Favorite Restaurants and Food Hot Spots

Food is the most important part of any trip, especially when you’re studying abroad. In this post I’m going to introduce you to my favorite restaurants and food spots in Nicosia.

Cypriot Cuisine

Cypriot cuisine is pretty similar to other Mediterranean food, particularly Greek and Turkish food. There’s a lot of fresh produce incorporated into dishes, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, and olives. One of the most popular dishes is the Village Salad, which incorporates cucumbers, olives, tomatoes, bell peppers, olive oil, and tons of feta cheese. Since Cyprus is an island, seafood is also very popular. Cyprus is also well known for Halloumi, a special Cypriot cheese that’s usually served grilled. In my opinion, Halloumi kind of tastes like an elevated, more sophisticated string cheese. More Cypriot staples are gyros, hummus, and most importantly meze. Meze is an eclectic assortment of small dishes, with multiple courses. Meze is my go-to meal when going to a restaurant, and the amount of food borders on overwhelming so I usually split it between 2-3 people. Meze starts with a Village Salad, pita bread, grilled halloumi and a sampling of spreads such as Tahini, Hummus, and Tzakiki. Throughout the meal various kabobs, specialty meats from the restaurant, and sheftalia- Cypriot sausage-, are brought out. My personal favorite dish is Loukanika, a type of sausage marinated in wine.

Best Nicosia Restaurants

I have three restaurants that are my go-to for meze. They’re all very reasonably priced, and serve an absurd amount of food.

My absolute favorite restaurant is Piatsa Gourounaki, or “The Little Pig”. This restaurant is definitely the touristiest of the three, but is such a stand out. It’s located in the Old Town area of Nicosia. I love this restaurant because the atmosphere is really modern, albeit a little touristy, but the service is amazing and the fries are to die for. They have the best honey mustard and insanely good rosemary herb fries. In Cyprus I’ve had fries served with almost every single one of my meals and none of the fries have come close to The Little Pig’s.

 

My second favorite restaurant is Estiatorio Euroullas. Estiatorio Euroullas is a really

quaint and cozy restaurant in the Old Town and was the first place that I tried meze. It’s in a little alley off of Ledras Street, the main street in Old Town, and is almost hidden. I love this restaurant because everything seems home-y and authentic. Of the three restaurants this place has the best Tzakiki, a yogurt based dipping sauce.

The last restaurant on this list is To Anamma. This is the restaurant we went to for orientation dinner. Like the other restaurants it’s in Old Town. I love this restaurant because the seating area takes you to a different place once you enter. Tables are laid out under a canopy of green vines and it’s so quiet it’s like you’ve left Nicosia and you’re eating in a garden. The chef actually lived in Los Angeles for a couple of years, and so he came by and explained the background and inspiration behind his dishes, which added to the experience.

Food Hot Spots

Nicosia is deeply concentrated with ice cream shops, cute cafes, and desert shops. There are 3 standout places that my roommates and I went back to time and time again.

Because of the weather, ice cream in Nicosia is a necessity. My favorite place is only a 5 minute walk from the apartments and is called Papafilipou. Papfilipou is special because it’s half ice cream shop and half amusement park. Another good ice cream place is Heraclis located on Ledras Street in old town. 

Pieto’s Café is my favorite spot in Nicosia. It’s a small coffee shop connected to Estiatorio Euroullas restaurant, and is a plant lovers dream. Walking inside the café is like stepping inside a small retro botanic garden. They have amazing chocolate cake, the creamiest milkshakes, fresh juices, and a whole collection of signature drinks and desserts. One of their specialty drinks I really love is a coffee milkshake with butterscotch syrup, tree-gum ice cream, and mint leaves. 

Meal Plan

When we arrived in Nicosia we were given meal vouchers as a meal plan. The meal vouchers work for two restaurants around the university, a bakery, a KFC, the university cafeteria, and the university café. Both of the restaurant that accept the vouchers are gyro places, so we’ve been having gyros almost daily. They’re all within a 10-minute walk of the university and apartments and have been a really convenient way to get food. The bakery is where most of my vouchers go to. I love that it’s open all day and they have a huge variety of food, made to order sandwiches, some packaged sushi, and an in-house coffeeshop.

We’re almost completely done with physics and our final is coming up in the next couple of days. The past couple of days we’ve been studying and gearing up for the end of the program. Since it’s the end of summer the university has been closed and it’s mostly empty. We’ve been getting catered lunch from the bakery during class breaks since the cafeteria isn’t running anymore. The last week has been a little stressful but it’s nice knowing in a couple of days physics will finally be over. Wish us luck on our final!