For our first day trip here in Cyprus, back on July 4, we left our coastal city behind and traveled inland to the Cypriot capital, Nicosia, sitting on the border between the Greek and Turkish halves of the island. After several hours wandering the Nicosia museum, we were turned loose for lunch. It was hot and humid and we were hungry. Ella, a veteran of this program having attended last year, recommended that we find a place to try meze. She explained that a meze was a meal consisting of many different small dishes, usually shared in groups over the course of what could be several hours. We had several hours before the bus left to take us home, so Riley, Laila, Emi, Parker, and I agreed. We found a mostly empty restaurant named Kathodon only a few blocks away from the crossing checkpoint into North Cyprus. The walls of the restaurant were plastered with pictures of American celebrities from the 1950s and scenes of life in Nicosia, handmade dolls hung from the ceiling, and a chunk of concrete sat in a box with a label in Greek claiming it was a piece of the Berlin Wall. It was an eclectic atmosphere but homey and comfortable. Between the six of us we ordered two meat meze, two vegetarian meze, and two fish meze, with the intention of sharing the dishes with each other.
It wasn’t long before we were presented with six unique dips and sauces, including the best tahini I have ever had, and pita. We barely had time to sample all of them before the next course was brought out. Once the dishes started coming, they seemed to never stop, and we realized why several hours were recommended to enjoy a meze. Table room quickly started to become an issue, even though they had brought out a small, extra side table. The food was incredible. We feasted on octopus sitting in rich fat, pork kebabs, deep fried cucumber, halloumi cheese balls coated in sesame, and the dishes kept coming. Two of my personal favorites were the sheftalia, a stout sausage, and the sesame cheese balls. Each new dish was a surprise, and the range of options left everyone with something new to try. Our pace slowed as we became more and more stuffed, before we had a chance to sample one plate, another would be brought out. With another hour on our hands we might have been able to keep up.
The grand finale of the seafood meze was a whole fish presented on a large plate with our waiter assuring us it was the last dish.
Food remained on the table, but we had eaten our fill and more. The leftovers were crammed into boxes to be carted back to the hotel and enjoyed as lunch after a hard day of digging. The experience was more like a family style dinner than anything I’ve experienced in restaurants back home. I would highly recommend the experience, but caution anyone who tries it to arrive starving and not plan on doing much physical activity after.
