There are so many food specialties to try out in Cyprus, so I’ve made you a list of the most famous and tasty ones !
If you are coming to the island, you cannot miss the food culture there.
Whether it is Halloumi, moussaka or chicken souvlaki, I’ll list here what specialties you can find and where to try them.
The savoury food you’ll find on every menu in Cyprus is the halloumi. This semi-hard squeaky cheese of Cypriot origin is made from combining goat’s and sheep’s milk. It can be enjoyed cold or grilled as it has a high melting point. It is just so good served hot and grilled like the ones you can see on the second picture below.
Another typical dish in you’ll find on every menu in Cyprus is the moussaka : it’s a casserole made from layers of eggplant, minced meat, béchamel and sometimes potatoes. Absolutely incredible. I had countless of those during our stay, you can find one on the third picture below.
Also very famous there : the souvlakis, which are skewered marinated grilled chicken (or sometimes pork).
Of course when you are alongside the Mediterranean sea, you ça have some really good and fresh fish, squid or cuttlefish.
Other specialties include :
- Kleftiko : marinated lamb’s leg in olive oil, onion, garlic, and lemon
- Koupepia : vines stuffed with rice, minced meat, tomato, onions and lemon
- Pilafi Pourgouri : made from bulgar (wheat), tomato sauce and onion (on the first picture below, next to another moussaka)
- Makaronia tou Fournou which kind of looks like moussaka but is made from macaroni, minced meat and béchamel (usually there’s also halloumi)
- Stifado : a beef stew with tomato sauce (on the third photo below)
- On the second picture above, you can also spot a baked feta dish, and some feta and honey rolls which were absolutely delicious !
- And of course you can’t forget all the amazing dips such as hummus (chickpea purée, the yellow dip in each picture below), tzatziki (green yogurt with cucumber, lemon and oil – the white dip in the first pic below), melitzanosalata (roasted eggplant dip, the colourful dip in the first and last pic below), tirokafteri (feta cheese, yogurt, garlic, chili pepper, and olive oil – the creamy pinkish dip in the first photo below) and the incredibly tasty olives you’ll get to try everywhere !
Similar to Mediterranean countries, you’ll find a lot of baklava (layered phyllo pastry with walnuts and honey).
Glyko Tou Koutaliou (meaning spoon sweets) is another sweet treat, usually offered in a spoon as a sign of hospitality. These are dried fruits (usually cherries) preserved in sirup.
We also tried shamali which is a semolina cake baked in either orange or lemon sirup (pictured below).
Another famous one is the Pourekia, a puff pastry filled filled with cypriot cheese, cinnamon and sugar.
You’ll also find loukoumades, fried balls of dough drenched in sirup, among many more sweet food specialties you’ll discover on your trip.
Prices in Cyprus restaurants quite affordable, for example moussaka of souvlaki main dishes were around 10-13€, a trio of dips served with pita bread served as a starter was 6€ at max, we even found tzatziki for 1€ at some places !
I will list three of the best restaurants we tried on our stay and that I would recommend :
- Tochni Tavern : located in Tochni village, south of the island, it has been our go-to for almost all evenings (and almost all pictures above were taken there). Prices were reasonable, the atmosphere was wonderful and the moussaka as well as the dips were really good.
- Retro Tavern : located in Kalavasos, south of the island, it’s a traditional restaurant filled with locals enjoying a dinner outside. The moussaka was the absolute best we had, and the setting was very inviting and homely.
- Militzis : located in Larnaca, it was the first restaurant we went to in Cyprus, and remained the best one for halloumi, plus the decor is really nice and you have a splendid view of Larnaca Bay.
That’s it for my recommendations on the food specialties to try out in Cyprus. We had a wonderful time trying all the best food specialties in Cyprus and I’m sure you will too !
If you plan on visiting the island any time soon, check out my one week itinerary in Cyprus or this article detailing everything you need to know before you visit Cyprus.
