When it comes to Mediterranean cuisine, Cyprus stands out as a culinary treasure trove combining eclectic flavors from various cuisines, including Greek, Italian, Turkish, and Arab.
Cypriot traditional dishes are deeply rooted in the island’s rich history, as the country itself is a melting pot of different cultures.
Cyprus offers abundant food options, including fresh seafood, succulent meat dishes, delicious vegetarian options, and indulgent desserts.
These different tastes and traditions come together perfectly in the traditional meze. So come and take a gastronomic journey through the must-try dishes and culinary delights that make Cyprus a fascinating destination for food lovers.
The Main Ingredients in Cypriot Cuisine
🫒 As part of the Mediterranean diet, one of the main ingredients found in many traditional Cypriot dishes is olive oil, which is used in cooking and dressing salads.
🌿 Cypriots use an abundance of fresh herbs such as mint, oregano, and parsley to add an aromatic touch to various dishes.
🍖 Lamb and pork are popular meats, often marinated with local spices and cooked on charcoal grills or traditional ovens.
🍗 Other popular meats are chicken, rabbit, and beef, accompanied by bulgur wheat, rice, potatoes, or legumes like beans and lentils.
🍅 Vegetables like tomatoes, aubergines, courgettes, and potatoes are commonly used in stews, casseroles, and side dishes.
🐙 And let’s not forget the island’s bountiful seafood, with delicious catches like octopus, squid, prawns, swordfish, and sea bream.
Traditional Food in Cyprus
Traditionally, Cypriots don’t separate their meal into starters and main courses but rather share the food on small plates called meze.
You can experience this tradition in most taverns by ordering meze. But be prepared because many taverns have about 15 to 20 plates of food.
Nevertheless, here is a list of Cypriot must-try dishes you can find at most traditional taverns.
Starters
Cyprus Village Salad
Every meal in Cyprus is accompanied by a village salad, a simple yet flavorful salad made with tomatoes, cucumber, olives, onions, and fresh lettuce, along with olive oil, red wine vinegar and sprinkled with salt, pepper, and oregano.
Halloumi Cheese
Halloumi is a traditional Cypriot salted and semi-hard cheese made with both goat’s and sheep’s milk. Halloumi has a high melting point, making it easy to be grilled or fried.
It is usually served as a meze dish or a starter. It is also delicious cold alongside freshly sliced watermelon.
Dips and Bread
Every family in Cyprus enjoys their meal with a dip and bread.
Similarly, in every tavern or restaurant, expect to start your meal with dips such as tzatziki, tahini, hummus, taramosalata, or tirokafteri, along with grilled bread.
Keftedes
Keftedes are basically a variety of kofta, the famous meatball dish from the Middle East.
However, in Cyprus, they are usually made with pork minced meat rather than lamb and are mixed with mint, parsley, onion, grated potatoes, and spices.
In traditional taverns, keftedes are part of the starter menu. However, they are also an excellent main dish with fries, greek salad, and dips like tzatziki.
Kolokouthkia me ta afka
Kolokouthkia me ta afka is usually a meze dish or a side dish and consists of fried courgettes with scrambled eggs sprinkled with salt.
Most traditional taverns serve kolokouthkia me ta afka as one of the many dishes that come with meze.
Meat dishes
Kleftiko
Kleftiko is a tender roasted lamb or goat with a fascinating history.
The word kleftiko means stolen and derives from the old days when people would steal meat and cook it within sealed pits on the ground so that the smoke wouldn’t expose their crime.
Today, kleftiko is slowly cooked in a traditional Cypriot oven after being marinated overnight in wine, lemon juice, and herbs such as bay leaves and oregano.
Usually, the dish is served with oven potatoes or bulgar wheat.
Souvla
You’re probably already familiar with souvlaki, the famous Greek street food. In Cyprus, a similar dish is souvla, made with skewered large chunks of pork, lamb, or chicken.
First, the meat is marinated with olive oil, lemon juice, and herbs like oregano, thyme, and bay leaves. Then, it is slowly roasted in a traditional Cypriot rotisserie grill called foukou.
Souvla is often served during family gatherings, parties, Sunday lunch, or holiday celebrations.
Souvlaki and Sheftalia
Souvlaki is a popular dish in Greece of skewers of pork with pita. In Cyprus, souvlaki is quite similar, with the only difference being the pita bread.
The pita is stuffed with the food rather than rolled and is baked instead of grilled. Furthermore, although tzatziki is also served and used in Cyprus, you can find other options like tahini.
You can also order souvlaki mix, which comes with souvlaki of your choice, such as pork, chicken and lamb, and sheftalia.
Sheftalia is a juicy Cypriot sausage consisting of minced pork or lamb mixed with spices and herbs like parsley, onion, and garlic, wrapped in caul fat, and roasted on the grill for 15 minutes.
Afelia (Afella)
Afelia is a traditional Cypriot dish made with small pieces of pork marinated overnight in wine, pepper, coriander, cumin, and bay leaves.
The meat is first sauteed with olive oil. After the meat gets a nice golden color, it is steamed with the spiced marinade and added water. Usually, this dish is served with roasted potatoes, bulgur wheat, or rice.
Stifado
Stifado is one of the most famous traditional dishes in the Cypriot cuisine. It is a comfort-food stew traditionally made with rabbit or beef, potatoes, and onions.
First, the meat and onions are browned. Then water, wine, vinegar, cinnamon, salt, and freshly ground pepper are added to the pot, and leave it to simmer for two to three hours.
Ttavas
Ttavas in the Cypriot dialect means a clay pot, but ttavas is also the name of this delicious slow-cooked meal served in a pot.
Ttavas is originally a dish from Lefkara, a village in the mountains in Larnaca district. The dish combines chunks of lamb, rice, vegetables, potatoes, and spices like cumin, cooked in a clay pot in a traditional Cypriot oven.
Koupepia and Yemista
Koupepia and Yemista can be found throughout the Middle East, Turkey, and Greece, but in different variations.
Koupepia is a dish with meat, rice, herbs, and spices such as onions, garlic, mint, and parsley wrapped in vine leaves cooked in tomato sauce.
Yemista is the same as koupepia, but instead of vine leaves, it’s with stuffed vegetables such as peppers, courgettes, aubergines, and tomatoes.
I am terribly addicted to Yemista.
Seafood
Tiganito Psari (Fried Fish)
Cypriots are definitely meat lovers, but living on an island also means enjoying plenty of fresh seafood. Commonly, Cypriots tend to fry any of the local fresh catch.
So, in coastal towns, most seafood taverns offer fresh dishes of fried cod, red mullet, squid, and many more. Usually, fired fish is accompanied by fried or boiled potatoes and dips like tzatziki.
Octapodi Krasato (Octapus in Wine Sauce)
Octopus is a delicacy in Cyprus and can be cooked in various ways.
A favorite recipe is Octopus simmered in red wine along with herbs and spices like onion, garlic, cinnamon, bay leaves, and chopped tomatoes. It is usually served with rice or pasta and garnished with parsley.
Psari sta karvouna (Grilled Fish)
Another option to taste delicious fresh seafood is trying grilled fish.
Fresh local fish such as swordfish, bream, grey mullet, octopus, squid, and cuttlefish are grilled on a foukou, the Cypriot traditional charcoal barbeque .
They have first beenn marinated with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Grilled fish is served with roasted potatoes or rice.
Psarosoupa (Fish Soup)
On a cold winter day, fish soup is the perfect meal to warm you up.
It is made with small red scorpion fish or cod and various ingredients like carrot, potato, celery, onion, rice, and avgolemono, a Greek sauce made with egg yolk, lemon juice, and broth.
Pasta Dishes
Ravioles
As you might have guessed from the name, ravioles is a Cypriot variation of the Italian dish ravioli.
Unlike ravioli, the dough for raviolies is made only with flour, olive oil, salt, and water and is filled with aged-grated halloumi, eggs, and mint. It is served with grated dry anari cheese.
Kritharaki me Keima (Orzo with minced meat)
Kritharaki is the Cypriot orzo cooked as a one-pot meal with minced meat and red sauce.
The minced meat is prepared in the pot along with carrots, celery, spices, chopped tomatoes, and tomato paste.
Then, the orzo is added to the pot, and once it’s done, it’s served with a pinch of parsley on the top and grated anari cheese.
Choriatika Makaronia (Village Pasta)
Choriatika Makaronia, also known as Cypriot Village Pasta, are short macaroni noodles cooked in a large pot of salted water until al dente.
Village pasta is served with boiled chicken and topped with grated anari or halloumi cheese and a pinch of dried mint. This is traditional Cyprus food with no frills!
Makaronia tou Fournou (Baked Pasta)
Makaronia tou fournou are equivalent to pastitsio in Greece or lasagna in Italy with a few twists.
First of all, instead of lasagna pasta, in Cyprus, penne is used at the bottom, minced pork dipped in tomato sauce and herbs in the middle and béchamel sauce on top.
Then, it is sprinkled with grated halloumi cheese and dry mint for flavor.
Vegetarian and Vegan Dishes
Louvi
Louvi is the black-eyed beans and a staple food in Cyprus during the fasting periods. Usually, louvi is cooked with vegetables like courgettes and served with olive oil, salt, and lemon. It can also be served with sardines or tuna, olives, and fresh onion.
Moutzentra
Moutzentra is a lentil recipe with rice or orzo, caramelized onions, bay leaves, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Moutzentra can also be served with fried eggs or eaten with toasted bread and dips like tzatziki and tahini.
This recipe is believed to be influenced by Middle Eastern recipes like mujaddara, a lentil and rice dish from Iraq.
Mpamies Laderes
Mpamies laderes translates into oily okra and is a vegan dish of okra with olive oil cooked in tomato sauce.
Okra is the traditional side or meze dish, but it can also be served with fish or bits of feta cheese and bread.
Kolokasi
Kolokasi means taro. It is a popular ingredient in Cyprus.
Kolokasi is usually cooked in a large pot with tomato sauce, onions, herbs, and potatoes. It is mostly popularly eaten in winter as it’s a thick and substantial vegetable.
You can get the recipe here.
Trachanas
Trachanas is a thick soup made with dried, cracked wheat and soured goat’s milk, and commonly halloumi and bread pieces are added to the soup once it’s cooked.
Trachanas soup is eaten on special occasions like Christmas Day as the first-course of a celebratory meal.
Desserts and Snacks
Glyko tou Koutaliou
Usually, after a meal, locals indulge in sweets accompanied by a traditional Cypriot coffee.
Glyko tou koutaliou means spoon sweets made of any kind of fruit, vegetables, or nuts that are boiled and then sugared to create a distinctive syrup that is stored.
Some favorite local sweet spoons are walnut, watermelon, apricot, and cherry.
Loukoumades
Lokmades, or loukoumades as they are known in Greece, are a favorite dessert throughout Cyprus that is usually enjoyed at festivals. They are small deep-frying dough balls soaked in sugar syrup.
In Cyprus, they are served in sugar syrup, but you can also add extra garnishes such as honey, cinnamon, crushed walnuts, or even chocolate syrup.
Lokmades can be found throughout Middles East, Greece, and Turkey.
Bourekia
Bourekia is a sweet fried pie made with a thin, crisp pastry and filled with anari, a local cheese with a delicate, creamy flavor that is slightly sweet.
The filling also includes cinnamon, sugar, and orange blossom water for extra sweetness. Bourekia can also be made with different fillings, such as halloumi or feta cheese, pumpkin, minced meat, and more.
Sweet Tahini Bread
Tahinopita is a Cypriot pie filled with tahini, a sesame paste, carob syrup, and cinnamon that adds a sweet flavor to the pie.
Tahinopita’s pastry doesn’t include eggs or milk, making it the perfect vegan snack. Tahinopita is best with a cup of rich Cypriot coffee on an afternoon break.
Final Thoughts on Traditional Cyprus Food
From its rich history to its diverse cultural influences, Cyprus offers a culinary experience that is both unique and unforgettable.
So, if you’re a food lover and craving a culinary adventure, make sure to add Cyprus to your list of must-visit destinations and be prepared to tantalize your taste buds with aromatic and mouthwatering meals.
