Cypriot Specialities
These are just some of the Cypriot dishes worth breaking the diet for during a visit to our restaurant:
• Afelia: pork, marinated with coriander.
• Village Salad: salad composed of cabbage, lettuce, celery, cucumber, tomato, pepper, olives, feta cheese and herbs.
• Bread: always white and a central component of every Cypriot meal.
• Fish: usually deep-fried.
• Fresh Vegetables: artichokes, asparagus, various kinds of lettuce, potatoes, mushrooms, aubergine, courgettes and celery.
• Halloumi: cheese made from either sheep's or cow's milk which tastes especially good when fried. You can only find this cheese in Cyprus.
• Hiromeri: smoked ham.
• Hummus: cold chickpea puree.
• Kleftiko: lamb simmered in foil.
• Keftedes: fried meatballs
• Kolokasi: root vegetables.
• Kolokithakia: courgettes either stuffed or plain served as a side dish.
• Koukia: broad beans, served either as soup or raw in salad.
• Koupepia (dolmades): stuffed vine leaves.
• Lountza: ham, usually served in sandwiches and fried with halloumi.
• Makaronia tou Fournou (or Pastitsio): macaroni cas¬serole made with ground meat.
• Meze: a little bit of a lot of dishes!
• Fresh Fruit: especially grapes, figs, melon, citrus fruits, and watermelon.
• Olive-oil: especially tasty and used generously in the prepara¬tion of many foods.
• Olives: marinated with garlic, coriander, lemon and rhyme.
• Pastourmas: garlic sausage
• Pitta Bread: flat, hollow rounds of bread filled with sheftalia or souvlaki and vegetables.
• Pilafi: coarsely ground wheat grains and vermicelli cooked in chicken broth and served with a selection of different vegetable side-dishes.
• Souvla: pork, chicken or lamb roasted on a spit, which is especially popular at family picnics, birthdays and special occasions. It is also considered a “man’s job” to take care of the spit.
• Souvlakia: grilled meat kebabs.
• Sheftalia: grilled sausage made of ground meat.
• Stifado: beef or rabbit stew prepared with onions.
• Tahini: sesame sauce with lemon and garlic.
• Talattouri (Tzatziki): yogurt prepared with cucumber and peppermint.
• Taramosalata: pink dip made of cod roe with lemon, potato puree, onions and oil.
• Trahanas: coarsely ground wheat grains dried with yogurt and added to soups together with halloumi.
