Meze feasts are a highlight of a trip to Cyprus and there are a number of excellent traditional restaurants to be found in Ayia Napa. Cypriot cuisine is very similar to Greek food, however it also features Middle Eastern, Italian and Turkish influences.
Here are some great places to enjoy Cypriot specialities in Ayia Napa…
Tony’s Taverna
This traditional Cypriot restaurant serves mouth-watering meze and regional dishes. Located on Nissi Avenue, among the bars and clubs, the restaurant is quite a hidden gem and very popular among locals and clued up tourists.
Dinners for large groups in Cyprus usually consist of a steady flow of 20 to 25 of the restaurant’s best small dishes. We began each meal with warm, freshly-baked Cypriot bread served with a feta mixed salad and a selection of houmous, tahini, taromasalata, tzatziki and marinated olives.
Some of our favourite dishes included fried halloumi, potato wedges marinated in red wine, keftedes, roasted pork belly and pork strips in Antonio’s secret sauce. We also enjoyed ravani (semolina cake drenched in a sweet syrup) for dessert, followed by glyka (candied bitter orange treats) – a delicious end to the meal. Tony’s Taverna was my favourite restaurant of the trip, as every dish was incredibly tasty and the pretty ‘Mykonos style’ restaurant had lots of character and charm.
Taverna Mousikos
Taverna Mousikos is a popular restaurant located in a converted traditional village house in nearby Sotira Village. Most of the fresh ingredients come from the owner’s farm and there’s a delightful terrace for outdoor summer eating.
Happily, the menu was once again a feast of delicious meze, yet the style of cooking was slightly different to Tony’s Taverna. Moreish dishes included Cypriot Kibbeh, their signature baked halloumi, kolokasi chips, grilled mushrooms, macaroni cheese, courgettes stuffed with minced meat and bechamel, smoked pork tenderloin, snails, lamb kleftikos and pork souvlaki.
Napa Mermaid Hotel
For a pre-dinner apéritif, stop by the pretty Napa Mermaid Hotel for cocktails by the pool or in the Andama Cocktail Lounge. Recently redesigned, this slick design hotel has a cool Miami vibe and the outdoor bars are sure to be the place to chill out in the summer.
The cocktails are very affordable, particularly for a luxury hotel, and my Mai Tai was delicious and expertly-mixed. If you plan to stay for dinner, try the sleek, minimalist Flavours Restaurant – the chef’s carvery looked particularly tasty.
Sotira Village
We were treated to a real taste of Cyprus over lunch at the Sotira Village home of Mrs Rita Ioannidou. Formerly part of the Visit Cyprus team, Rita has created an enviable, idyllic life at her Mykonos-style home surrounded by stunning gardens, lemon trees and vegetable allotments.
Rita and her daughter Sophia prepared lunch while we sipped fresh home-made lemonade on the terrace and foraged for lemons, onions and herbs. The guys in our group were delegated barbecue, salad preparing and potato peeling duties, while the girls chatted over beers – an amusing gender role reversal in the still traditional Cyprus!
Our lunch banquet was epic and full of delicious flavours. We munched on feta salad, artichokes and carrots in a lemon, olive oil and dill sauce, grilled garlic mushrooms, keftedes, spicy sausage and an impressive roast rack of lamb and potatoes.
Not only is Rita a great cook with a beautiful home, she’s a real character and very hospitable. She occasionally offers cooking demonstrations and lunch for visiting groups – perfect if you want to experience a more personal side of Cyprus (just email for her contact details).
Isaac Tavern
This low-key seafront restaurant on Ayia Napa harbour specialises in fresh fish and seafood. It doesn’t look like a destination restaurant but it has a friendly, relaxed atmosphere and the food is pretty good.
We ate chargrilled sea bream, red snapper, whitebait, grilled prawns, garlic mussels, seafood rice and Cypriot potatoes (really good home-made chips). For dessert, it was sticky semolina and crushed almonds with rosewater syrup.
Looking for a stylish hotel by the beach in Ayia Napa or nearby Protaras? Read my reviews of the five star luxury Grecian Park Hotel and the peaceful four star Nissi Beach Resort.
All photos by Chérie City (except Napa Mermaid Hotel)
Chérie City was a guest of Visit Cyprus