Savor the Flavor of Rural Cyprus: How to find a genuine taverna on Aphrodite's island

A Vakhis certificate means the restaurant serves genuine Cypriot fare, prepared using traditional methods and served in a typically Cypriot setting, such as the village taverna, the focal point of village life. The initiative is being implemented by the Cyprus Tourism Organisation and European chefs’ association Eurotoques International, among others, as part of an EU-funded, island-wide drive to promote rural tourism.

Why Vakhis? Vakhis was probably the original celebrity chef. He lived in the city of Kition in 300AD, at a time when bread, olive oil and wine were the staples of the rather sparse Cypriot diet.

Things are different today. Cyprus has been invaded, occupied and visited by many cultures, thanks to its strategic position in the far eastern corner of the Mediterranean, close to the Middle East, and its cuisine reflects this. The island is famous for its meze, short for mezedes, which involves sampling up to 30 little dishes of meat, vegetables and savory dips.

Meze is far more than hors d'oeuvres and constitutes a meal in itself. Expect to find things like Loukanika, coriander-seasoned sausages, soaked in red wine and smoked. Koupepia are vine leaves stuffed with minced meat and rice and halloumi is a melt-in-the-mouth cheese, often made from the milk of sheep fed on mint. Halloumi is a great vegetarian dish, incidentally, particularly fried for breakfast!

Other specialties include fresh calamari (squid); sea bass and red mullet ; and stews of lamb, beef or rabbit cooked in a sealed clay oven, which gives them an amazing tenderness.

All of this will be accompanied by traditional dips, such as hummous, the Greek taramosalata (fish roe with lemon juice and parsley); and sheep's yoghurt mixed with garlic, mint and shredded cucumber, like the Greek tzatziki. A large salad of tomatoes, cucumber, green olives, herbs and bell peppers will always be served, sprinkled with cubes of salty feta cheese. The Greeks call this Greek salad but in Cyprus, it'll be labelled 'village salad.'

As if you can eat any more, desserts come dripping with honey and dusted with chopped nuts, another influence of the Middle East. Look out for loukoumades, doughnuts with honey syrup, daktyla, ladyfingers with almonds, walnuts and cinnamon, and shiamali, orange semolina cakes cut into squares.

So far, ten restaurants are proud bearers of the Vakhis certificate. Download a list and a PDF with details of the initiative from the Cyprus Tourism Organisation, www.visitcyprus.org.cy.

The copyright of the article Savor the Flavor of Rural Cyprus in Culinary Travel is owned by Sue Bryant. Permission to republish Savor the Flavor of Rural Cyprus in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Oct 1, 2006 12:41 AM

Mike Gerrard :

I've been to Greece a lot but never Cyprus. The cooking sounds almost identical. Is there any difference at all, in your experience?

Oct 3, 2006 11:11 AM

Sue Bryant :

Yes, the cooking is very different. Cypriot food has a lot of Greek influence but also a lot of Middle Eastern and Turkish influence, so it's a lot more varied than Greek. I adore Greek food but the reality is that unless you go somewhere expensive or get very lucky, it's pretty samey. The Cypriot meze can be samey too, of course, but you can have fish meze, meat meze, vegeterian meze (have to search hard for this one) and a lot of the main courses are unique to the island. In the villages, meat is cooked in a clay oven in the grounds of the taverna and it's amazingly tender. The desserts are fantastic and dripping with honey from the Troodos mountains. My only regret is that Cypriots don't drink retsina wine. I have yet to meet someone to share a bottle of resiny Greek retsina with! Most people can't stand it.

Oct 3, 2006 11:35 PM

Mike Gerrard :

Thanks, Sue. Much appreciated. I never knew that about the retsina there. I'm always happy to be back in Greece when I can sit down with a plate of fried squid and a bottle of retsina (reluctantly shared).