Desserts and Sweets

Ice cream is everywhere, made by smaU local dairies, and far more prominent than the traditional Levantine sweets; Turkish or Italian style is invariably better than imitation British. In the South, P&P (Papaphillipou & Patisselie Panayiotis) and Iraklis are generally accepted as the best local ice cream brands; in the North there's Mr Bob's, sold on the main highway at Ortakoy in north Nicosia, and Geye in central Kyrenia. Creme caramel and European-style pastries are also well repre- sented. Again in the North, linn sLitlat; (baked rice pudding) is delicious, and through Ramazan the novelty sweet asure is very popular. In the South, palouze (grape-must pudding with rosewater) is a common autumn treat.

Among oriental sticky cakes, you'll most often find baklavas/baklava, filo pastry layers alternating with honey and nuts; gafak- topoureko/su boregi, filo pastry filled with custard; and kataifi/kadayif, similar to baklava but in a shredded wheat-type winding. Katmeri/katmer is a sort of crepe filled with banana, honey and sometimes clotted cream, a common dessert in meze houses meyhanes. Glyka/macun, preserved candied sruff (and vegetables) of assorted types, is another village specialitY occasionally sold to outsiders. Last but not least, you can't miss the island-wide "Cyprus" Delight, varying formulas of sugar, rosewater, pectin, nuts and fruit essences -there's no need for anything else (E-numbers, preservatives, etc), so scan ingredient lists carefully.