Last week a group of us from the CAL Bloggers Table met up to taste yet another new cuisine we hadn’t encountered before.




It was a Cypriot food festival at the Eros Hotel, managed by Hilton.




There was a nip in the air, but no one was complaining because it was winter saying goodbye.




We started with drinks, salty, marinated olives, and crackers with a creamy yogurt dip.







There were some really cute appetizers going around. Take a look at these.







Balanced well, with an interesting mix of textures and flavours, they disappeared into my belly pretty quickly.




I loved this lentil and cuttle-fish shot.







Soon we moved inside for a full Cypriot feast.




Cypriot food involves the use of many spices, fresh herbs, and fruit.




Some of the traditional Cypriot dishes we tried included Pork Afelia (Pork braised in red wine with crushed coriander seeds), Beef Tavvas (Oven cooked beef and potato with cumin, onion, and tomatoes), and Kotopoulo Me Fasolati (Chicken cooked with green beans and tomatoes).




I loved the live counters where marinated prawns, chicken, and pork were being grilled.




This salad was the definition of fresh.







Here’s a look at my plate.







I also tried some of the famous Halloumi cheese from the region, and this pickled octopus.







The desserts were largely made with phyllo pastry, and some like Rizogalo (Rice cooked in milk and cinnamon) and Daktyla (Pastry fingers filled with almond and cinnamon in sugar syrup) tasted very familiar – almost like our Indian desserts.







It was a fun evening, experiencing a brand new cuisine, with these lovely people.







If you want to try it, the ‘Gastronomic Journey to Cyprus’ is on at Blooms, Eros Hotel managed by Hilton, Nehru Place from February 13 – 24, 2013, for lunch (12pm – 3pm) and dinner (7pm – 11pm) daily.




Read what the others had to say:




Sid from Chef at Large
Sangeeta from Banaras ka khana
Mukta from Bake-a-Mania