Must-Try Eats And Treats In Cyprus

Cyprus is known for its perfect Mediterranean weather, its unspoilt, postcard-perfect coastline and its ancient archaeological sites seeped in history. However, one (very important) thing that shouldn’t be missed is Cypriot cuisine.

If you’re looking to try (and taste) something new, then a Cyprus holiday with Monarch could be just what your stomach ordered. With plenty of late deals available, you could be hopping on a plane and tucking into some traditional meze faster than you can say moussaka.

Cypriot food is very similar to Greek cuisine, just with an added hint of influence from its geographical neighbours; namely Italy, Turkey and the Middle East. The Cypriots love their food… and with good reason. Fresh fruit and vegetables are readily available, while preserved pork, halloumi cheese and salt cod are much-loved favourites.

Small dishes called meze (literally meaning “mixture”) are the local version of the Spanish tapas and are perfect for the indecisive, allowing you to try a taste of everything. Traditionally, the meal starts with olives, bread and a variety of dips ranging from skordalia, a potato and garlic dip to taramosalata made from fish roe. Next up, there’s fish, grilled halloumi, pork tenderloin, keftedes (minced meatballs), sheftalia (pork rissoles) and loukaniko (pork sausages). To really make the most of your meze experience, try some specialities – octopus in red wine, brains with pickled capers, tongue, ram testes or samarella, a salted, dried meat.

Typical meze in Cyprus

As for street food, you can’t go a block without smelling the delicious charcoal-grilled souvlaki and gyros. Pork, chicken and halloumi souvlaki skewers are stuffed into a pita pocket with cabbage salad, tomato and cucumber, while gyros of sliced lamb or pork is topped with your choice of sauce, usually a local yogurt dressing called yiaourti.

Other popular meat dishes are afelia (pork marinated in red wine and coriander seeds), psito (chunks of oven-cooked meat and potatoes) and lountza (smoked pork tenderloin, fried with halloumi or eggs). There are also plenty of seafood options, mainly calamari, octopus, cuttlefish and sea bass. Octopus is served in a red wine stew with vegetables; calamari stuffed with rice and spices; fish mostly fried and served with fresh lemon.

While meat is predominant in Cypriot cooking, there are still plenty for vegetarians. Potatoes are a hearty staple, enjoyed either baked with onion and salt or barbecued with the skins and served with soft butter. Cauliflower and bamies (also known as ladies’ fingers) are baked in the oven with tomato and oil, while artichoke leaves make for a seasonal side dish. Yemista are stuffed vegetables – peppers, tomatoes, onions, courgettes and aubergines.

And now the best for last… dessert. It’s safe to say Cypriots have somewhat of a sweet tooth: pastries like baklava are soaked in syrup; daktila filled with a nutty cinnamon mixture and coated in syrup; fruits or walnuts marinated in syrup; the popular loukoumades, deep-fried pasty balls served in syrup (what else?). As a tourist, you can’t go past Cypriot Delight or loukoumia, a specialty sweet certified by the EU made with gelatin cubes in rose water and dusted with powdered sugar.

If all this food talk has whet your appetite, then it’s time to satisfy your cravings and snap up one of Monarch’s late deals to Cyprus. Your stomach will thank you!

By: Barbara

A career girl who dropped out, traveled, found love, and never got around to going home again. Now wrangling a cross-cultural relationship and two third culture kids.