Paphos

[Silly Yak]

Cyprus Restaurants
Posted by Carly on 17/6/2011, 21:12:48


We are going to Paphos next weekend so I have spent ages online trying to find some restaurants who understand cooking for us coeliacs (the accomodation that we are staying in has a full kitchen but it would be nice to eat out in the evenings if possible)

I emailed The Pingouino today and they replied very quickly saying that their Daughter was a coeliac and that they had a small gluten free menu and could offer salmon, pork and pasta. They told me to ask for two different staff members and offered to help with any other queries that I had. I will definitely be trying this restaurant.

I have also found good reviews about the Annabelle and the Harmony restaurants - have any of you been to any of these places or can recommend anywhere else?

[petern]

Was asking the same thing on Trip Advsior.
There is a Bakery in Paphos (in fact everywhere over Cyprus) ZORBAR's if you give them 2 notice they will make GF Bread for you.


Also on here is the link to Procopis, great guy the contact for Cyprus Coeliacs, he lives in Paphos



you can find Zorbas bakery in all Cyprus and they make GF bread. You have to order it 2 days ago.
This is the link of there telephones if the shops in Paphos.
www.zorbas.com.cy/zorbas/page.php?pageID=13
( the code for cyprus is 00357 )
You can contact me any time or www.cyprusceliac.org


Last summer, i found some ice creams (Nestle, maxi bon in a red cup) and "Boss with chocolate" bar were GF. (Not certified by the factory, but not gluten in the ingredients). In Paphos there is the "New York Sweets" (19 N. Nikolaidi, 8011, Paphos, Cyprus Phone: [phone]) that has gluten free chocolates cakes and some ice cream. Finally, pinguino cafe in paphos (harbor road) has gluten free menu with pasta, muffins etc and the owner (mrs Stavri Simillidou 00357 99819900) can help you ( her daughter is Coeliac too).
Contact me for any other information. My email is inetatinetcydotcom.
Me and mrs Stavri are members of the Cyprus Coeliac Association and i will try to send you a card that she will display to the restaurants (in English and Greek language), so the chefs can understand.

regards
Procopis Tsangaris

Let us know how you get on Carly, going there in Feb 12.

[carly]

We were very impressed with the cafe 'Pingouino'. The location was brilliant (short distance from the Harbour) and the food was very good. We tried the gf spaghetti in tomato and basil sauce and the salmon with roasted veg and a gf bread roll. They also did a gf pork dish and a gf soup.

We can also recommend the Genesis Steak Restaurant. We tried their steaks and pork chops and they were both excellent and were served with fresh veg, rice and chips/jacket potato. The service was very good and a short walk from our apartment so we went there on 3 different evenings.

I did not really look for gluten free products in the supermarkets but they were full of very nice fruit, veg, meat and fish so I was very impressed.

We look forward to going back just as soon as we can.

[Silly Yak]

Cyprus recommendations
Posted by adi on 10/8/2011, 22:10:50

Just back from a lovely holiday in Cyprus and thought whilst it is still fresh in my mind, tell you about our gf experiences.

We stayed in a small hill top town, in a private villa, just north of Paphos. We ate out every evening at some of the local tavernas and being gf was not a problem. A lot of the local cuisine in this area of Cyprus is naturally gluten free, with an emphasis on local salads (delicious cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce), grilled meats and kebabs and seasonal vegetables cooked in olive oil and lots of home made hummous, tahini and tzatziki. Avoiding bread or breaded food was not a problem at all, and although almost everything was served with chips, these were for the most part, hand cut, home made chips- deep fried separately from everything else. We did print off a card, in Greek, which I presume instructed restaurants on the requirements of someone with Coeliac Disease, but this was met mainly with shrugs and mild amusement.

Among the restuarants and tavernas we most enjoyed was a small restuarant called Imogens in a small hill town called Kathikas. The food was delicious and the owner was well versed in gluten free requests and could point out the few items on the menu which were not gluten free. What a refreshing situation to be in. Also, a local taverna called The Olive Tree in Polemis, served delicious grilled meats and meze- very reasonably priced and full of locals. Dionysis Taverna in Strumbi was also really nice. The local icecream was delicious and next time, we will bring some gluten free cones! We managed to get to Pinguinos in Paphos and thank you to the person who recommended it. A really lovely spot with great iced coffees for us and milkshakes for the girls.

I anticipated that gluten free bread would be difficult to find, so packed in my suitcase a pack of Bob's Red Mill gluten free bread mix. This was pretty straightforward to make and it turned out really well. Great texture and flavour. I bought this at Waitrose and really recommend it.

We shopped at Carrefour, which had some gluten free foods, not a huge selection but we did buy some really tasty gluten free pasta in the shapes of dinosaurs. We also shopped at the local supermarket and they had some imported gluten free foods- quite expensive- but good in an emergency. Reading the labels proved a bit of a challenge, but the staff were very friendly and helpful and most spoke very good English, so translating labels was not a huge problem.

I feel inspired to get on with developing a good pitta or flat bread recipe. It was the only thing I felt was missing. It's on my to do list, so will get on with it and report back soon.

My only complaint is really down to airports and airlines where there is zero provision for gluten free food. We flew Easy Jet, and there was nothing on the plane to eat that was gluten free. There was not much at Gatwick either and certainly no gluten free provisions at Paphos airport. So if you are travelling, remember to bring some snacks for the journey. Also a big thumbs down to M&S Services which had virtually nothing gluten free. Even the sliced ham on offer was covered in breadcrumbs. We bought some prawns with a mayonnaise dip and was really dissapointed to see that the sauce was not GF. Most of what we purchased to take on board the plane, ended up in the bin which was a real waste.

This was our first trip to Cyprus and we had a great time and will be back again. if you are thinking about a holiday abroad, I would certainly recommend it.





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Re: Cyprus recommendations
Posted by Carly on 11/8/2011, 8:02:11, in reply to "Cyprus recommendations"

We also had a lovely time in Paphos this summer and if all goes well we will return next summer. Next time we will hire a car so thank you for the recommendations.

Glad to hear that you found the Pingouino

[Trevor]

Just Back From Cyprus
Posted by Carly on 11/7/2012, 12:02:08

We have just returned from a holiday in Paphos, Cyprus and my GF diet did not stop us in any way, shape or form.

I am fussy with my bread so took my own Juvela loaves - the owners of the apartment that we stay at supply me with a brand new toaster every year so I have no need to worry about CC although I still take toastabags incase we go out for the day. Our apartment had a microwave and a large fridge/freezer and a big full size oven which was great.

Last year whilst in Paphos we discovered the Pinguino Cafe and ate there with confidence as the Daughter of the owners has CD herself so they know all out our requirements. This year the food was even better. They do gf spaghetti in tomato and basil sauce, salmon with roasted veg and gf bread roll, pork fillet with salad and veg and a prawn dish. If you speak with the owners they will do other things on request and when I was given a portion of chips they were cooked in fresh oil. The cafe also does great coffee and wines.

We also ate at the Agapinor restaurant twice. The first time we chose pork chops which were huge. The next night we went back and had the chateaubriand which was first class - the only ingredient that had to be removed was the worcester sauce.

We picked pomegranates off trees and had unlimited other fruits, fish and meats.

We went on three boat trips which all included meals. The Wave Dancer evening Cruise were brilliant and cooked me a special chicken, rice and veg hot meal.

Best bit about the holiday is that it was so hot that we were never really hungry ... I think that we need to emigrate!

My fear of holidaying abroad has gone

[christine]

Have just come back from a very successful holiday in Cyprus.

If you are considering going to Paphos or Coral Bay, I can highly recommend the following restaurants.  No translation cards were necessary as everyone speaks very good English.  Most of the menus were not marked for GF but I found it was easiest to decide on 2 options and then ask the staff which of them could be made GF.

Metaxas Restaurant, Paphos - I read several reports from Coeliacs on Trip Adviser about this restaurant so we made a beeline for it on our first night out.  It's down a side street so no views but the food more than made up for that. The owner, Stephan, has a sign on the wall outside saying he can adapt 80% of his main menu to suit gluten, wheat, dairy, nut & soya intolerances.  He is Cypriot/Italian but trained and worked in England for many years so the menu reflects this mix of nationalities.  Most of the food is made fresh so if necessary he just tweaked it but the waiters always told me what he had changed when they brought the food.  We ate here 3 times because the food and service was really excellent and we thought it was reasonably priced.  They also had a selection of puddings suitable for me. Lovely - our favourite by far!

Duomo Ristorante Italiano, Paphos - Came across this by accident late into our holiday.  Very helpful staff and checked with chef if my choice could be made gluten free.  Had a cherry panna cotta for dessert - it was to die for! Wish we had found this place earlier. 2nd favourite.

Trattoria La Vigne, Coral Bay - Again, the staff were helpful and the food was good. However, they were very busy so service was a little slower and we also thought the food and drinks were slightly overpriced compared to the two above.  This may be because its in Coral Bay which is a newer smallish resort just outside Paphos and generally everything is a little more expensive there.  Would still recommend as there was a good atmosphere and if you want to stay in Coral Bay (as we did) then it's within walking distance of a lot of the hotels & villas.

Lastly, but by no means least, Pingouino Cafe, Paphos - This has several mentions below so I wont go into much detail other than to say they have extended their GF menu - it's all clearly marked so you just need to mention you need GF when ordering so that they can keep it separate.  They also have GF bread rolls which they serve with salad etc.  Lovely for a lunch or early evening snack.  I had chicken kebab & french fries one day and it was superb.

I also think I should mention about the supermarkets and availability of GF foods.  Since being diagnosed we have mainly gone to the Canary Islands where you get a great range of free from foods in all the supermarkets ie rolls, bread, biscuits, cereals etc - some of their packets of ham even have the crossed grain symbol.

Not so in Cyprus I'm afraid.  In our local supermarket (Phillipos) all they had was gf flour and kallo stock cubes and most of the packets of ham had wheat in them - we found two that didn't but they had maltodextrin which I can't have either).  In the Papantoniou chain (across the island I think) they have a small "health" section where you can get some biscuits and maybe a few long life rolls but still very limited.  Most of the ingredients labels are in English so you can at least check before buying.  Do take care with the biscuits as they also do sugar free which are in similar packaging to gluten free.

Apparently you have to go health food shops for a better range of free from items but we didn't bother looking.

All the supermarkets have fresh lactose free milk in the chiller which is the same brand as the normal milk so check the labels carefully - it tasted really nice (plastic bottles not cartons).  They also had "low in lactose" milk which I have never seen in the UK?!?!

Anyway, I would highly recommend Cyprus - only 4 hours from UK, beautiful weather and lovely helpful people.  Car hire is easy as they drive on the same side of the road and all road signs are in English.  What more could you want.

[karen21]

We found some gluten free pasta in Phillipos Supermarket in Coral Bay and some GF bread in Papantoniou Supermarket in Paphos.

Good restaurants were:

Sienna Restaurant (GF marked on the menu) -on the road between Paphos and Coral Bay

Corallo Restaurant (Greek restaurant in Coral Bay) - could tell us which items were GF and there was quite a lot of choice

Meraki Market Cafe (vegetarian cafe with GF menu) - on the road between Paphos and Coral Bay

Quite a lot of food had English ingredients lists as well as Greek. There was quite a lot of English food for sale e.g. Branston, Kelloggs Cornflakes, Marmite). It was quite strange to see Tesco and Waitrose products together in the same aisle!