Cypriot cuisine is easy to understand and to love. Whether your daily budget covers a gyros or a meze (which you can eat for a couple days more, because, as the locals say: if there’s nothing left to take with you, you haven’t ordered enough), you definitely won't be hungry here. However, it can be a bit more challenging for fine cuisine aficionados to navigate through local eateries. To make it clear right away, there are no Michelin-starred restaurants on the island yet. But finding a place where food is treated as an aesthetic pleasure and served in a beautiful setting is still not so difficult.
Here we offer our top 5 restaurants in Limassol, where you can go to celebrate an important event, the beginning or the end of your vacation, or simply enjoy a beautiful sophisticated dinner.
1
Epsilon Resto Bar
An award-winning modern fusion cuisine restaurant in the Limassol Marina suitable for any occasion. There is a small open green terrace, a cozy circular bar where you feel like you’re at a friendly party, a huge fish tank serving as a good alternative to children's playroom, and several halls inside. The farthest rotunda-like room deserves a special attention. It hangs directly above the azure water (local fish appreciate the shade so it’s a win-win situation), and panoramic windows offer a relaxing view of the yachts at the marina, especially beautiful in the soft pink light at sunset. There is a large round table for 10 persons in the center and several smaller tables along the windows.
The menu slightly focuses on Japanese dishes and seafood in non-trivial combinations with vegetables, seaweed, aromatic herbs and mouth-watering sauces. Meat steaks are not boring here as well, plus a good selection of pasta, modern salad hits, and an extended wine and cocktail list. One will definitely find a way to please and perhaps even surprise their taste buds, while the airy interior and the luxurious view of the sea and yachts will give the dinner a special romantic atmosphere.
Limassol Marina
12:00-02:00
www.pns.com.cy
2
The Garden
The Garden restaurant is located in Germasoyia, once a tourist area of Limassol now rapidly becoming overgrown with luxury apartments overlooking the sea. Corresponding to the name, the restaurant is hidden inside the alluring greenery. The interior has a lot of wood, plants, bird cages, textiles and dishes with tropical prints, and the lounge area where you can smoke a hookah is spread among the trees.
It is quite comfortable here, however, the abundance of decor, trained staff and the atmosphere of the place in general set quite a solemn tone, so you will probably want to come here dressed up a bit. On the contrary, it looks like the menu originators didn’t bother themselves with conventions and limitations, which allows guests to come back and try something completely new every time. There is a good pizza from the authentic oven located right in the hall, a lot of meat dishes, including Cypriot specials, fresh oysters, French dishes with duck, soups from around the world, sushi and a bit of Russian, Lebanese, Chinese cuisine. Local focaccia which is served before the food arrives is worth a special mention. All this makes The Garden an all-purpose place for a beautiful dinner with friends, family or colleagues — everyone will find something to their liking.
Potamos Germasoyia Georgiou A, 48
12:00-00:00
www.thegardencyprus.com
3
Artima Bistro
An elegant Mediterranean restaurant next to the Limassol Castle is located in the renovated warehouse building of the Lanitis Carob Mill complex — originally a factory for processing of carob tree pods widely spread in Cyprus.
Interior designers have successfully played on contrasts here: large mirrors in shiny copper frames are hung against the background of coarse stonework, which is more than a hundred years old; semicircular sofas and armchairs in gemstone shades velour upholstery and glossy teal false columns look very glamorous. Subtle round glass lamps hung from the ceiling beams gently pour elegant tables with golden light. Dishes of the region with an abundance of seafood, fresh vegetables, cheeses, fruits, nuts and herbs are complemented with a good amount of sushi, pasta and risotto. Artima Bistro received the 2018 Time Out Eating Awards’ Grand Prix as the best “Mediterranean cuisine” restaurant in Cyprus.
Castle Square
12:00-00:00
www.carobmill-restaurants.com
4
Cicchetteria
This Italian restaurant in situated in a renovated stone mansion on the Agiou Andreou Street. During the daytime its closed green shutters and demure sign look rather mysterious, making one doubt that this is a restaurant, and that it may be open to the public at all. But in the evenings shutters and windows open wide, the inner terrace comes to life and gets filled with elegant couples and cheerful companies.
And yet this place is more suitable for dates than celebrations and parties. The classic interior is executed in rich but deep colors, the waiters are caring and attentive, lots of wine racks create an intimate atmosphere (one of the tables actually stands inside a very small room made of racks filled with bottles), and the complete absence of any arrogance — all this creates an impression of a decent hospitable house. A compact menu allows to concentrate on classic Italian cuisine in a refined and sophisticated performance. Consider that the portions are rather large here, and most likely the dinner will be hearty. But if there’s still some space left for dessert do not hesitate to add a tiramisu to your espresso. Though the dessert is not too small either chances are you going to love it.
292 Agiou Andreou Street
18:00-23:00, кроме понедельника
www.cicchetteriaitaliana.com
5
La Pasteria Il Gusto Italiano
Another mansion which is almost across the street from Cicchetteria and offers fine Italian gastronomy as well. But this house is bigger and more impressive. Pasteria’s interior is neoclassical with muted colors on the walls and accented arches between the rooms with seating for different occasions and celebrations. There’s also a trendy bar area and a cozy garden with awnings.
The restaurant itself has been around for several years, the kitchen is tested in time and has its loyal fans. But it moved to the heart of Limassol only this year, beautifully and uncompromisingly starting a new life in a small palace on a historic street.
In addition to the popular Italian classics, prepared in compliance with all canons and using selected ingredients (meat, fish and vegetable antipasti, caesar, lasagna, carbonara, pesto pasta, bolognese, arrabiata — choose your favorite version), Il Gusto offers an extended list of more sophisticated pasta, for example, penne con vodka, fusilli with beef, sweet pepper, mushrooms, dried tomatoes and mozzarella, cheese and pepper pasta, cooked in a flamed aged wheel of ‘Grana Padano’ cheese and the like. Add exquisite meat dishes to this, a sufficient amount of seafood and a children's menu (yes, it is also Italian), and you will get an upscale Italian restaurant that can cater to any guest.
241 Agiou Andreou Street
18:00-00:00
www.pns.com.cy
Let there be more occasions for celebratory dinners and exciting gastronomic journeys.
