Eat Like Ushi

To break up the drive between Ayia Napa and Paphos, there's the relatively (from what I read) unexciting Limassol and the more wild Troodos mountains. Certainly the drive inland was met with lots of mountainous scenery and greenery.

Lania (or Laneia?) is a little village reputed for the old charm of cobblestones and printed pictures on outdoor walls. Every street seems to be lined with plants and homeless cats too.

There's only about 3-4 places to eat in Lania, and Platanos seems to have the best reputation/reviews online.

Certainly on a quiet Friday afternoon, there were only 2 other groups of diners feasting on the meze. It's a good thing the area is pleasant because our grilled dishes took a good 45mins to come. But when they did, it was worth the wait.

Chicken €9.5 was a grilled, marinated a well charred crisp skinned leg quarter, divine in charcoal flavour and tender beyond belief. Lamb chop €13.5 included 1 thick chop, 2 small cutlets and an added rectangular piece I'm unsure where from. Similar to the chicken, it was flavoursome, charred and the fat kept the meat moist. It had been cooked through rather medium/medium-rare but this certainly had no effect on the tenderness.

The meats are all sourced locally and come with decent fries (could have been crispier on the outside) and standard salad. 4 warm pitas also came too. Ice coffee €1.5 was large and refreshing too.

This was the tastiest meal in Cyprus. I was envious of the mezedes and would have really liked to sample more of the meats, particularly the pork chop. Next time...

The lovely flat near Cape Greco was convenient enough to have a local tavern nearby. It wasn't a busy area like the streets of Protaras, and so we thought we should give the local place our business. The staff was remarkably friendly and our Nigerian waiter living in London and moonlighting for a few months in Cyprus had excellent manner and charisma.

It was the chance to try some Cypriot dishes that I had not yet the opportunity, and it was fate that some of these came together in a set meal.

Set meal 1
- Grilled halloumi
- Kleftiko (young lamb cooked for long hours in traditional clay oven)

Set meal 2
- Soup of the day (vegetable)
- Grilled local swordfish with a prawn and mushroom sauce

The guy here has had this souvlakia since 1948. I can't fathom that. A few locals and a taxi driver are the other guests here but I'm only for takeaway.

It's the night to eat in and the closest local souvlakia is a good one.

The regular chicken €5.5 comprised 2 skewers and was simple, tender and tasty. The large pork mix €6 includes 2 skewers and 1 skewer (of 2 pieces) of sheftalia. They all merge together with the salad and raw onions. Interestingly there was no sauce added - no tzatziki or mustard or anything. I'm unsure if that is standard, but I would have appreciated that little bit of extra moisture and flavour contrast.

Nonetheless the large is huge and a real force to be reckoned with. But I reckoned with it (to be honest regular may probably have been enough...)

I was looking to take advantage of the Mediterranean's seafood. Despite its prevalence, good seafood still isn't very cheap and so it was nice to find a conveniently located (along the beachfront road, albeit still well separated from the ocean by the road, some tents and beach) that was also well reputed. In fact without a booking there was only a handful of available tables to pick from at 2pm on a Saturday.

- Med rice balls (crispy rice & halloumi balls with herbed mayo) €3 - pretty standard and the halloumi wasn't overly noticeable or salty;
- Seafood soup (fish soup with herbs) small €3 - this was really excellent reminiscent of good bouillabaisse and even a little of the mackerel in assam laksa;
- Platter for 1 €15.5 - 4 mussels with a creamy sauce, 6 prince prawns which had very soft meat (a bit too soft) and probably could have used a longer grill time, fish fillets panfried and tasty, decent calamari, and even more decent grilled calamari heads. It was served with a buttery rice and some standard not-very-crispy fries.

Overall it was alright and I'd go back again. It would be for the seafood soup and to upgrade a platter with king prawns rather than prince ones.

After the long flight from London, finding the airport bus, then waiting for the 30min late airport bus, and finally getting to the Airbnb, there wasn't much energy or time to find something open at 1130pm. Luckily our host mentioned a 24h bakery and corner store nearby. Little did I know that Zorbas is actually a well known institution and even locals go there for their day-to-day bread needs.

They have breads, lots of cakes and pastries, and also run of the mill grocery items. Not bad at all.

Spinach pastry €2.35, coconut sweet pasty €1.75, and a type of baklava €1.5 were the late night snack and cheap to boot. Excellent.

Ever since my 30th birthday party at the wonderful Fino (https://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/fino-london-05-2012), I've owned the Barrafina cookbook. I must admit I haven't cooked from it, but it's always been on the cards. I finally got the opportunity to try the tapas sensation that is Barrafina with an early pre-theatre meal before watching The Grinning Man.

Seats are arranged all around a bar setting and so you can see the food being prepared and the activity complete with Spanish frantically spoken here and there.

- Crab croquettes £8 - warm and creamy however the crab flavour wasn't very obvious;
- Ortiguillas frituras £7 - sea anemone fried bits had me intrigued. 4 small pieces had a slightly creamy and mild sea-mushroom flavour;
- Tortilla gambas, ajetes, setas £9.5 - a simple traditional tortilla with small bits of prawn and mushroom. I'm generally not the biggest fan of omelettes, but it was alright;
- Octopus "A Feira" £14.5 - some extremely tender Galician octopus with some smokey paprika;
- Salmorejo, yellow chicory, anchovies Cantabrico "000", quail eggs £9.5 - the most visually stunning dish accompanied by the biggest and best anchovies in the world. These aren't the intensely salty tapas standards, they are bigger fillets with a bit more texture. The soup was light and tangy and all ingredients harmonised together;
- Flan £6.8 - reasonably firm and sweet with a burnt caramel flavour.

The food is good and the cooking shows a modern technique to tapas. It is expensive for the size of each serving though. It would have to be a special occasion for me next time.

When I spoke to a Maori lady at work before going to NZ, I mentioned my desire to try a hangi. Unfortunately it seemed it is more of a north island phenomenon. Ko Tane is a cultural village complete with performances and also advertise the restaurant food being cooked in a hangi.

I couldn't help feeling it is largely a tourist attraction for business purposes and the prices of the tour, the food and a photo for the show seemed as much.

The lamb shank from the hangi was in no way different or unique to another method.

Worth saying I've seen it but unless I experience the pit, I wouldn't pay for it again.

A fish and chips stopoff enroute back to Christchurch.

A beautiful stopoff along the coastal road had some outstanding seafood. Look at those mussels and the colour of the seafood soup. Divine.

Went there as recommended for fish and chips.