Mediterraneo, Annabelle’s seaside taverna, is introducing a special menu of traditional Cypriot meze dishes for Friday dinner. Popular throughout the Mediterranean, meze dinners feature a series of small dishes shared around the table. Mediterraneo’s eleven-part menu follows a specifically Cypriot approach, with recipes and foods sourced from local villages. Among the appetisers on offer, for example, are tsakistes, young green olives smashed and seasoned with olive oil, lemon, garlic, and coriander; these are typically prepared after the first pass through the olive grove during harvest time. Our village salad includes pickled caper leaves and seasonal greens (glistrida, louvana, wild rocket). The section of the menu labelled ‘Allantika kai Poikle’ is devoted to dried meats and pickles. You’ll find salted and sundried goat from Mandria village and pork leg that has been salted and marinated in red wine before being pressed and smoked; enjoy the meats with homemade pickled vegetables. The popular technique ‘Gizi Mizi’ involves cooking under a bed of hot charcoal; try halloumi cheese from Galataria village warmed under the coals with lemon thyme. The Cypriot barbecue-rotisserie machine is called a ‘foukou’, and we use it to make several dishes featuring pork sourced from Mandria village and marinated in village wine from Arsos. For ‘Bobasto’—the last meal—we treat you to rice pudding with dried fruits, nuts, and cinnamon. Throughout the evening, listen to our ensemble of musicians perform old Greek songs (usually accompanied by piano, guitar, and bouzouki) as you savour the cuisine of a bygone era.
