Eat Like Ushi

Interestingly reading online suggests the Ayia Napa/Protaras coast has plenty of seafood places but not necessarily good ones. Kalamies seems to be a decent one with the reputation possibly outmatched by the prices maybe due to the seafront view. As interested as I was, the fact was it required driving further up the coast from Fig Tree Bay and that proved too much effort.

I thought Nissiotis was a seafood restaurant given the online reviews, but in fact they serve a bit of everything. This was a little disappointing the seafood lived up to its online reputation and so I was happy to walk back along the promenade with a full stomach.

- King prawns grilled €8.65 - although frozen and not local, they were quite cheap per piece. They were charred nicely and so the shells were edible. Although the meat was reasonably sweet, the head/brains were remarkably sweet and delicious;
- Octopus grilled €14.5 - very tender and tasted perfectly as it should. They weren't sure if it was local (Cyprus does have it but seems less abundant) or imported;
- Fresh seabream grilled €13.9 - after seeing bream when scuba diving in Larnaca, I wanted to eat one (even though I classically am not a bream person). The waiter said it had been caught in the seas right outside the restaurant and that wasn't difficult to believe. It was simply grilled and butterflied. The meat was soft and not dry at all. It was quite lovely.

I also considered the local specialty red mullet, but it was fried. I have since read flouring and frying is the standard way to cook this (by fry I envisaged deepfrying with batter) and so maybe next time.

Interestingly there was no bread or anything else complemented. There was enough potatoes but it seemed like a standard elsewhere? The service was good and friendly so I can't complain.

However irritatingly smokers are allowed to do so in the covered area. It's quite repulsive when trying to eat. Luckily they weren't right next to us.

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.

The grand opening of Kanada-Ya in Islington included a soft 50% discount. We (foolishly) arrived at 1205pm for the 12pm opening and the queue suggested at least an hour wait. 50% saving is about £5-6 for a bowl, so not really worth an hour of time necessarily. It was nice to see that on a Sunday evening at 8pm there were free tables and only a minimal <5min wait. I'm not sure if that's foreboding for them but it's good for those of us who live a walkable distance to it.

The menu is no different to the others branches (that I remember) and the special Tonkotsu (pork bone broth, chashu pork belly, wood ear fungus, seaweed, spring onion) £10.5 was a thickish, murky, nearly congealing broth with a deep blended pig flavour. It was excellent. My flatmates commented they had thicker broth at Shoryu and in Japan but I don't think I want it much thicker (and I don't remember thinking very much of Shoryu either). The chashu was soft and not too fatty. I could eat the whole piece.

Spicy yuzu ramen (spicy yuzu, pork and corn fed chicken broth, chashu pork collar, wood ear fungus, seaweed, spring onion) £12 had a distinctive yuzu tangy flavour but was more powerful in terms of the umami and salt qualities. I thought it was pretty good and a different twist although not necessarily better than the tonkotsu's relatively less complex flavour. Is it worth the extra £1.5? Probably not but moreso because the tonkotsu is so good. The pork collar is not as soft as the chashu. And the hardboiled egg (£2 extra) is a lovely addition but quite expensive for the luxury.

I had my first set of noodles as hard and the extra serve (kaedama £2) extra hard. I certainly preferred the extra chewy texture of the extra hard and would pick that as my preference next time.

Conveniently located next to Franca Manca is Ekachai, a south-east Asian restaurant chain of 3 or 4 that seems to really specialise in Malaysian with some added Thai. The service isn't overly attentive and so it is fitting that they don't charge service automatically.

- Soft shell crab £6.95 - a relatively big soft shell crab fried with a thick coat until crisp with very juicy meat;
- Seafood curry laksa £9.95 - it isn't very spicy but the curry flavour is the Malaysian style and not the Thai one that most people would probably expect. They are unexpectedly generous with the amount of seafood including green-lip mussels, prawns and calamari. I would prefer thick egg noodles rather than the thin rice ones but that will be the request for next time;
- Char kway teow prawn £9.95 - a fancier serving style but again a good serve of prawns. It was mildly smokey and probably could have used more of it but still good. Lime isn't really standard either but creates some contrast if you like.

Not bad at all and happy that it is closeby. Will definitely come back.

Add-on 11-2018

I've been back a few times and still enjoy the laksa.

However the rendang was a waste of time. It was a generic curry and not cooked down to the thick flavoursome coconut mass that it should be. The roti was alright though.

I looked for somewhere I wanted to eat close to where Chicago had just opened (not worth paying much to see by the way IMO) and Bun House was on my Google Maps. You can't book for the Bun House part but you can for the Tea Room underneath. The Bun House menu is small and cheap whereas the green neon Tea House has more variety and paying for ambiance.

- Brulee tea egg with tea tree nest £5.8 - an egg with some crisp sugar on top and a seaweed (I think) nest;
- Garlicky wings £6.8 - fried wings simple, salty and tasty. They were a good sized piece each too;
- Wok fry black bean duck tongue £7.8 - slim tongues with black bean and some quite hot chilli;
- Lacey dumplings £8.8 - fried until they combine in an impressive lattice. They were delicious with vinegar;
- Oolong smoked quail £10.8 - a wonderful dish of tea smoked quail with the aroma penetrating the meat. Simply divine;
- Iberico char siu rice £14.8 - an expensive char siu on rice. The meat was very soft although not sure could justify the price;
- Lamb shoulder skewers £2.5 each - quite tender and gently seasoned with cumin;
- Pork neck skewers £2.5 each - more tender and with a little chilli;
- Chicken heart skewers £2.5 each - chewy heart pieces that remind me why it's one of my favourite cuts of meat.

Desserts then followed and we ordered one of each to make the process of deciding simpler.

- Ginger milk custard £4.8 - tastes like tofu-fa but much thinner and more watery/mobile;
- Red chocolate bun £2.8 - a really good fried bun with sugar underlay and a searing hot chocolate sauce inside that burnt my finger;
- Butter pineapple bun (no pineapple) £3.8 - like a sweet cake.

The food is good but pretty expensive overall. I would go back for the smoked quail and chicken heart skewers. Also the Bun House menu itself at £2.5 each sounds worth a visit, so I want to try that still.