Geronissos Tavern in Chlorakas, Paphos, Cyprus | Hotel Restaurant | Mediterranean Restaurant | Restaurant | Mediterranean Cuisine

Welcome to Geronissos Tavern located at the St.George Hotel in Chlorakas, Paphos on the island of Cyprus.

"The amazing mezze" - Open in Summer for lunch from 12:30 to 14:30 hrs
It might be said that the multi course, multi dish feast called Cyprus MEZZE (pronounced mezz-ay) is this country?s national meal. For newcomers, it is a never-ending stream of dishes small, medium & large, which provide unique selection of dips, salads, and meat, fish and vegetable dishes. And like the people who come back here year after year, you will probably develop a Passion for Mezze.

Cyprus mezze is not just a meal to tax your capacity; it is virtually a guide to our food. You sit with your Cyprus aperitif ? a beer, an Ouzo, a Brandy Sour or a glass of our lovely new wines ? and your mezze begins. Firstly there will be freshly baked wholesome bread with a ?Village Salad? (usually containing tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, cabbage, onion, black olives, green peppers topped with feta cheese and dressed with olive oil), and lovely little dishes to dip your fresh bread in. These may include tahini (sesame seed paste), homous (tahini with chick peas, garlic and oil), taramosalata (cod roe pasta), tsatsiki (yogurt with cucumber, herbs and garlic), as well as parsley or cheese based delights.

Then comes the Geronissos Tavern's selection of little warm plates, This may include: stuffed vine leaves; cooked green beans with vegetables; black-eye beans with spinach, giant beans, lentils, octopus, mushrooms, eggs cooked with courgettes, tomatoes or mushrooms; cheese and spinach pies and other pastries; salted fish; grilled smoked loin of pork with Halloumi cheese; cracked green olives; beetroot with Skordalia (garlic sauce), Loukanika (Cyprus?s own spiced red-wine soaked sausage) and specialties of the house.

At this point you will almost certainly be feeling replete. Even old hands at the Mezze Table fall in to the trap of starting at a gallop, including themselves in all these delicious starters with lots of good fresh bread. But the motto is, ?Pace yourself, because there is a lot more to come!?

Now we are arriving at the point of serious eating. For here are dishes like chunks of fresh grilled liver, often in spicy, sometimes peppery sauce; Stifado (beef or rabit cooked in wine with lots of onions); Keftedes (succulent deep fried meatballs) and Sheftalia (meanced meat, barbecued sausage); Souvlakia (little kebabs of pork and chicken); Kleftiko (slow roasted lamb or kid); Souvla (chunky kebabs of pork, lamb or kid).

You may get all of these but you will certainly have a generous variety, at which point you may think the kitchen has now done its stuff ? but there will almost certainly be a finale of grilled lamb chops and/or chicken. And naturally, there will be the Cyprus potato. Some taverns will offer fried potatoes, but many are turning to delicious traditional recipe: small, washed but unpeeled potatoes deep fried, and then tossed in sesame seeds and a little red wine.

For those able to contemplate more, the meal concludes with fresh fruit, the unique ?Gliko? (fruits, like oranges, apricots, cherries, plums, or whole green walnuts preserved in syrup) and local cakes or pastries, many of which are special to the region or village. Cypriots often drink beer and the local brandy ?Koniaki? with their Mezze, but are now turning more and more to wine, which we recommend. There are now many new wines, from winemakers large and small, with some very good ones in Paphos district. As a general rule, you will probably enjoy the youngest wines best ? their freshness and fruitiness will go well with your Mezze.

As well as the general Mezze described above, there are many Restaurants specializing in fish Mezze and those that will happily provide many vegetarian dishes. A non-meat eater, in fact, will find plenty to eat in the standard Mezze, but taverns, especially if asked in advance, are almost always happy to give you a Mezze with less meat and more vegetable dishes if you wish.

Directly on the beach of Chlorakas village, the St.George Hotel Restaurants offer stunning ocean views and is just five minutes drive from the picturesque harbour of Paphos, very conveniently and quick to reach.