The Grill House Taverna in Larnaca, Cyprus June 30, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Cyprus Larnaca, Food Cyprus, GreekTaste Local.trackback
Now approaching his 80th birthday, Antonis Anastasiou has been throwing open the doors of his pretty taverna in Larnaca, Cyprus, for longer than he cares to recall.
After unfastening the wooden shutters he pauses momentarily to deadhead his bright pink geraniums and breathe in the smell of sea spray mixed with tobacco smoke and fried halloumi cheese as he gazes out across the Mediterranean.
A kafenio, coffee house, bar and eatery, Anastasiou’s place is rarely empty. After their siestas, the menfolk hunch over thimble-sized cups of sweet Cypriot coffee known as “glyko”, served with two heaped teaspoons of sugar, and enjoy a game of backgammon. Music plays, usually the folkish strains of a laouto, a type of lute, over the constant clatter of plates and chatter. Anastasiou’s apron-clad sidekick cuts up chunks of chalky feta while slabs of honey-soaked pastries are traded for salacious titbits and tales of political strife.
The island has been split between a Turkish occupied and military controlled area in the north and a Greek area in the south since the Turkish invasion in 1974. United Nations peacekeeping troops line the border, with still no sign of a resolution.
Generous measures of pine resin-infused retsina wine help to drown the nation’s woes. Ouzo flavoured with anise and pale Keo Cyprus beer in frosted glasses are other specialities. The Grill House Taverna is renowned for its charcoal-grilled fish meze, plates of calamari, sea bass, octopus, swordfish, bream and red mullet served with fruit from the island’s lemon groves. Sit indoors amid a clutter of plastic flowers, old postcards and bric-a-brac or choose an outside table overlooking the shore. Complimentary grapes, plums, oranges and grapefruit are part of the deal, often with a dish of olives thrown in.
Nearby lie crumbling ruins from the Mycenaean age, dating back to the 13th century BC, when the port city was a centre for copper trading.
During June’s celebration of Kataklysmos, the Festival of the Flood, tables are scarce. Tourists and locals arrive early to celebrate the birth of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, enjoying long, exuberant lunches washed down with brandy sours. After downing a glass of syrupy Commandaria dessert wine, they sing tsiattista, improvised verses, before throwing water at one another, a symbol of bodily purification that Anastasiou insists takes place outside.
Grill House Taverna, Piale Pasia Street, Larnaca, Cyprus, Phone 24 655864.
grhomeboy
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