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
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