The Old Town restaurant is the sort of place any of us would like to be able to call our local: a small, pleasing restaurant serving quality food with its own solid but highly definable character. My only problem is it’s in Polis and though a mere 30 minutes from my home only the thought of Evangelos Socratous’ cooking winkled me out of the house into a cold, dark February evening to drive this ‘death wish’ road, it was however well worth the white knuckle journey.
The last time I visited was several years ago. It was during summer and I fell in love with the restaurant’s ‘secret garden’ where diners can nestle happily and almost in seclusion within a lovely, scented, cottage garden with a layout that would surely win an award for the best outdoor eating venue in this part of the island.
But it’s February and the need is for indoor warmth and, after a recent refurbishment, the restaurant now offers diners a larger, more airy space. It may be all exposed, natural stonework, archways, glass and wood but it’s smart and welcoming.
Evangelos has always been passionate about trying to source his ingredients locally, something that is key to his kitchen ethos. That very morning he had acquired some wood pigeon so my dining partner and I duly bagged those before the next table could grab them. Then we started off with hot rolls and squash soup. It may be a vegetable I dislike intensely but when served souped up by Evangelos, it was creamy, delicious and packed with herbs to give it a warming punch to the palette.
There followed inky black pasta with squid, here layers of flavours burst out from his cooking, showing off a cooking style that rose beautifully to the challenge of letting all those wonderful flavours play without destroying whatever delicacy each of the separate ingredients brought to the party. The wood pigeon arrived and, as expected, delivered a lovely, wintery smokiness, and yes it is the kind of place you feel comfortable about using fingers to help gnaw out the final tricky but sweet pieces of meat.
For those who have a more forensic view towards studying prices on a menu before declaring they could make it at home for a third of the price, please do us all a favour and stay at home. Evangelos believes in using only the very best ingredients and I will happily pay those extra €2 on a starter of wood grilled salad, marinated sardine fillets, partridge ravioli or the grilled prawns with lemongrass because it’s all about the quality. That said, he is also creating a budget dish of the day so regular diners can still enjoy a meal out.
The menu reads well with something there for everyone selected from around 16 dishes each on starters and mains, the latter includes wood grilled steak/sea bass or lamb chops, barbequed pork marinated in chilli, and honey wood roasted duck with Comandaria and rosemary. Whether it be fish, fowl or meat, this is a man with a gift for giving great depth of flavour every time. Here you clean your plate with your fork, then with your bread, and finally with your finger and each dish makes you give thanks for such a changing parade of perfectly formed tastes.
Finally the dessert menu. When was the last time you saw a Charlotte Ruse on a menu? 1976? Well it’s now become a popular Polis pudding, which will hopefully soon be followed by ginger sponge, queen of puddings, spotted dick, Eton mess, jam roly poly, and tempting treacle tart as Evangelos is now set on a retro pudding mission, hoping to revive and introduce these classics to a new generation of pudding fans.
VITAL STATISTICS
SPECIALITY Mediterranean dishes
WHERE on the right hand side coming into Polis from Paphos and before you turn left onto the road to Latchi
PRICE €20-25 per person
CONTACT 26 322758, 99 632781, [email protected]
