Our Restaurant
Here you'll find information about our philosophy
Ancient Food of Cyprus
The whole of Cyprus is an archaeological site with mosaics, artifacts, utensils and everything else that one can imagine from 9000 years history. There is a great deal evidence of this civilization concerning food in ancient Cyprus. This evidence makes it obvious that the Cypriots have managed to survive through the millennia because of the availability and abundance of so much food.
It has been mentioned by ancient writers that the raw materials existed either cultivated or uncultivated together with the art of cooking and preserving food. Books can be written on this but here we have to be brief due to limited space.
Philosophy of Food
Is there a philosophy in food? We believe yes.
Most of the Greek and Roman philosophers have written about food either for medicinal properties or because of taste.
The Greek word gastronomy means the law of the stomach. Why was it called that? Because of its philosophy. Nowadays unfortunately that philosophy has degenerated to genetically modified or fast food which is neither nutritious enough or healthy enough. Preservation is another story. The biggest problem is that people do not know any better. It is maybe an exaggeration to say that interpretation of taste is intelligence. In order not to be misunderstood, this does not mean that people who eat “junk” food are not intelligent but what if they do not know any better?
At the same time what comes first? In order to be able to cook well do you need to know how to eat well or vice versa? We’ll let you decide.
In summer this year, our took us fishing at Limni mine near Polis. We called it a day at 7.30. Our father called his mother and asked her if she could prepare something for them to eat on the way back to Paphos. She lives only 15 minutes away. In those 15 minutes she already had about 10 dishes on the table.
Olives, capers, salad, cheese, fried eggs, cured and smoked meat. In another 20 minutes she had on the table another 6/7 dishes including the whitebait we caught whilst fishing. It was not much, but it was more than enough. One may wonder how did she manage to do that? In one word – infrastructure. She does not depend on supermarkets. She has a domestic economy. Fresh and preserved food which is healthy and nutritious.
We see no reason whatsoever that you cannot have quality food, prepared in a short time.
We are very well aware of the difficulties and life in general of people who live in an over-populated city and the pace of life in the “modern” world. Is there no alternative? But our topic here is not that. It is the philosophy of food. You can think about the life of the modern world. When people talk or think of food, we believe that what comes to their mind are acquired tastes. Memories of good food. But what about something new?
Of course, now we must take into consideration the position we hold – the cook or the consumer? In the position that we find ourselves we must think of both, but mainly as a tavern we will try anything new. At the same time, one should improvise, divert and let the imagination “gallop” in order to create something new and tasty. We believe this is part of the philosophy of food. Cooking must be mentally stimulating. It is not just food. Even if you do not remember the ingredients, you have used the next time you try to do it again (keep notes).
Another part is knowledge, herbs, spices, vegetables, meat, oil, butter, utensils and heat. Do you know your oven? Can you tell what kind of meat is what you see hanging in the butcher’s shop or packed in a dish or wrapped in tin foil? You have to know.