ELINAS BLOG
FOOD BLOG- CYPRUS LOVING FOOD
Hello Food Lovers! It's Elina Davies here with my Eating Cyprus in three days blog! I will share my food expereinces that I had on my holiday in Cyprus.Which will hopefully encourage you to try some of their cuisine as well!
DAY 1 - LUNCH
For lunch I went to a traditional Cypriote tavern. It looked someehat casual, but the owner started to talk to me and made me feel very welcome! For the starter i had ordered a traditional Greek Salad, which was tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers,, olives and feta cheese sprinkled with orgeano and mixed with olive oil, The owner had grown the olives himself! it was delicious! The vegetables were fresh and had a much better taste then in England. The feta tasted a lot better than what you would get in England aswell, because it was locally made.
The owner also brought us a compliment which was some freshly made bread, with some home made butter! This tasted fantasic dipped in olive oil.
For my main course I ordered grilled Sea Bream. They brought me the whole fish which was soft and full of flavour and not in and not in anyway dry, so I as a fish and seafood lover was very impressed!! The other thing I was pleasently surprised about was the fact that there weren't many bones, so I could enjoy the dish without worrying that I was going to swallow one. Overall the Tavern left a very good Impression and I would highly recommend it, as I got served very tasty food and the owner having a drink with me at the end, It made me very feel very relaxed and taken care off. What else could you need for a good lunch?
Day 1 Champange and Cocktails
Although I was staying in the city of Larnaca, I was going to meet my friends for dinner in Aiya Napa. Before that I decided to go to Nissi Beach to get tanned! Here I have enjoyed a lovely glass of champagne in my friends hotel room, looking over the most beautiful beach in Cyprus.
Then afterwards I made my way to the beach where I enjoyed a refreshing glass of strawberry mojito. As the weather was too hot to have desserts and sweet foods cocktails made the perfect alternative.
Day 1 -Dinner
For my dinner my friends took me to me to Sage Restaurant that was a posh and expensive place with both cypriote and European cuisine. Althhough it was the opposite of the Tavern earlier, the waiters were doing a very good job trying to attend my every need. For the starter I had decided to order the garden green salad with green salad, walnuts, pomegranate, dressed with honey olive oil and balsamic sauce. It was light, delicious and refreshing and made the perfect starter, whilst I also got to enjoy some fresh vegetables once again. The presentation of the dish was to a high standard and made me very hungry as soon as I saw it.
My friend said this place does very good steaks and beef, so I was quite intrigued to try it. I chose blue cheese beef with blue cheese and cream shallots sauce. When it arrived, the top presentation was something I had already expected after seeing the starter. However the tender taste of the beef with the blue chees and sauce combination, created such a great satisfaction in my mouth! I completly forgot that I was full from lunch, becuase this was the dish i just didn't want to end! Sage was definatly a resturant I wouldnt be able to forget.
Day 2 Lunch
The whole of day 2 I spent in an area of Larnaca called Finikoudes, on the beach. This is where I had both lunch and dinner. For lunch I went to a restaurant that has been around since 1976 and it seemed full of people and popular for sea food and fish. For my started I ordered something small called small fish which were lightly fried, crunchy and very tastey. One thing that I did notice in Cyprus is that their portions are just perfect there not too big and not too small.
For my main dish I decided to try a Cyprus speciality which was grilled octopus. OH MY GOD!! I think i found my new favourite food! The texture wasn't rubbery, as I imagined at all, it was juicy and the the grilling of the octopus with olive oil and lemon juice gave it much more flavour and zest. It is something I will definatly look for back in England and I would advice anyone to take the risk and try it as it is the best food ever!
Day 2 - Dinner
For dinner I found another small local restaurant which unsurprisingly turned out to be the perfect place for dinner after a day of sunbathing and swimming in the sea. I didn't want a big starter, but i faniced something local, so I went for freshly baked pita bread, some feta cheese and tzatziki sauce, which is a yummy greek sauce made from youghurt. It was a very simple and traditional starter. But it was very tasty and flavourful.
For my main course I decided to try the grilled swordfish, as i had never had it before, I excpected it to be dry, but I was wrong! It had flavour that could be said to be a mix between salmon and cod but it was finger licking fish. It will definatly be in my top fish choices from now on.
Day 2 - Cocktail
To finish off day 2, I found a nice pub close to where my friends hotel was, where I tried brandy sour which is a tranditional Cyprus cocktail drunk by all the locals. I think it was made for brandy, lemon squash and bitters. I was never a fan of brandy, but this drink was so nice and refreshing that I could definatly recommed it as the perfect summer drink.
Day 3 - Lunch
I knew that today I would be going out with a big traditional dinner with my friends, so i didn't want to have a big lunch.I found a nice seaside restaurant. For the starter I ordered a village salad with olive oil, as I was craving somthing fresh and healthy. It was lovely and I realised that I was going to miss Cyprus' quality of vegetables and olive oil when I got home.
For my main course I chose oysters cooked in garlic sauce, as I wanted some seafood. I am not usually a very big fan of garlic but this sauce was very creamy and the whole combination was very scrumptious and palatable.
Day 3 - Cocktail
Just after lunch I was craving something sweet, so I went to the bar next door to the restuarant and ordered myself a bananna colada which was an alternative to one of my favourite cocktails, Pina colada. It was very fruity and strong, so I was happy I had eaten beforehand. It was just the dessert I needed to get myself energetic to get on with the remainder of my afternoon.
Day 3 - Dinner
For This dinner my friends invited me to Tony's Tavern. The most delicious and popular Tavern in Aiya Napa. I got to try loads of different small varitery of dishes, something known as a Meze. Everything was mouth watering and i was thankful for the oppotunity to try so many traditional dishes. Something I can definatly recommend is Souvlaki, which are skewers but the way they taste is a million times better than England. Aswell as that we had differnt meats like pork and Lamb, and fish dishes like squid and shrimps. The owner grows his own vegetables and olives so he had the best Greek salad I tasted on my holiday! He was also very friendly and made me feel so welcome and after every dish i had he came over and made sure I liked it. This was the most filling meal i've had in my life. I spent over 3 hours at this restuarant and I would quite happily go back any day.
