Cypriot food explained: meze, halloumi and the dishes to try
Last verified 19 October 2026
Cypriot food is one cuisine with two vocabularies. Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots grew up cooking the same vegetables, cheeses and slow roasted lamb in the same clay ovens, and most of the dishes below turn up on both sides of the Green Line under different names. Learn both and you can read a menu anywhere on the island.
The names are given as Greek first, then Turkish, where they differ. On menus you will usually see them in English as well.
How meze works
Meze (mezedes in Greek) is not a starter. It is the whole meal: a long procession of small plates that arrive in waves, usually for a fixed price per person and usually for a minimum of two people. Expect dips and salads first, then grilled halloumi, sausages and small hot dishes, then the grilled meats or fish at the end, by which point most first timers are full.
A few things worth knowing before you order:
- Order meze or a main, not both. A full meze for two is plenty for three people with ordinary appetites.
- Choose meat or fish. Most places offer a meat meze and a fish meze, and some a mixed one. Fish meze tends to cost more.
- Pace yourself. The best dishes often come last. Leaving half the bread basket is no insult.
- Ask what is included. Some places count drinks, fruit and coffee in the price, most do not.
Meze runs the same way on both sides. In the north the opening spread often leans further towards cold dishes and dips, with plenty of yoghurt, beans and fresh herbs, and pork is rare, while in the south pork appears regularly. Otherwise you will recognise most of the table wherever you are.
The cheese everyone asks about
Halloumi (hellim). The squeaky, salty cheese that grills without melting, traditionally made from sheep and goat milk, often with cow milk added, and folded with dried mint. In 2021 the EU registered it as a protected designation of origin under both names, “Halloumi / Hellim”, so the name on the packet reflects one product from one island. Eat it grilled, fried, in a sandwich with lountza (smoked pork loin) in the south, or fresh and soft with watermelon in summer, which is the way many Cypriots prefer it.
Anari (nor). The soft whey cheese left over from halloumi making. Eaten fresh with honey or carob syrup, or dried and grated over pasta.
Dishes to try
Kleftiko (küp kebabı). Lamb cooked very slowly in a sealed clay or wood fired oven until it falls off the bone. The name in Greek comes from the “kleftes”, bandits said to have cooked stolen lamb in pits so the smoke would not give them away. On the north side the clay pot version is küp kebabı.
Sheftalia (şeftali kebabı). Small sausages of minced pork or lamb with onion and parsley, wrapped in caul fat and grilled over charcoal. Pork in the south, usually lamb in the north, and excellent either way.
Souvla and souvlaki (şiş). Souvla is large chunks of meat turned slowly on a long spit over charcoal, the centre of most family Sundays and every village festival. Souvlaki is the smaller skewer, served in pitta.
Koupepia (yaprak dolması). Vine leaves rolled round minced meat and rice, cooked in a lemony broth. Courgette flowers and small vegetables stuffed the same way appear in summer.
Makaronia tou fournou (fırında makarna). The Cypriot baked pasta: thick macaroni, minced meat and a béchamel crust, flavoured with cinnamon and grated halloumi. Moussaka, its aubergine cousin, is on most menus too.
Molehiya. A Turkish Cypriot stew of jute mallow leaves, cooked with lamb or chicken in a tomato sauce and served with rice or bread. Hard to find in the south, common at home cooking places in the north, and well worth trying.
Afelia. Pork marinated in red wine and crushed coriander seeds, then braised. A Greek Cypriot classic, usually served with bulgur.
Pourgouri (bulgur pilavı). Cracked wheat cooked with onion and vermicelli, the island’s default side dish where elsewhere you might get rice or chips.
Trahanas (tarhana). Cracked wheat fermented in sour milk, dried, then made into a thick soup with halloumi. A winter dish on both sides, and an acquired taste for some.
Flaouna (pilavuna). A pastry filled with cheese, egg, mint and sultanas. Greek Cypriots bake it for Easter, Turkish Cypriots make pilavuna all year, and the two are close enough to start an argument about which came first.
Sweets
Loukoumades (lokma). Small fried dough balls soaked in syrup or honey. Best eaten hot from a street stall at a festival.
Glyko tou koutaliou (macun). “Spoon sweets”: fruit, nuts or even vegetables preserved whole in thick syrup. Walnut, bergamot and cherry are the ones to look for. Traditionally offered to guests with a glass of water and a coffee.
Soutzoukos. Strings of almonds dipped repeatedly in thickened grape must and dried, sold by the metre at village festivals in late summer and autumn.
What to drink
Coffee. Strong, unfiltered, boiled in a small pot and served in a small cup with the grounds left at the bottom. Called Cypriot coffee in the south and Turkish coffee in the north. It is the same coffee, ordered the same way: sketos or sade (no sugar), metrios or orta (medium), glykis or şekerli (sweet).
Commandaria. A sweet dessert wine from the villages on the slopes above Limassol, made from sun dried grapes and often described as the oldest named wine still in production.
Zivania. A clear, strong grape spirit made from what is left after the wine is pressed. In the north the local spirit of choice is rakı, an aniseed spirit drunk with water and ice, especially alongside fish.
Brandy sour. Cypriot brandy, lemon squash and soda, said to have been invented in the 1930s for the young King Farouk of Egypt. The unofficial drink of the island on both sides of the line.
Beer. KEO and Leon in the south, Efes from Turkey widely in the north. Both sides drink plenty of all three.
Eating out, practically
Portions are generous and the bread arrives whether or not you asked for it. Water is safe to drink from the tap on most of the island, though many locals prefer bottled. Vegetarians do well at meze, where half the table is vegetables, pulses and cheese. Vegans should ask about halloumi and yoghurt in the cold dishes. Most of the north serves halal meat as standard, and alcohol is easy to find on both sides.
Restaurant recommendations are not something we publish yet. When we do, they will be places we have eaten at ourselves.