Old Town Restaurant
Secret garden
Established restaurant in Polis is well worth the trip
THE Old Town Restaurant in Polis is a quiet and ever so discreet gem of a place. Here, no-one need fear the new, modernist mix approach.
What we have is a simply super garden area, nice tables, crisp white linen, hand painted crockery, comfortable chairs, two waitresses and a chef in the kitchen with good taste and an instinct for simplicity. Refreshing indeed.
There are some genuine delicious nuggets of gold in Evangelos’ menu and, refreshingly for summer, his cooking is light yet sensuous.
We started with a bruschetta; home-baked bread topped with a choice of sweet peppers and tomato or chopped fresh tomato and basil (£2.50). Lamb mince and halloumi cheese parcels gave us a resounding Lebanese taste twist, while homemade dips had just the right level of bite to them, especially the aubergine.
Then followed a really lovely carpaccio of fresh tuna and avocado served on a bed of spicy rocket (£5). The combination here of soft and strong flavours and textures had us all singing chef’s praises.
Evangelos is a rather unique type of chef in that he is a bit on the quiet side, preferring to translate his personality and any ego to what is going onto the diners’ plates rather than receiving their hearty thanks; for him it’s the food that really matters and in my book that’s the way it should always be.
There is a minimum of 12 starters to choose from on this well balanced and definatly different menu. Starter I always enjoy include partridge ravioli and prawns Saginaki – a delicious Greek-inspired dish with mussels and prawns flamb?ed with tomato and feta cheese (£5). Then there’s black tiger prawns saut?ed with garlic, fresh herbs and dill (£5) – this dish alone is worth taking one’s life in one’s for to travel the dodgy race track road to Polis, along, of course, with the melt-in-the-mouth home-made salmon spring rolls glazed with honey and chilli (£4).
From the outside of this restaurant customers have no idea of the delights at the rear. A ‘secret garden’ is filled with the scents of mint, lavender, and oregano, with shady trees and discreet hanging lamps. It’s got to be one of the nicest garden settings in the area, one that makes you feel so removed from the outside world that you are apt to forget you still have to drive home (so a wine watch has to be kept on the designated driver).
On to the house specialities. Customers come just for the duck breast (£12) and phone ahead to ensure they order it. It is the same with rib eye steak (£10), which is always cooked to perfection being wood grilled and drizzled with only the best virgin olive oil and a just a touch of oregano.
Pork fillet marinated in a chilli and honey sauce and again wood grilled has been a favourite for a few years, that along with the chicken with honey in mustard sauce stir fried with mushrooms and spring onions.
For main course, we went for the fish of the day – grouper cooked to perfection with broccoli and spinach, served with a really lovely caper sauce. Or we could have gone for stuffed sole filled with crab, prawns and herbs (£9.50). For carnivores there is by all accounts the discovery of the best lamb kleftico (£9) to be had.
It’s also wonderful to see rabbit regularly on the menu and here you can enjoy another classic, rabbit stifado, cooked in commandaria with porcino mushrooms pine nuts and juniper berries – a real lip smacker (£12).
Talking of classics, there’s also mousaka and a fillet of pork with fetta and roasted peppers. Salads abound from Caesar, to avocado to wood grilled veggies (£4.50).
For pudding don’t mess around just go straight for the home-made almond cake, after all one needs an instant sugar rush to provide the energy needed to travel home safely. Less than half an hour from the centre of Paphos, the Old Town is well worth the journey.
Vital statistics
Speciality Quality Mediterranean food
Seating 50 plus
Where Polis
Contact 26 322758, 99 632781
Booking Preferred
Price from £15 per head (3 courses without drinks)
