MYRRA TAVERN
Good grilling
In a residential area of Paphos a family home doubles as one of the best meze houses in town
BOTH owners of Myrra Tavern, Andreas Nicolaou and his wife Antigone, are genuine products of the old school, who would no doubt regard a propelling pencil as new technology. Yet despite being bereft of a computer-operated cash till, flat-screen TV or wraparound sound system, the Myrra is one of the most popular restaurants in town with locals willing to queue in the garden come a Saturday night when the urge for a good grilling comes on.
Myrra is one of those establishments critics would rarely think of visiting, simply because it has been doing what it does for so very long that, like death, taxes and the Cyprus problem, it has become a fact of life.
No matter where we hail from, we all know a local place like Myrra, it may not be Cypriot, it might be Indian, Chinese or an Italian. It has simply been there for as long as we can remember, doing the same thing year in year out. We do not question its presence, although we might notice if it suddenly disappeared. There is generally only one reason why places like this survive for so long: they are very very good at what they do.
Here there is nothing startling about the food. It comes straight from the Cypriot mezze textbook, offering a solid, rustic appeal that always manages to soothe the soul, and will always satisfy one’s hunger.
Set in the ground floor of a family home, the two dining rooms and hallway boast interiors illuminated by naked light bulbs, each room is filled with a truly eclectic bunch of knick knacks – paintings executed by an enthusiastic hand jostle for space with old family photographs, along with the odd dangling artefact, plus a pair of rather splendid thirty-year-old carved wood wall friezes.
A printed menu is non existent – you come here either for the mezze or for whatever is cooking on the grill. Here you will find the usual suspects: a home-made taramasalata that is soft and mellow and distinctly pale, the tzatziki is garlicky but not overwhelmingly so. The pastourma was voted the best we had tasted from any tavern to date, in that it was not of Michelin texture but was lovely and moist with just the right level of spices.
My favourite was the warm feta served with olive oil and oregano. Antigone wraps the cheese in foil, topped off with a slice of tomato then she bakes it on the grill and it’s truly delicious. We also experienced a genuine first in any mezze to date, when a plate with a grilled kipper was presented on the table (no doubt a covert tactic to make folk drink more wine). Next we had juicy grilled prawns, followed by a dish of broad beans and then runner beans cooked with egg. The sheftalia and kebabs were perfectly cooked as were the lamb chops that came as a finale to the meal. Throughout warm pitta bread was served and the salad was replenished. One other dish was presented, this time with a wry smile from our chef. It looked like a plate of chicken McNuggets but Andreas told us they were chicken brains, then, with our forks hovering we started to debate the actual size of a chickens head, the unanimous decision was that our host had indeed pulled a fast one on us and what we were actually eating were several sets of lambs testicles (or as we were told later, this plateful is commonly known as Ladies Viagra). Rest assured readers, these culinary gems are not usually served as part of the regular mezze, Andreas has been in the business long enough to know that noshing on the privates of any beast is definitely a no no for those of us who originate from cooler climes.
Andreas and his wife are true originals of the old school; they love what they do, they relish meeting new people, there’s always a warm welcome and, over the decades, they have probably done more to promote Cyprus to foreigners than the CTO.
I asked Andreas what his philosophy was when he first started to ‘grill’ for a living. “I believed and still do, that any tourist who comes to my tavern, I will send away in love with Cyprus cuisine and they will hopefully return.”
A simple, yet highly effective marketing philosophy, and one that some of our rather lacklustre tourist joints would surely benefit from adopting.
Speciality Grills and the warm feta
Seating 40 indoors and in the garden area 60
Where 37 Neapoleos Street, Paphos
Contact 26 936009
Booking essential at weekends.
Price £8 per person for the mezze. Also does take away
