Sometimes all you crave from a restaurant is a decent level of skill. You don’t want culinary fireworks, gourmet gymnastics or the food equivalent of folk swinging enthusiastically from a chandelier. What customers desire is for everyone, from the kitchen plus serving staff, to do their jobs and so deliver up an appetising meal that doesn’t cost the earth in an atmosphere that makes you wish you could linger longer and enjoy the unique ambience of the place. If that’s your wish then transport yourself to the 5th Floor restaurant.
Walking out of the lift and into a huge, airy space dominated by a curving wall of glass, the venue offers an instant and truly impressive panoramic view of the town. Few eateries here can boast such a vista and even if you only pop up to the 5th Floor for a morning coffee to sit and gaze out from your penthouse position to watch the sunlight as it bounces off the sea or perhaps pop up in late afternoon to relish a cocktail, the view never fails to impress. Neither does the cooking, which has been supervised by Riccos, the Paphos-based executive chef whose skill and passion has for years been setting the bar for other chefs to follow. Key however to the overall success of the 5th Floor has to be the absolute no nonsense approach to their value for money dining.
We arrived for Sunday lunch and this takes the form of a buffet which offers solid, competent, tasty food that never fails to tempt. Plates are filled from an impressive array of cold starters – potato, beetroot and prawn and avocado salads, dips, cold meats, terrines, and not forgetting a perfectly poached and correctly dressed whole salmon. Main dishes include mini burgers partnered with a mild curry and coconut sauce, and then there is a selection of baked/roast chicken, also pork in the form of medallions in a mustard sauce, pasta dishes, plus a baked fish dish. Then if you have any room left for a pudding it’s got to be the rather superior quality profiteroles oozing chocolate sauce, the honey pastry fingers, a slice of layer cake or a comforting cup of baked rice pudding. All this with unlimited repeat visits back to the buffet for the incredibly reasonable price of €17. Now that’s what I call real value for money and its why come Sunday it’s vital you make a booking. Word has indeed got out that the 5th Floor satisfies those foreigners who spend a good deal of their retirement time foraging around for places where they can comfortably take friends and family to graze, all without blowing completely the now somewhat depleted pension allowance. They can even come mid afternoon as the buffet starts at 12-30 until 4pm so they can stay on until 5pm when a musical duo of tenor saxophonist and violinist are in place to serenade them into a slumber over their early evening tincture of gin and tonic.
During the week the full buffet price is €13 and those who only want to partake of the cold buffet can do so for €8euros, or the hot buffet for €9, and for pure pudding fans the charge for a solo dessert fest will be €2.50. There’s also a cafe style area where you can order excellent sandwiches, including a smoked turkey club sandwich, or for a change try the freshly baked croissant topped with baby prawns, sliced avocado, crab and cocktail sauce. Creative salads are to the fore always using local greens and original dressings, also on the menu are a selection of half a dozen tasty pastas along with fresh from the grill home made burgers or the very popular Angus beef steak sandwich with mustard butter, romaine salad, tomato, and onion rings.
All this in an atmosphere that has all the best aspects of a good private club: comfortable areas where you can sit and chat, good dining, places to play backgammon, and the therapeutic benefits of just sitting with glass in hand and stare contentedly out to sea.
VITAL STATISTICS
SPECIALTY Mediterranean food
PRICE €8-€17 for a choice of buffets
WHERE 5th Floor, Neophytou Nicolaides Street, Paphos
CONTACT 26 910055
