Dining in North Cyprus
Cyprus Food Specialities
If you know the food of Turkey, then you know Cyprus food, but there are one or two things that you won't find in Turkey. Probably the most famous of Cypriot culinary specialities is hellim cheese. This full-fat soft cheese is made from whole goats milk, salt and a touch of mint. It is typically served with salads.
Another speciality is molohiya, a green leafy vegetable which grows only in Cyprus and on the banks of the Nile. It is usually cooked with chicken or meat and is delicious and wholesome. Another interesting vegetable unknown outside Cyprus is kolokas, a root vegeable which when cooked (again with lamb or chicken) has the texture of potato, but a sweeter taste. Most of people who visited Cyprus said that they never tasted a better kind of potatoes than Cyprus ones.
In addition to the usual Turkish kebabs, there are two which are only to be found in Cyprus. One is kup kebab, lamb or goat wrapped in foil with potatoes and herbs and cooked for hours in a clay oven. The other is sheftali kebabs, which are small, spicy and sausage-like. They are skewered and cooked over hot charcoal.
Cyprus is also famous for its several fruits - water melon, melon, banana, strawberry, apple, citrus fruits of all kind, peach, apricot. Cyprus melon, famous for its delicious taste is another popularity of Cyprus.
Restaurants and Cafes in Kyrenia
In places frequented by tourists, as, for example, the old harbour, there may be found one or two restaurants of a good standard, but many are little more than cafes in terms of culinary offerings, and are, in Cypriot terms, expensive. Their saving grace is that you can dine by the sea under a star-lit sky.
Moving away, and exploring the backstreets, you will find cafes that offer real Cypriot cuisine at astonishingly low prices. Generally, in these cafes, there is no menu, or, if there is, you may well not understand it. What you do in these places is to examine the contents of the hot and cold cabinets and order a little of this and a little of that, and make up a meal to your own liking. There are three such cafes around the town square, and several others if you care to explore. You may find the Girne Restaurant, tucked away on a square close to the Kyrenia harbour. This is open 24 hours a day, serves real Turkish food, and the most delicious freshly cooked naan bread. If you are looking for real Cypriot food, you need to search a little harder. Find the street where the two stores 1001 and Ordu Pazari (Army Stores) are situated, walk along this street (away from the harbour) until you come to a small parade of shops set back from the pavement on your left, and take the first left. This brings you into a street of various shops and a selection of cafes. These cafes cater almost exclusively for Cypriots and, for the main part, are very good, as well as being exceptionally inexpensive. My wife and I ate at Beyti Kabap Salonu, where we tried (what else?) Beyti Kebap, which is undoubtedly the King of Kebaps. If you haven't tried it, try it here.
Because there are many English and Germans living in Cyprus (particularly in Kyrenia), you will also find restaurants - mainly out of town - offering all types of cuisine : English/French, Indian, and Italian, sometimes all three plus Turkish! There are also one or two chinese restaurants. Fish restaurants abound. Some of these restaurants are of a very high standard.
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