Last Updated on August 31, 2022 by ADMIN-TOM
I’ve lived in Cyprus for fourteen years, moving to here from England in 2008. Up until last night I had experienced one meze (a meal of many parts found all around the Mediterranean Sea) and that was a marathon meal. It was so filling; I haven’t felt the need for another Meze since. That is until last night. Last night was a Meze with a difference, it was a lot more enjoyable.
We went to a restaurant in the next village, in Tala, The Melitizia Taverna. It has some great reviews and I’ll add mine to it soon. But I did get a problem sitting facing the sun for the first twenty minutes of the meal. But hey, you can’t very well ask the owner to move the sun and certainly wasn’t prepared to get them to move the seating because it was perfect within a few minutes.
But I also learned something. Something very useful in this climate and at this time of the year. Wasps are a real problem when eating al fresco. I’ve tried lemons, limes, a big stick, my hand, a rolled-up newspaper and swearing at them, but nothing has ever worked at moving wasps on to pastures new in fourteen years… until last night. And the secret is… Coffee, especially the local Cypriot ground coffee, placed in foil on a heat/fireproof dish. Light the coffee grounds and place in the middle of the table. The resulting smoke makes the wasps buzz off. It works, I watched it work, I even got a faceful of smoke myself several times and I was close to buzzing off too.
The staff were fabulous, very friendly, and always attentive, even with a full restaurant. Then we came to the food.
It was a meat Meze and consisted of a whole variety of dishes that just kept coming. From local sausages and ham, to liver, beef, kebabs, beef in red wine, olives, beetroot, salad and, well, I could go on forever, and almost did.
After two hours, a great meal, lovely sunset and discovering a way to get rid of unwanted guests at a meal, it was time to go. I was in bed by 9:30pm and slept like a log, only to find I was even more tired the next day, today. So that’s another side effect of a Meze, it makes you tired.
Even at the ripe old age of sixty-seven, I’m learning something new every day.
Copyright © Tom Kane 2022
When I’m not eating, I write novels, historical fiction novels, none of which feature copious amounts of food. But they do get good five-star reviews. If you want to try one of my books, why not download a FREE copy.
