy at a traditional pizzeria, with top pizza chefs.  The rewards; pizzas as authentic as you can get this side of Italy, the dough, 4 simple ingredients, hand made, but fermented for 48 Hours before use, a Neapolitan influence, which enhances the flavour, then topped with your favourite toppings and baked to perfection in a traditional stone fired revolving oven ... the result a thin base with a light fluffy crust ... I have to say they're delicious!

I was delighted to be invited to find out more about this exceptional, luxury chocolate manufacturing company.  Established in 1990 by Constantinos' father Stavros.  Their story is almost as lovely as their chocolate tastes ... omg!  Constantinos made me very welcome as we talked about how it all started ...

This really is a lovely initiative by local, ex-pat and international artists and crafters from all over the world and a lovely way to spend a family day out doing a little shopping and bartering for Christmas and I really hope you'll go along to give them some support, especially this year ... See you there!!!

Their Coconuts are full of raw unpasturised fresh coconut juice, and tasty young coconut flesh, packed with electrolytes, containing as much potassium as two bananas and with zero cholesterol, almost no calories, and extremely low in fat, a perfect part of any healthy diet, that will help you build your immune system.