I enjoy trying different cuisines, flavours, and dishes from different parts of the world. However, finding truly authentic restaurants that are a decent representation of the cuisine they offer might be challenging. Finding a classic, authentic Cyprus meze is something you can almost never go wrong with in Cyprus.
Many people will tell you that to experience the best of Cyprus, you must travel to a village. Tradition, on the other hand, is not bound by geography, and the good news is that any yearning for meze can be satisfied wherever in the city.
Kyra Giorgena has been around for 16 years. It is a family-run establishment, and whether you are visiting for the first time or the tenth, the owners will make you feel welcome and at ease the moment you walk through the door. The restaurant is situated close to the municipal park and the history museum, so you might go for an educational adventure first and then go swinging to work up an appetite before you eat since you will most certainly need it.
When I go into a restaurant, I make it a point to observe the decor to get a sense of the atmosphere and the type of experience the owners want their guests to have. However, when I go for a traditional meze, I do not expect any bells or whistles, that is why the paper tablecloths and the wooden chairs with woven seats are more than adequate for me. Without hesitation, we ordered the meze together with a few bottles of ice-cold beer.
You will not have to wait long for the bread, dips, and salad to arrive at the table. This is where we all remind each other not to eat too much bread since ‘the good stuff’ will be served later. We all nod in agreement, yet we keep on. Mostly because you do not just receive some warm pitas at Kyra Giorgena; you get an entire loaf that is deliciously soft and warm. It is difficult to put a halt to it.
The staples of a traditional Cypriot meze began to overcrowd the table. Halloumi, loukanika (sausages), scrambled eggs with greens, pourgouri (crushed wheat pilaf), fries, and an unusual serving of baked olives. The wild mushrooms had been brought out, and the village atmosphere was beginning to take hold, when suddenly, I was handed a curve ball: baked peppers stuffed with feta. They were fantastic. I was beginning to wonder if there would be any more twists and turns.
A plate of zalatina (jellied pork) was served. It is not my cup of tea, but other people do enjoy it, so each to their own. The village vibe resurfaced, especially when a small platter of snails emerged, cooked in a rich tomato sauce. I am not a fan, but I always try one when they are served. Although the tomato sauce added a nice flavour, I politely left them for my friend to finish. We were starting to fill up when the ‘good stuff’ was brought out. Tender pieces of souvlakia, succulent pork belly, well-seasoned sieftalies and juicy chicken. Of course, in true village style, there was more than a generous helping of everything.
The service was also quite good. We were not left with a strew of empty plates cluttering the table and causing a mess. Each meal was served with the empty plates from the preceding dish being cleared in a systematic manner, so we never felt like there were too many plates on the table.
We sat back after the last dishes were gone and the plates were cleared, trying to give our filled bellies a rest from the copious amount of food, when the owner approached and asked if we were satisfied with the meal. “Perfect,” we replied. Insisting that a coffee, fruit, or sweet would be the ideal end to our gourmet adventure, he disappeared only to return a few minutes later with a generous serving of loukoumades, deep fried to golden and crispy perfection. Miraculously, we found some extra space to accommodate these delicious honey balls, thus ending our evening on a sweet note.
A wonderful evening with friends was made possible by welcoming owners, a wide variety of good, well-cooked food, generosity, and an authentic experience. My top recommendation for visiting Kyra Giorgena is to arrive hungry.
WHERE Kira Giorgena Tavern, 7 William Weir Street, Larnaca
WHEN Tuesday to Sunday 6.45pm to 11pm, Sunday also opens from 12pm to 3pm
HOW MUCH Meze per person €20
We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.
You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings .
As is common practice with almost all professional websites, https://cyprus-mail.com (our “Site”) uses cookies, which are tiny files that are downloaded to your device, to improve your experience.
This document describes what information they gather, how we use it, and why we sometimes need to store these cookies. We will also share how you can prevent these cookies from being stored however this may downgrade or ‘break’ certain elements of the Site’s functionality.
We use cookies for a variety of reasons detailed below. Unfortunately, in most cases, there are no industry standard options for disabling cookies without completely disabling the functionality and features they add to the site. It is recommended that you leave on all cookies if you are not sure whether you need them or not, in case they are used to provide a service that you use.
The types of cookies used on this Site can be classified into one of three categories:
You can prevent the setting of cookies by adjusting the settings on your browser (see your browser’s “Help” option on how to do this). Be aware that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of this and many other websites that you visit. Therefore, it is recommended that you do not disable cookies.
In some special cases, we also use cookies provided by trusted third parties. Our Site uses [Google Analytics] which is one of the most widespread and trusted analytics solutions on the web for helping us to understand how you use the Site and ways that we can improve your experience. These cookies may track things such as how long you spend on the Site and the pages that you visit so that we can continue to produce engaging content. For more information on Google Analytics cookies, see the official Google Analytics page.
Google Analytics is Google’s analytics tool that helps our website to understand how visitors engage with their properties. It may use a set of cookies to collect information and report website usage statistics without personally identifying individual visitors to Google. The main cookie used by Google Analytics is the ‘__ga’ cookie.
In addition to reporting website usage statistics, Google Analytics can also be used, together with some of the advertising cookies, to help show more relevant ads on Google properties (like Google Search) and across the web and to measure interactions with the ads Google shows.
Learn more about Analytics cookies and privacy information.
An IP address is a numeric code that identifies your device on the Internet. We might use your IP address and browser type to help analyze usage patterns and diagnose problems on this Site and improve the service we offer to you. But without additional information, your IP address does not identify you as an individual.
When you accessed this Site, our cookies were sent to your web browser and stored on your device. By using our Site, you agree to the use of cookies and similar technologies.
Hopefully, the above information has clarified things for you. As it was previously mentioned, if you are not sure whether you want to allow the cookies or not, it is usually safer to leave cookies enabled in case it interacts with one of the features you use on our Site. However, if you are still looking for more information, then feel free to contact us via email at [email protected]
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.