Cypriot chef gets Michelin star

Andreas Mavrommatis has become the first Cypriot chef to be awarded a Michelin star, the prestigious French distinction for high gastronomy.

He was awarded the Michelin star for his Parisian restaurant Mavrommatis at an awards ceremony on Monday night.

Mavrommatis emigrated from his Limassol village to Paris in the 1970s to study. In 1981 he opened a small grocery store in the 5th district of Paris with his brother Evagoras, and studied at Lenôtre, a well-known gastronomy school.

From there, their family business has grown to include four restaurants and 10 delicatessen shops, all of which showcase Greek and Cypriot cuisine.

“If, for you, eating Greek can be reduced to souvlaki, tzatziki and moussaka, head to Andreas and Evagoras Mavrommatis’ for an irresistible catch-up lesson,” reads the Michelin guide review. “The cooking isn’t heavy on the folklore but relies, rather, on tradition and on the irreproachable quality of the products.”

Marinated octopus, smoked aubergine, kumquat vinaigrette, Jerusalem artichoke soup with masticha, kolokassi and celeriac are just a few of the dishes that earned Mavrommatis – which has reportedly been graced by the likes of French President Emmanuel Macron – his star.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.