What to Eat in Paphos: A Dish-by-Dish Guide

Paphos may be famous for its Roman mosaics and Aphrodite mythology, but stay a few days and you'll realize the real religion here is the table. Cypriot cooking is Greek in outline and entirely its own in detail — heavier on the grill, prouder of its cheese, and organized around the meze: a slow parade of small plates that turns dinner into an evening. Here's what to order, dish by dish.

Key facts

• The format: meze — often 15 or more small plates, fish or meat versions, typically priced per person
• Where: harbor-front tavernas by the castle, the old town of Ktima, and village tavernas inland
• Best months: April–June and September–November

Halloumi: the national treasure

Cyprus's squeaky, salty cheese — traditionally made with goat's and sheep's milk — is protected and beloved. Order it grilled, when the outside chars and the inside softens, ideally with watermelon in summer. It appears early in every meze and nobody complains.

Souvla: the Sunday ritual

Not to be confused with small souvlaki skewers, souvla means large chunks of pork or lamb turned slowly over charcoal on long spits — the centerpiece of Cypriot Sundays and celebrations. Tavernas across the Paphos district serve it; the smell will find you first.

Kleftiko: lamb from the sealed oven

The island's signature slow dish: lamb baked for hours with bay and oregano in a sealed clay oven until it falls off the bone. Traditional tavernas — especially in the villages inland from Paphos — build their reputations on it. Order it wherever you see the domed ovens.

Sheftalia and afelia: the char and the wine-pot

Sheftalia are rustic, caul-wrapped grilled patties of seasoned pork — smoky, juicy, essential in a mixed grill or pita. Afelia is the old Cypriot braise of pork in red wine and crushed coriander seed, a dish that tastes of the island's vineyards.

The meze supporting cast

Expect taramosalata and tahini dips, koupepia (vine leaves stuffed with rice and minced meat), grilled lountza (smoked pork loin), village salad with purslane, and louvi — black-eyed beans with greens and lemon. At fish tavernas along the harbor, the parade turns to sea bream, calamari and octopus.

Something sweet: loukoumades and Cyprus Delight

Finish with loukoumades — golden dough puffs soaked in honey syrup — or a square of the rosewater-scented "Cyprus Delight" from Geroskipou, the village on Paphos's edge that has made the sweet for generations.

What to drink: Commandaria and zivania

Commandaria, the amber dessert wine made from sun-dried grapes on the island's southern slopes, is often cited as among the world's oldest named wines still in production, with roots in the Crusader era. Zivania, the fierce grape spirit, arrives ice-cold as a welcome or a farewell. The wine villages of the Paphos hills also pour crisp whites from the native Xynisteri grape — winery visits are easy to arrange.

Tip: Order the meze for the table and pace yourself — plates keep coming for well over an hour, and the grilled meats always land last. Lunch meze at a village taverna, with the afternoon free to recover, is the connoisseur's move.