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Restaurant review: Kati Allo, Letymbou, Paphos
Kati Allo in Letymbou, Paphos raises the bar for Cyprus mezze
When asked what he thought of Greek /Cypriot cooking, the American food writer Jeffrey Steingarten replied: “I have to question a cuisine created by people who pickle their cheese and put tree sap in their wine.”
Regular holidaymakers to the island may well agree with him, especially after two weeks dining on mezze accompanied by carafes of headache-inducing village wine. Same goes for residents who, after the first five or six visits to their local taverna start to become somewhat jaded after being swamped by a parade of lack lustre dishes.
The lure of the Cypriot mezze has begun to pall, it’s sort of lost its way, and reasons given have been directed at the declining numbers of tourists, but in the end blame has to be laid at the doors of those lazy taverna owners who haven’t woken up to the fact that unlike ten years ago there is now a raft of different restaurants serving a huge variety of quality cuisine.
So, when I heard about a young married couple who had recently opened a traditional taverna in the some what ‘one donkey’ village of Letymbou, it was curiosity rather than hunger that made me set off on the 12km drive from Paphos.
The tavern is called Kati Allo (Something Else) and for over 100 years served the village as a coffeeshop until Michael and wife Eleni took it over just before Christmas. The old stone structure has been re pointed and cleaned up, the interior has a warm cosy feel to it with the usual village cooking and agricultural artefacts dotted around the walls.
The big surprise was the menu, which included dishes such as vegetarian and meat mossaka, duck with green peppers and red wine, steaks either peppered, Dianed, or swimming in creamy, home-made garlic sauce, or, if the urge struck, a simple plate of bacon, eggs and chips.
In addition, the menu offers five different ways with venison (grilled, baked, peppered, fried, and creamed) or there’s grilled quail, and on Thursday evenings Michael fires up his traditional kleftico oven. He is key to the operation as he cooks every dish, sources all the ingredients and as a trained hotel chef, knows not only his onions but also his rocket, roasts, fowls and flavours.
The couple also have the support of relatives who all grow prime vegetable and home tended herbs for the tavern so, come the season for wild asparagus, plates will hopefully be groaning with this local delicacy. We sat down to the mezze and, from the off the difference was blindingly obvious as to the well honed cooking and presentation skills exiting the kitchen. Thirty dishes later, including a lovely salad, then eight cold starters, seven hot, 10 main plus dessert and a repeat portion of the best sheftalia I have eaten in 15 years, there was no doubt Kati Allo has set the bar very high for others to hopefully follow. It’s a testament to their hard work and commitment that they have a regular following for the buffet Sunday lunch with people coming from Limassol just to try the delicious roast wild boar and lamb souvla.
VITAL STATISTICS
SPECIALITY Quality Taverna Food.
WHERE Kati Allo, Letymbou, Paphos
Go through Tsada, then it’s the next village after Kallepia.
CONTACT 99 421137 or 99 527541
PRICE Mezze €16 pp, Sunday lunch €15pp (vegetarian friendly)
