Bistro

Bistro is, in the words of Brisbane-based, New Zealand-born chef and restaurateur Philip Johnson, “that perfect place just around the corner”. And you know exactly what he has in mind: the kind of laid-back joint with no décor overkill, where there’s nothing starched about the busy staff, and where down-to-earth good food engenders convivial atmosphere. Oh, yes, and the menu is invariably scribbled daily with chalk on a square-metre of blackboard. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, one does not need to start palpitating as the bill makes its approach. Well, there’s certainly nothing like that around this corner, or any other in Cyprus as far as I know, and that’s precisely why his excellent book is jolly useful when you’d kill for some bistro grub but can’t afford the airfare to Paris, let alone Brisbane.

Anyone who is a regular cook will sympathise with Johnson’s conclusion that “it’s a strange phenomenon, but it’s always the simplest dish that draws the most praise”. After years of kitchen slavery, then, the penny drops that if you use fresh-perfect raw materials, the rest requires little conjuring skill. With that in mind, ‘Classic Beginnings’ – the first section of this three-part book – serves up fast and fuss-free recipes for every day, ranging from exotic salads of green mango, prawns, chilli, lime and cashews or shaved pear and fennel with goat’s curd, to roast chicken with red onion, penne, olives, rocket and garlic and baked parmesan and thyme tart with red-onion jam.

For ‘Meals to Linger Over’, the chef admits that you’ll need to hang around for more than 10-15 minutes in the kitchen but makes the solemn promise that every extra minute will be worth your while. He proposes the likes of sumac-spiced lamb with pumpkin, fennel and hummus, lamb loin with eggplant, watercress, salted lemon and chilli and chicken wrapped in prosciutto with sage and garlic.

If you’re on a diet, you will hate Johnson. If you like sweets and are proud of it, you will fall in love with him and live under his spell for a while. He devotes a whopping 60 pages (a good third of the book) to ‘Desserts and Conversation’, and this comes with the warning that “The end of a meal can be either the high point or the low point, and often will be what people will remember most, so do it well”. Brr. But who will ever forget iced honey and drambuie parfait with fresh figs, coffee crème brulee, soft-centred chocolate puddings and pistachio ice-cream, or mango and ricotta torte with almond praline?
Bistro is published by Murdoch Books and is available from Moufflon Bookshops (£15.75)

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.