For an authentic taste of North Cyprus visit one of the many coffee shops or restaurants and let your taste buds experience pure joy. During your stay you will find many places to try delicious healthy Mediterranean foods, locally grown fruit and vegetables as well as tasty pastries and cakes.
One of the specialities of Northern Cyprus and Turkey are kebabs. Kebabs are meat based meal where the meat has been diced and cooked using skewers on a BBQ. They are traditionally made using lamb, but they can also be made using chicken or beef. In North Cyprus kebabs are usually cooked outdoors over a coal fire and the whole family and friends are usually invited around for the meal.
Şeftali Kebab is a traditional Cyprus type of kebab that resembles a traditional western sausage. The ingredients are ground ground up lamb mince mixed with finely chopped parsley, onions, peppers along with some salt and pepper. These ingredients are rolled up and placed into lace fat (rather than skin) and made into a sausage shape.
Also very popular are Kofte’s which are meat balls flavoured with parsley and other spices.
Most get togethers include drinking Efes which is a Turkish beer or Raki (Ouzo in Greek). Raki is a strong alcoholic apéritif drink which is clear in the bottle but is commonly mixed with water. Once mixed with water it turns into a milky white colour and tastes of aniseed.
Raki Toasting (Wikipedia)
North Cyprus has many ex-pats so there are also dedicated places where you can buy fish and chips or burgers.
There are also several Chinese, Italian and Indian cuisine restaurants to try out if you fancy a change.
All you coffee lovers out there need to taste the delicious but potent Turkish coffee. You can order it without sugar (called “Sade” pronounced “sa-de”), some sugar (medium called “orta” pronounced “orr-ta”) or with even more sugar/ sweet (called “Şekerli” pronounced “sh-e-ker-ly”). Turkish coffee comes in small cups like an espresso but you will be left with some sediment at the bottom of the cup which should be left and not drunk.
Turkish coffee 