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.
