Friends have for months regaled me with great reviews of Suite 48, I dismissed one enthusiastic retelling of a moonlight supper enjoyed there by a girlfriend because she is madly in love and as such would have been equally happy seated at a lay by on the M6 drinking stewed tea as long as her lover was pouring the tea. She has great memories of Suite 48 and that’s marvellous but we each build our best memories in different ways and mine usually involves eating out well with friends but the eatery has to be good.
Here the delight factor as far as location goes is indeed marvellous – a big, well-designed outdoor area, overhead canopies, well placed tables and chairs so lovers can be discreet, and of course the sea only a few metres distant. So one can understand the huge appeal of cocktails while the sun sets, dining under the stars or breakfast listening to the waves crash against the beach.
The menu offers a good selection of juices, smoothies and a veritable raft of different coffees, there are interesting salads, sandwiches, breakfast dishes, nibbles, various cheese and meat platters, plus fish, chicken and meat dishes for lunch or dinner. My first visit was for a mid-week dinner when my friend ordered the Pork Scotch fillet, I the Mediterranean Pearl described on the menu as ‘seared white fillet of sea bass, served on a quinoa pilau’. My friend was then delivered of a homemade pork burger, when this mistake was pointed out the very nice waiter asked if we wanted to wait and the order would be changed, but, by this time my friend was so hungry he agreed to accept the burger. My seared and not so flaky sea-bass was a rather sad thin inner sole of a fish and as for the bed of quinoa pilau I couldn’t tell you much about it as by this time dusk had fallen, the dim light from the battery operated candle had me stabbing around the plate to try and find out what the pilau was studded with. As darkness falls one also has to rely on the waiter to tell you from memory all the pudding options.
So, not a great evening and I felt sort of honour bound to return and check out the breakfast the following Sunday in the company of two friends. Arriving at 12.15 for what I thought would be a ‘brunch’ I was told that breakfast stops being served at 12 noon. I asked to speak to the manager to let him know I fancied test driving for a review some of his ‘Egg’ inspired dishes but he stoutly refused explaining that they were hosting a christening party of 500 guests later that afternoon with the kitchen flat out preparing. The manager did however direct us to one egg dish which he said was very popular, billed as the BC Jam. We ordered the same and waited. Waiting is the name but I eventually gave up and got out of my seat to gain the attention of a waiter. That said when one captures one they are really very pleasant and they do indeed work hard. I just wish the chef had worked a bit harder on the food to deliver what their website describes as ‘an eclectic blend of exquisite flavours as they dance on to your palate’.
The BC Jam is billed as ‘bacon, sliced ham, scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, and strawberry jam’, priced at €8. What arrived was a baguette with a large panel of cooked ham (just lifted out from the packet) laid across some scrambled eggs that had been generously doused with strawberry jam, under this lay bits of chopped bacon, a handful of rather sad chips accompanied plus some token greenery. This particular eclectic blend of flavours certainly did not ‘dance onto my palate’.
Studio 48 is beautifully appointed, and it’s well worth a visit for cocktails and healthy smoothies, plus it’s a great place for christenings, birthdays and congratulations, and it’s romantic with the website stating Studio 48 is ‘where sexy meets the sea’. Maybe I am just not sexy enough!
VITAL STATISTICS
SPECIALTY Eclectic European
WHERE Suite 48, 48 Poseidonos Avenue, Paphos
PRICE from €5 for a fried egg roll up to €20 for seabass
CONTACT 26 910808
