Kourides Restaurant

And here's another good one for something a bit different to eat here in the coastal town of Paphos, on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Before I go on to talk about the focus of this post, which again like many before is all about food and deliciousness, I would like to share with you guys something that I actually should have mentioned way before about Cyprus.

Now this is very important. If you would like to go to Cyprus, there are two airports on the Greek side in which you could land. Yes, there is the Greek side, which is the southern part of the island, and there's also the Turkish side, which is the northern part of the island. While the island is physically divided into two sections due to its somewhat complicated historical past, there has been talks for almost the past sixty years about a possible unification. The talks have clearly been a difficult one, as mixed opinions lead to no concrete conclusion. So back to the airport, if you which to land straight in Paphos, then do consider budget airlines namely Ryan Air, as it's got many flights coming from the United Kingdom, as well as elsewhere in Europe. I used Ryanair to fly out from Paphos since my family lives here and it's almost a three hour long drive from Paphos on the west coast to Larnaca, the country's main airport on the other side. Ryanair also has cheap deals so keep a look out on their official web page, which is linked just down below at the end of the post.

The airports within Europe that Ryanair uses both for departures and arrivals are:

• Athens International Airport- Brussels South Charleroi Airport.
• Chania International Airport : Crete, Greece.
• Kaunas International Airport : Kaunas, Lithuania.
• London Stansted Airport.
• Rome Ciampino Pastine International Airport : Rome, Italy.
• Thessaloniki International Airport : Mikra/Thessaloniki, Greece.

And other seasonal ones include :

• John Paul II International Airport Krakow Balice : Krakow/Balice, Poland.
• Stockholm Skavsta Airport : Stockholm, Sweden.

* I know that some of these airports are not the main ones in their respected destinations, but you could also benefit from what I did, which was to take the Thaly's Train from Paris to Brussels, then spend a few hours or even a few days visiting the area then head off to Brussels South Charleroi Airport then fly out to Paphos from there*

Right back to the topic at hand, food. Another awesome place that I would like to share with you is in the middle of town at a location that you probably have passed before but have never stopped by. So I won't even give you the exact address because I have no idea about the street names, but just try to go along with my directions: the best place to start my direction is probably the busiest intersection in the whole town. If you're coming from the beach or from Kato Paphos or Tombs of the Kings Road, it's the up hill road heading towards the Old Town. You can also ask the locals for the Police Station, which is just right here as well.

- From this very spot, turn left at the traffic light, and instead of continuing on which would be to the Old Town, make a quick right turn into what is another main road.

- Continue going straight until you see a petrol station on your right hand side just on the opposite side of the road, and Bank of Cyprus on your left hand side. At this point, you should either be stuck at the traffic light or green and ready to go.

- Now turn right into the road running across from Bank of Cyprus and the aforementioned petrol station. There should be a small parking spot on your left hand side, so drive very slowly so you don't go pass it! Paphos is one of those town where making U-Turns is not easy.

- And voila! you're here! Unfortunately your car or vehicle will have to sun bath in the heat of Paphos since they don't have a proper parking lot or any shade whatsoever.

*If this spot tends to be full, then from the traffic light at Bank of Cyprus and the petrol station, just continue going straight until you see another petrol station just right beside the restaurant. Turn right just after this petrol station and there should be an open lot where you can park your car.

Here, we're at another one of my childhood favourite called Kourides. I remember when I was in grade five and six, and coming here for lunch after school with my mom. If you're avoiding kebab and all those grilled items, then this place offers a lot of variation and choices. It's one of those places where you can point at what you want and they'll put it on a plate for you. The menu changes every day depending on what's good and fresh at the market, so if you do end up here on a few occasions, you won't have to settle for the same food items unless you really want to.

They also have freshly grilled items as well, because there's never such a thing as too much meat. After all, you're on vacation so everyday should be taken as a cheat day! If you arrive at around noon, the roasts won't be ready just yet, but if you can wait a bit longer, you'll be the first in line to get the delicious roasted meat of pork, chicken and lamb. I mentioned in the past two posts that Paphos makes really good dishes with lamb. Kourides is no exception, with their roasted lamb being an absolute stunner. The meat is juicy and succulent while the outside is nice and crispy. There is so much juice in the lamb and the seasoning really stick onto and into the meat, so none of the beautiful flavours and hard work put into the dish goes to waste. Just wait a bit longer because I have pictures to prove my claims!

Let's just go back a step here from the hardcore main course. Everything you order will come with a little basket of bread. The bread comes in whole so you can either cut it or rip it into pieces as you wish. I would not recommend cutting them into usual elegant slices since they're quite hard. Perhaps "hard" is not the right word since the inside is like any fresh bread. The crusts are somewhat hard to cut, but the bread is fresh and you could even ask for it to be toasted. Again, ask for some local olive oil and sprinkle a pinch of salt into it for the most delicious and labour-free dipping for your bread.

If you wish, you may also ask for a salad. We always go for their village salad, which is essentially shredded lettuce, red and yellow peppers, tomatoes, feta cheese, onions, cucumber and olives. I could have a meal just with this village salad, some of their house bread, a good bottle of local olive oil, some salt and pepper, and I will be very satisfied. The salad is very fresh, and with bottles of olive oil and vinegar on your table, you could adjust the dressing to your desire. In addition to the salad and the bread, local Cypriots also enjoy a side plate of whole raw white onion, as well as some pickled chilli or pepper and some lime. The cuisine here is so rustic and if you come to this place, I can guarantee you that you will be eating the very same meal as the locals you meet on the street. I find this another cool element of traveling, which is to sometimes get off the road used by other tourists and to live like the local residents.

With a huge loaf of bread at your disposal, some fresh village salad, it's time to pick out your main dish. I will show what my mom and I had ordered on our latest trip to Kourides. I went for a version with absolute no vegetables, since we already have the village salad on the table. On my plate, I had roasted chicken thigh, seasoned simply with salt, pepper and dried herbs. The best bite was the pork souvla, which is open-flamed, charcoaled grilled pork loin, Cypriot style. As you can see, I got two pieces, one being slightly more lean and the other, packed with full flavours from the beautifully rendered fat. Yummy. And just sitting next to the delicious meat that we can never get enough off, I had some rice. It wasn't just any other rice, since it was a very specific type - not really sure of it's real name - which was combined with the divine juices from the roast, a bit of olive oil, throw some vegetables again with their own flavours from the stock onto the plate. It is something of a very simple elegance and I'm more than happy to choose this rice over french fries or mashed potatoes.

On the other plate, my mom had gone for pork ribs with a another type of rice. The pork ribs are quite self explanatory, with the meat nice and tender and literally falling off the bone as it should be. It has a sticky and sweet glaze to it, which made up for an experience very different from pork ribs at TGIF Fridays or Outback Steakhouse. To go with her pork ribs, she got some koupepia, which is another very traditional Cypriot dish. You could say that it really has that feel of a proper, local dish from the Mediterranean region as it consists of cooked rice combined with onions, minced pork, chopped parsley, mint, tomato sauce with seasoning from salt, pepper and lemon juice, then all of this awesomeness stuffed into vine leaves. These vine leaves are delicately wrapped, as any mistake would mean the whole filling breaking out from the casing. It doesn't stop here, as they are then transferred to a pot where they're cooked for an additional half an hour with the addition of water and lemon juice, or if you want to be more fancy, replace that with chicken or vegetable stock. Needless to say, the pork ribs and the traditional family-recipe koupepia were individually delicious and worked very together as a combination.

Other than the excellent food and it's ever changing, delicious, fresh, home made menu items, this is a very friendly restaurant. The heart and soul of the place comes down to the husband and wife team, who are super friendly. This seems to be a very common here in Paphos, with many restaurant owners more like kind people opening up their home to serve home cooked meals. Although they don't speak much English, you can really tell when people are being nice and genuine since their gestures and actions speak louder than words. If you do become a regular, you can later expect to try out their sample items or maybe even a free glass of village made wine if you are to reach that next, next level.

Another great thing about this restaurant is that they have many outdoor seatings. This section of the restaurant is covered with a natural ceiling of plants and greenery. Just steps away, you can see the busy intersection and people going about their business on the main road cutting through the town. On the hottest months, I would highly suggest sitting outside since there's always a really nice breeze due to the somewhat elevated location of the restaurant.

Other than all of this, be sure to come in a little bit after 12 noon. This is because some of the items from the grill or the oven will take time to fully cook, so if you come in at noon sharp, you will probably have to wait a bit more for the full menu to be ready. Alternatively, you may also stop by and simply order a take away in a box. This is very common and very much practiced that they even have a delivery service. We've never tried out their delivery service so I won't be able to tell how long it would take, or how much it would cost, or the minimum you have to order to get this benefit. But if you do come in for lunch, I can guarantee that the food will arrive at your table in no more ten minutes, maybe 15 absolute maximum. The service here is very fast and efficient so you won't be grumpy waiting for food on an empty stomach.

If you would like to try something else more traditional, but something more Asian, then the best place for that is down in Kato Paphos at a Thai restaurant called Baan Thai Kitchen. They're only serving lunch now since it's the pre-opening stage, but will soon be offering the full menu for dinner. Overall this area is just a good place to be walking around, considering that the main shopping mall in the harbour, Debenham's, is just next to the Thai restaurant. Happy feasting!

Kourides Restaurant Paphos Town - Ratings :

• Accessibility - 8/10.
• Price - 8/10.
• Selection - 9/10.
• Staff Friendliness - 10/10.
• Cleanliness - 9/10.
• Atmosphere - 9/10.
• Overall - 9/10.

Ryanair - Europe: http://www.ryanair.com/fr/vols-a-bas-prix/?from=BVA

Check out what other travellers have to say about Kourides here on Tripadvisor! :

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g190384-d3632760-Reviews-Kourides_Tavern-Paphos_Paphos_District.html

Baan Thai Kitchen - Kato Paphos : http://baanthaikitchen.weebly.com/

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