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Which Cypriot dishes are worth ordering? Start with sheftalia, then try the village plates visitors skip, namely louvi, kolokasi and trahana, and the slow cooked afelia, kleftiko and souvla.
Most visitors eat halloumi, souvlaki and kleftiko and go home thinking they have eaten Cypriot food, when they have only eaten the tourist half of the menu.
Short on time to hunt these dishes down? A local guide can take you straight to them, so browse food tours on Viator or tasting experiences on GetYourGuide.
Cypriot Dishes at a Glance
- Order first: sheftalia, the best test of any kitchen
- Most unusual: kolokasi, a taro root dish found almost nowhere else
- Best slow cooked: afelia, kleftiko and souvla
- Best place to eat them: village taverns rather than the seafront
- Weakest part: some, like trahana and snails, are seasonal and an acquired taste
Why Start With Sheftalia?
If you order one thing in Cyprus, make it this. It is minced pork and lamb with parsley and onion, wrapped in caul fat and grilled until the fat renders and the outside crisps, and it is the most distinctly Cypriot thing on any menu.
It is also the best single test of a kitchen. A tavern that handles sheftalia properly will handle everything else, while one that serves it dry or greasy has told you what you need to know about the rest of the meal.
Which Dishes Do Visitors Never Order?
This is where the real food is, and it is the same section of the menu that gets skipped every time.
Louvi Me Lahana
Black eyed beans with greens, olive oil and lemon. It is unglamorous, and it is the dish most representative of how Cypriots actually eat day to day, so order it and you will understand the food culture better than any meze will teach you.
Kolokasi
Taro root braised in tomato with pork or chicken. It is grown on the island and essentially unknown elsewhere in the Mediterranean, which makes it one of the few genuinely unusual things you can eat here.
It is earthy and slightly starchy, and not everybody likes it. It is worth trying precisely because you cannot get it at home.
Trahana
Cracked wheat fermented with yoghurt, dried and stored, then made into soup with halloumi dropped in. It exists because a hot island without refrigeration had to find a way to keep milk through the summer, and it is an acquired taste and a genuine piece of food history. It is a winter dish only.
What Are the Best Slow Cooked Dishes?
- Afelia: pork braised in red wine with crushed coriander seed, where the coriander is what makes it Cypriot rather than Greek, and it tastes noticeably different from anything on the mainland.
- Kleftiko: lamb sealed in a clay oven for hours until it falls apart, best ordered where the tavern has a proper oven rather than an approximation, because the difference is enormous.
- Souvla: large chunks of pork or lamb turned slowly on a long spit over charcoal, which is not souvlaki, and is the centre of every Sunday gathering on the island, with cooking time measured against the length of the afternoon rather than a recipe.
What Are the Cured Specialities?
Cyprus preserved food because it had to, and the results outlasted the necessity.
- Lountza: smoked pork loin cured in wine and coriander, which grilled with halloumi in a sandwich is the island’s standard breakfast and considerably better than that sounds.
- Loukaniko: the local sausage, smoked and frequently wine soaked, and a staple of any meze.
How Do You Test a Tavern?
Two dishes tell you whether a kitchen cares.
- Kolokithokeftedes: fried courgette balls, on almost every menu and very few places get them right, so look for crisp outside, soft within and not greasy, and when they arrive properly made they disappear immediately. Our review of 7 Linoi covers the best we have found.
- Koupepia: stuffed vine leaves, which are either rolled by hand or bought in, and you can tell within one bite.
Which Dishes Are Seasonal?
- Flaounes: they appear for a few weeks around Easter, as cheese filled pastries with mint and raisins and a sesame crust, made at home rather than bought, and genuinely worth timing a trip for.
- Snails: they turn up in spring and autumn in village taverns, cooked traditionally and absent from every tourist menu.
Village menus follow what is available rather than printing the same list year round, which is one of the better arguments for eating inland.
What Sweet Things Should You Try?
- Loukoumades: fried dough balls in honey syrup with cinnamon, served hot and impossible to stop eating.
- Glyko tou koutaliou: spoon sweets, fruit or vegetables preserved in syrup and served on a small spoon with coffee when you visit a home, in flavours such as walnut, fig, bergamot and even baby aubergine, and if somebody offers you one, take it.
Where Should You Eat All This?
Village taverns rather than coastal restaurants, without exception. The traditional dishes survive where the tourist market does not reach, and they cost a fraction of what the seafront charges.
Our guides to the best meat taverns and the Troodos mountain taverns both point inland. Taverna tou Theodosi outside Nicosia is number one in our ranked restaurant guide, ahead of every fine dining room in the country.
A full meze is the efficient way to try most of this in one sitting, as our review of Meze Taverna shows. Allow three hours and pace yourself, because the meat comes last.
The village taverns are hard to reach without a car. A hire car from DiscoverCars is the simplest answer, and if you would rather leave the driving to someone else, food tours are listed on Klook or try Viator.
Where Can You Eat These Dishes in Each City?
- Nicosia: Taverna tou Theodosi for the souvlaki and grill, and Henry’s in the city. Larnaca Airport is 40 to 50 minutes away.
- Limassol: Meze Taverna for a full meze and Taverna Agios Epiktitos for village cooking. Larnaca Airport is 45 to 60 minutes away.
- Paphos and Polis: Moustakallis in Polis. Paphos Airport is 15 to 20 minutes from Kato Paphos and about 45 minutes from Polis.
- Troodos: see the Troodos villages guide, about 1.5 hours from Limassol or Paphos.
Who Is This Guide For?
It suits curious eaters who want more than halloumi and souvlaki, and anyone planning a tavern day in the villages. It also helps vegetarians, who have more options here than the reputation suggests.
Look elsewhere if you want light, seafood led eating. Traditional Cypriot cooking leans towards meat, pulses and slow heat.
Planning Your Trip
The map shows current hotel prices across Cyprus for your dates.
Hotels across Cyprus
Eating your way across the island? Compare Limassol hotels on Booking.com or Vio.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the National Dish of Cyprus?
There is no official answer. Souvla comes closest, with halloumi, sheftalia and kleftiko all contenders.
What Should I Try First?
Sheftalia. It is the most distinctly Cypriot dish, and the best test of whether the kitchen is any good.
Is Cypriot Food the Same as Greek Food?
No. It is heavier, more meat focused and clearly influenced by the Middle East, with bulgur, tahini and cinnamon in savoury cooking.
Is There Much for Vegetarians?
More than the reputation suggests. Louvi, kolokithokeftedes, halloumi and the pulse dishes cover a lot of ground.
Which Dishes Are Seasonal?
Flaounes at Easter, trahana in winter, and snails in spring and autumn.
How Do I Reach the Village Taverns?
Drive if you can, since most are on minor inland roads. A private driver or a guided food tour is the alternative if you plan to drink with the meal.
Where Should I Eat These Dishes in Limassol, Nicosia or Paphos?
See the city list above. Taverna tou Theodosi is the pick near Nicosia, Meze Taverna in Limassol, and Moustakallis around Polis.
Final Thoughts
The dishes worth travelling for here are the ones that never made it onto a tourist menu. Order the kolokasi, the louvi and the trahana, and you will eat considerably better than the table next to you.