Arranging with friends where to go for dinner provided the perfect opportunity to go to a restaurant I had been wanting to try for ages because it boasts a combination of two cuisines that are among my favourites: Thai and Indian.
Flavours @ THE LANDMARK Indo Thai Restaurant is located in Kiti. I’m not quite sure why The Landmark. It did used to be a traditional Cypriot taverna which slowly started adding Indian dishes to the menu, which explains a section for Greek salad, lamb and pork chops!
When we arrived at Flavours, seeing as the temperature was upwards of 32C, even in the evening, I fully expected to be sat indoors in a nicely air-conditioned restaurant. Alas, I was wrong and was starting to regret my choice of clothing. We were led to a beautiful courtyard. Lovely paintings and stained-glass windows in the walls surrounding the courtyard, alongside the small colourful lanterns running across the centre made it a truly wonderful place. However, this didn’t detract from the fact that it was hot!
The menu isn’t as extensive as a menu might be from a dedicated Indian or Thai restaurant but, has just enough of each cuisine to provide a variety and keep everyone happy. That being said, sometimes an over extensive menu can come at a cost to quality so perhaps it was a good thing. We wanted to enjoy a starter but, not too much as the heat was supressing our appetites. We ordered a Thai seafood salad with lemongrass as something light to share. Between us for mains we unwittingly ordered a balance of Indian and Thai.
My partner ordered a vindaloo while I asked for Chicken with Cashew Nuts in Oyster sauce. Before ordering, I asked if the chicken was battered (as this was my preference) as usually in Thai cuisine the meat isn’t. I was told that it was breaded. I was happy with that. To be honest, I was actually looking forward to ordering a Thai Green Curry but it just felt too hot. One of the others ordered Sweet and Sour Vegetables Thai style, and the other a Prawn Korma. We also ordered two steamed jasmine and two steamed basil rice. Last minute, we also added a Peshwari naan.
The salad didn’t take too long to come out and when it was put down on the table, we all gave each other a little stare. It was tiny! Fair enough, if this is what they serve up as a starter for one person, but, perhaps the waitress should have mentioned something as we did make a point of saying that it was to share. To be fair, for the small size of the bowl it came in, it did have a good helping of seafood.
Once the food finally came the Korma had a perfect swirl of cream on the surface making it look rather impressive. However, the colour wasn’t what you would expect; it was a very pale yellow, rather than a deep, rich yellow. My friend joked that it looked more like a latte! My partner was happy with the look of her vindaloo as was our friend with her sweet and sour. However, to my dismay, my chicken pieces were not breaded!
On the whole, the food was fairly average. None of us were wowed or had an ‘mmm’ moment but it wasn’t bad either. The rice did not really taste of the flavours they were supposed to and again, the Peshwari naan was OK. It seemed as though the dishes were missing that little ‘something’, as though they were so close, but so far from being amazing.
Sadly, I wouldn’t be in a rush to go back to Flavours which is a shame because I really wanted it to be something special. If I ever do, it definitely won’t be in the summer!
VITAL STATISTICS
SPECIALTY Thai and Indian
WHERE Flavours @ THE LANDMARK Indo Thai Restaurant, 26 Kitiou Avenue, Kiti
WHEN 5-11pm daily
CONTACT 24 425920
HOW MUCH Thai seafood salad with lemongrass €8.80, Vegetable Sweet and Sour €9.50, Chicken Cashew Nuts €12, Prawn Korma €16. Peshwari naan €6.50. Rice €3.50
