Cypriot Food & Drink

The best drink to make for your BBQ:

Brandy Sours!

2 measures Cypriot brandy (usually KEO VSOP or Haggipavlu Anglias brands)
1 measure Cypriot lemon squash
2-4 drops of bitters (Angostura is the most commonly used)
Top up with soda or lemonade
Ice

Typical Cypriot Starters:

Halloumi & Lountza - This is Smoked Loin of pork (thin slice) topped with Halloumi cheese which has been grilled.

Mixed Cyprus dips - Usually, Tzatziki (yoghurt, cucumber & garlic) - Hummus (chickpea, Tahini, garlic, lemon juice) - Tahini (sesame seeds) - Taramasalata (the pink one - fish roe, lemom juice, olive oil) all scrumptious when eaten with some warm pitta bread.

Greek Salad - Red onion, lettuce, coriander, feta and a lovely dessing

Main Courses

Stifado - aromatic beef stew with onions, red wine vinegar and cinnamon to a name a few ingredients

Afelia - pork cubes, marinated and cooked in red wine with coriander seeds, slow cooked

Tavas - lamb or pork stew

Moussaka - potato, aubergine, mince, bechamel style sauce

Keftedes - meatballs in a tomato sauce

Sheftalia - grilled cypriot sausage (served best in pitta with salad and loads of lemon juice!)

Souvlaki - these are small pieces of meat grilled on a skewer, mainly chicken or pork.

Gyros (takeaway only) these are the large hunks of meat (elephant legs as we call them) which are actually really tasty and very reasonably priced - try one!! Get a nice mixed gyros with tzatziki and vhili sauce, it's a taste sensation!

Suckling Pig - a Cypriot favourite usually served with crackling as well.

Or just go for it and get a meze where you can sample a lot of the local cypriot dishes.

Desserts

Baklava - rich, sweet cakes made with honey
Loukoumades - small, sweet, cyprus style donuts with honey
Yoghurt & honey - self explanatoty

Some restaurants also have great chocolate cakes, cheese cakes and pancake option.

To Drink

Don't be afraid of the house wines, they are usually really quite palatable. You can't go wrong with Fikardos wine or Agios Fotios these wines are very good and reasonably prices (at least they should be)

When shopping in the supermarket, do not turn your nose up and the cartons of Keo wines for around one euro eighty a litre - these are lovely and actually more palatable than some of the more expensive bottles. One thing to note, if you get the medium red, you'll go through it like pop, it's that smooth. With the white, I tend to get the dry and make spritzers!!!

Keo Brandy is also lovely and cheap as chips!

If anyone, and I mean anyone, offers you a Zivania, run for the hills - this is the local fire water, they use it for everything, drinking, rubbing oil, medicinal, paint stripper, you have a problem, any problem, zivania will fix it!!!!

Enjoy the food and the drink while you're over and don't be afraid to try new things, all the food is very tasty and at least you can say you've tried it!

Yx

Last minute bookings

With the credit crunch hitting people in their pockets, many are leaving it until the very last minute to book their holiday! We've had an influx of last minute guests return to us for a much needed break from the UK!

Frixos and Yiota are offering some great discounts on their villas and we can recommend some great local places to eat that won't make such a dent in your wallet.

So if you're venturing to our neck of the woods this year, make sure you pay a visit to Peyia Grande restaurant - great location, great prices and excellent portions!! It's located just behind the Jail pub in Peyia village. I can heartily recommend both the pork chop (it's massive) or the chicken caesar salad (a personal favourite of mine). This place is also great for drinks as well, with an extensive cocktail menu for reasonable prices.

We took some guests to Savvas restaurant as well, Tuesday and Fridays (I think) are traditional Cypriot nights with entertainment, which is actually really good. The food is tasty and again the prices are good. This restaurant is located just down the hill from the Art Gallery restaurant - go past the police station on your left and double back on yourself on the funny junction, Savvas Grill is on the right about 100 yards down the road. I had the sheftalia, yummy! We also had mixed grill and stifado that night in our group. All very delicious.

(Just a quick note, I'm not on a commission or anything for these places, just a personal recommendation as I live in the area and use these when I have guests over!).

Happy holidays everyone!

Yx

Wedding organiser

For those who are looking at getting married in Paphos or the surrounding areas, we can highly recommend Ruth at www.paphosprestigeweddings.com

Ruth was actually the first person to comment on our courtyard and how it would be perfect for a Mamma Mia style reception!!

Whatever your wedding requirements, we would all be happy to assist you in any way we can.

Yx

For things to do in Paphos!

Visit www.paphospeople.com to get weather updates, what's on in Paphos and lots of up to the minute information on Paphos.

Beaches nearby

Went for a stroll yesterday to have a nosey around and about Coral Bay. There are a few beaches for you to choose from that are all close by, the Coral Bay Beach, the first one you come to is already getting its' fair share of tourists, with the beach cafe, sun loungers and the gorgeous warm sea, it seems to be the first port of call.

If you go further up the beach, you will come to the Corallia beach, this part seems to be a lot more quieter at the moment, there is still a kiosk where you can get your pop and ice creams and there is also a nice restaurant/cafe where you can get food. Like the Coral Bay Beach you just walk straight into the water and the kids can just play on the beach without you having to worry about them as you can keep an eye on them from your sun lounger!

Just bring the sun cream and frisby!

Beautiful Day

The weather, for me, is just perfect at the moment. Gorgeous warm days with cool evenings, just ideal.

Packed away my winter clothes last night and have got my shorts, vest tops and skirts back in the wardrobe, purchased some new sun glasses and I am well and truly ready for summer!

Can't wait for this year, we've had in influx of wedding parties booked into the villas, always a wonderful occasion, hopefully I'll capture some photos this year of the blushing brides and their wedding parties.

When I recommended BBQ's as a cost effective night out I really got myself in the mood for burgers and some home made sangria, so have decided that this weekend is definitely the start of our BBQ season!

Yvonne

Refurb to Iliada 2

Iliada 2 is one of our older villas and we've been working hard over the winter to make sure that all our villas are in top condition for your arrival. We wanted to give Iliada 2 a bit of a modern feel to it whilst maintaining it's quaint mediterranean style. It now has a whole new kitchen fitted with all new appliances, the floors have been retiled, brand new bathroom fitted. It's like spanking brand new. I've attached a pic of the new kitchen!!