TAKE SEVEN: CHEESE PIES

NOTE: In the interests of fairness, all seven pies (from Nicosia) were served warm after 5-10 minutes in a conventional oven (not microwave). Needless to say, cheese pies or tiropitta taste best when they are piping-hot, and lose much of their charm when cold.

PANDORA

Starting off with one of the big bakeries – and by far the greasiest of the seven pies we tasted. This was the only one where the receipt ended up with massive grease stains just by being in the same bag as the pie! No crunch at all in the crust, which is rubbery rather than flaky. A fair amount of cheese, but not much taste to it.
Verdict: 2 out of 5
Price: 70 cents
Tel: 22 437572

LA PATISSERIE (PAPAPHILIPPOU)

Cheese-pie aficionados swear by this unusually creamy offering from a shop best-known for ice-cream. More sweet than salty, the cheese is a jelly-like glob and the soft crust has a tendency to turn into sludge – yet it’s actually quite tasty. Not as disgusting as it probably sounds.
Verdict: 3 out of 5
Price: 70 cents
Tel: 22 356020

MARANGOS

We heard good things about Marangos, and no other pie looked nicer: big and voluptuous, with a golden-brown crust. But what a disappointment when you bite into it! Hardly any cheese at all, and what there is is tasteless and machine-tooled. Even that crust turns out to be all show. A total rip-off!
Verdict: 1 out of 5
Price: 70 cents
Tel: 22-783838

XADELFOS

An obscure little shop that specialises in Greek cream pies (bougatsa) – but they certainly know their tiropitta as well. Good crunchy crust, bursting with lovely white cheese when you cut into it. The cheese is heavy on feta, giving it a pungent taste, and the crust retains much of its crunch when reheated; it’s even slightly cheaper than most pies. Unpretentious excellence.
Verdict: 5 out of 5
Price: 65 cents
Tel: 22 433354

SARAH LYNE CAKE SHOP

The most expensive pie by far, but you get what you pay for: doughy pastry crust (not puff pastry, like most of the others), packed with cheese. The crust was a bit too chewy, with a sweet aftertaste that’s more appropriate to a fruit tart, and the cheese a little boring, with a whey-like sameness. Still, a quality cheese pie.
Verdict: 4 out of 5
Price: £1
Tel: 22 671222

TWICE AS NICE

Another ordinary-pastry (i.e. not puff) pie, meaning you can heat it in the microwave without ending up with a soggy mess. The cheese was the best we tried – it gleamed like real melted Edam cheese, not the processed crap you get in many pies. The crust isn’t exceptional, but still very decent. Almost half the price of Sarah Lyne (its main competitor), making it truly Twice as Nice.
Verdict: 5 out of 5
Price: 60 cents
Tel: 22 334006

ZORBAS

Zorbas is probably the biggest bakery in Cyprus, and you’d think a cheese pie so mass-produced couldn’t be much good – but you’d be wrong! Superb puff-pastry crust, with just the right amount of crunch, packed with loads of mint-infused cheese; still feels a tad mass-produced, but it wipes the floor with Pandora and Marangos, its closest competitors. Sometimes big can be beautiful.
Verdict: 4 out of 5
Tel: 70 cents
Price: 22 466134

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