To Psarolimano O Philippos
Fresh fish
In its third home, Nicosia’s oldest fish tavern arguably remains its best
ONCE UPON a time, if you wanted to have dinner al fresco in Nicosia, you were spoilt for choice. There were scores of restaurants and kebab shops featuring courtyards, in which you could sit for hours enjoying the refreshing evening breeze, scented with sweet summer smells, washing down your food with ice cold beer and forgetting the sweltering hell you had to live through for the previous 12 hours. OK, it was not always perfect – sometimes it was horribly humid and you could, occasionally, be the target of a merciless mosquito offensive – but when it was, you couldn’t beat it.
Twenty years later, the old-fashioned restaurant courtyard or garden with a fruit trees scattered about, gravel or dirt floor and a collection of large and small flower-pots lined up against the fence is in grave danger of extinction. A combination of factors – town-planning regulations, fussy neighbours, soaring real estate prices and an obsession with modernity – has contributed to its demise. You can still eat outdoors, but it is usually on the pavement, next to a busy road, taking in a toxic cocktail of car exhaust fumes. If you do find a courtyard it has usually been modernised with stone tiles or concrete on the floor, no trees, the type of plant pots found in hotel lobbies and fancy spotlights.
None of these concessions to practicality and standardised modernity apply to To Psarolimano (O Philippos), a family-run fish tavern, found at the start of Tseri Avenue in Strovolos. It has one of the best, traditional courtyards in Nicosia. It is an old-fashioned garden at the back of the restaurant building with trees and plants, dirt on the ground and plenty of space between tables. You can even peak into the kitchen from the garden, something which underlines the tavern’s total lack of pretension.
Psarolimano is the oldest fish tavern of Nicosia. It was opened in 1967 by Philippos Anastasiades in his grocery store, behind the race course. He had fishermen bring in their catch every day and his reputation for having fresh fish spread so much that even the presidential palace cook would turn up in the early evening to buy some for the late Archbishop Makarios. After the invasion, the tavern re-located to Limassol Avenue and nine years ago it moved to its current location. Philippos passed away some years ago but the tavern remains a family operation, run by his son, Kleanthis, helped by his sisters and nephew.
Psarolimano makes no compromises on what it serves. There is no imported fish nor anything from the fish farms. There is no menu either because what is available is always the catch of the day and some nights the choice is quite limited. The fish is sent up from the coast on the same day. Kleanthis says the months with an ‘r’ in them always yield more fish, so this is might not be the best time to visit. Many of the regulars usually call up in the early evening to ask what fish is on available that night and reserve their food over the phone. Others just turn up.
Before the fish, a salad and a selection of appetisers – taramosalata, beans, rice with spinach, olives, beetroot, potatoes and tahini, fried courgettes in batter – are served. The fish, always cooked to perfection, served whole, without sauces or frills – it is either charcoal-grilled or fried, depending on the type. I am not a great fan of fried fish, but at Psarolimano it is properly done – crisp on the outside and perfectly moist on the inside, without the lingering taste of cooking oil that you get at most places. Fried, miniscule calamari, for instance, is divine when you can get it and so is the baby red mullet. In the winter months there is also fantastic fish soup.
But this is probably the best time of year to visit Psarolimano, even if there is no ‘r’ in August. The old-fashioned courtyard alone is worth the visit and you can never go wrong with the fish. (The tavern will be closed from August 14 to 28).
Vital Statistics
SPECIALITY Catch of the day
SEATING About 40
WHERE 7 Tseri Avenue
CONTACT 22 314020
BOOKING Advisable. Only open for dinner
PRICE Dinner for two with bottle of wine £30
