Why the neighbourhood taverna still matters

My faithful dining companion and I decided to have dinner at a taverna – specifically, Pais Lysiotiki Souvla.

Located in a beautiful old house in Ayios Omologites, the restaurant has been around for well over 20 years, yet somehow still feels like a hidden gem.

With it being a cold January night, we were well aware that the taverna’s charming garden would be off limits. Luckily, the interior more than made up for it.

Utilitarian in décor, rustic in charm and slightly dim in lighting, the space gives off a distinctly homey vibe. Wooden panelling runs halfway up the walls, while photographs of a Cyprus of yore adorn the rest: a donkey saddled with baskets crossing a field, women making mud bricks, old timers sitting in the village kafeneio.

As you’d expect from a meat-forward taverna, the charcoal grill and oven feature prominently. What is surprising, but welcome, is that Pais also offers a well-thought-out vegetarian section, with proper dishes rather than slapdash afterthoughts.

For starters, we ordered a small village salad, grilled halloumi, a portion of mushrooms and tahini.

For mains, I chose the wine-marinated pork, while my faithful dining companion opted for ttava – a slow-cooked stew of lamb and vegetables. Each main comes with a choice of side: French fries, rice or bulgur wheat. I went for the bulgur; she chose the fries.

A quick aside: my companion initially wanted to order kleftiko, only to be told that, as a seasonal dish, it was currently unavailable. Kudos to the venue – there’s something reassuringly honest about places that respect seasonality rather than offering everything, all the time.

Before long, the salad, halloumi, mushrooms and tahini arrived, along with a generous portion of complimentary koulouri bread.

People often pay little attention to salads, but in local places like this, they can be somewhat revealing. We’ve all been served the perfunctory village salad: an unripe tomato quartered, a cucumber hacked in two, one errant olive, a slab of feta, olive oil poured over the top and job done.

This wasn’t that.

Care had clearly gone into its preparation, and it set the tone for what was to come.

Soon after, the mains made their way to the table. The ttava arrived in a traditional clay dish and announced itself before it even landed, the unmistakable aroma of lamb reaching us first.

When it did hit the table, I couldn’t help but smile at the fries: uneven, non-uniform, clearly hand-cut from potatoes of various shapes and sizes. Perfectly fried and seasoned, yes – but also warmly nostalgic. Most places now either buy them frozen or feed potatoes through a machine.

The ttava was exactly what the evening called for. Warm, hearty and comforting, it balanced meat and vegetables without one overpowering the other. Wonderfully seasoned and unmistakably homemade, it felt like the kind of dish that’s been cooked the same way for decades.

Personally, I wouldn’t have said no to a chilli pepper on the side, but that’s just me – the dish stands perfectly well on its own. While we had fries and bulgur alongside our mains, plain rice would work tremendously with this stew.

The wine-marinated pork, for its part, delivered in spades. Rich and filling, the meat was grilled to perfection. The marinade never overwhelmed the pork, but remained present throughout, lending the dish a quiet sense of decadence.

A squeeze of lemon transformed it into something bright and zesty – a dish that would feel just as at home on a summer evening as it did on this cold winter night.

As the waiter came to clear our plates, he offered us ‘Cypriot doughnuts’ [read: loukoumades] with mastic ice cream, on the house.

As we were finishing up, a table of seven sat down nearby and were greeted just as warmly as we had been. Whether they were long-time regulars or first-time visitors like us, it was impossible to tell.

Pais Lysiotiki Souvla isn’t trying to reinvent the Cypriot taverna, and that may be its greatest strength. It knows exactly what it is and executes it with care, consistency and warmth. In a dining landscape increasingly obsessed with novelty, this is a place that reminds you why these establishments mattered in the first place – and why, when done right, they still do.

VITAL STATISTICS

SPECIALTY: Traditional Cypriot cuisine

WHERE: Lysiotiki Souvla Pais, Daidalou 18, Nicosia

WHEN: Tuesday-Saturday: 7.15-11.30pm, Sunday: 11.30am-4pm, Monday: closed

CONTACT: 22 316220

HOW MUCH: Starters: €2.25-€6.5, mains: €6.5-€42