Flavors Bar & Grill
Great if you don’t mind doing the cooking
Intrigued by the promise of a powerful new dining concept, and with rumbling stomachs, we set off excitedly, to experience stone-grill dining. The venue was Flavors Bar & Grill, housed in an imposing old corner building in the heart of Larnaca town, a stone’s throw from the Phinikoudes promenade and beach.
The idea of stone-grill, from traditions in cultures such as Japanese, where food is served raw and fresh to sear on a piping hot plate at the table, is not at all new, and it is a healthy approach to cooking since no fat or oil is used.
The restaurant is immaculately presented. A mix of polished chrome and leather, shiny wooden floor, sparkling clean surfaces, and a central column at its core, cleverly enhanced by an impressive focal point of red apples dangling at various heights, which proved to be a fascinating game for my three and seven-year-olds.
Flavors certainly looks the part so we started off with high hopes but things went downhill very quickly.
I hoped for an entertaining, as well as tasty, culinary experience, expecting the hot stone slab to be placed at the centre of the table where the little faces of my under-age dining companions would watch our Sunday lunch being cooked in a novel way.
So, going with the whole stone-grill theme, I decided to order the Antipasto Stonegrill, and for main I went for the Stonegrill Tuna Steak, both served with b?arnaise sauce. My partner ordered from the set menu (£15), and he chose the Mixed Green Salad as a starter, and a Stonegrill Kebab Combination, a skewered selection of marinated beef fillet, chicken fillet, and pork tenderloin, served with barbeque sauce.
An indifferent waitress, smartly dressed in black with an aubergine apron, took our order. “Aah,” I thought, “she must be wearing an apron as she will be cooking the meal for us”. As we sat in our upholstered booth, and ate our delicious white rolls with the occasional seed in them, I took in the surroundings a little more and admired the d?cor. A beautiful stone wall contrasted beautifully with the smooth white walls and spot lighting. The sounds of the 60s, 70s and 80s played in the background.
But here began the slippery slope. This is where I realised I would be cooking my own meal. The waitress handed me an apron, and placed a 400°C slab in front of me, on which sat a raw selection of broccoli, cauliflower, red peppers, aubergine, courgette, carrot, and halloumi cheese. The heat from the slab rose uncomfortably to my face, and the plate it was on was too heavy to shift. The halloumi quickly started to burn and stick to the slab. I managed to scrape it off and rescue most of it, but the remainder carried on burning while I ate. The vegetables just burnt around the edges, and the constant burning smell made me conclude that this method of cooking just didn’t work with vegetables or cheese. The next course, I figured, had to be better. I peered over at my partner, who was happily munching his cool, crisp, green salad, which he said he was thoroughly enjoying.
Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse. My main meal arrived with a thick wedge of tuna spitting from the slab’s heat. I was feeling stressed, worrying about when I had to turn it over to help it cook as it was so chunky, and I was wary about my toddler being burnt by the spitting or by touching the hot stone slab which was placed so near to us. The smell of burning continued. My partner’s Kebab Combination, accompanied by tasty side vegetables that the chef had cooked, appeared a better option as the pieces were smaller, though he was wondering how long each piece of raw meat needed to cook. Surely some advice should have been given regarding the chicken at least.
We both looked in amazement as the waitress came over while I was still eating, and asked my partner, who had finished, if he wanted his dessert.
I had visions of a chef sitting upstairs laughing because we were cooking our own dinner! The idea of going out to cook your own food is a concept hard to grasp. After all, these professionals spend four years training how to cook better than I can. But here I was doing it myself.
The laughing chef revealed his talent in a home-made Chocolate Lava, and a Strawberry Pancake, both served with ice cream, and which were both stunning in presentation and taste. The coffee menu looked impressive, however, we’d had enough by then and decided to make a swift exit.
VITAL STATISTICS
SPECIALITY Stone-grill
WHERE 25 Kosma Lysioti St (at the end of Ermou St)
CONTACT 24823995
PRICE 3-course dinner for two excluding wine from £30
