Translated by Bethszabee Garner
What if Limassol was an unknown pearl of the Mediterranean? And what if, in this pearl, there was a diamond, the Amara hotel? This is exactly what we found during a brief but delightful stay in 24°C shade in the middle of November, near Limassol, the second most important city in Cyprus after the capital, Nicosia.
The gastronomic experience deserves to be narrated by the menu. First of all, it is diverse, with a Nikkei restaurant (Japanese-Peruvian), Matsuhisa, signed by the hand of the famous sushi master Nobu, an Italian restaurant conceived and run by the starred chef Giorgio Locatelli, a Beef-bar like in Paris and above all, a formidable Mediterranean restaurant, the Nerea. The last being the first, let's start this review of details with the latter.
The chef, also Italian, suggests a cuisine of sharing, spreading mezzes on the table at lightning speed: marvelous white tarama with a powerful taste in which one happily dips one's warm pita, fresh and flavorsome aubergine caviar, homemade hummus, a generous Greek salad made with excellent quality ingredients. Then come the hot starters, which can also be chosen as a main course, a perfectly grilled octopus and, above all, large prawns that are crispy and melting-in-the mouth at the same time, coiled in a tomato sauce with ouzo and feta to die for.
And as if all that were not enough, the butler goes to the restaurant's fishmonger (because Nerea has ITS own fishmonger!) and brings back a 2.5 kg grouper that is just waiting to be savored... A simple but unbeatable preparation: cooked on the bone with olive oil and lemon sauce. As a side dish, an authentic find, homemade fries with parmesan and oregano. After such a feast, the obvious dessert is an Amalfi frosted lemon, served in a bowl of ice so that the sorbet does not melt too quickly
The second highlight of Amara is undoubtedly its Italian restaurant. The chef, Giorgio Locatelli, a star of Italian television, has the loquacity of Gordon Ramsay and the passion of Éric Fréchon. ‘I won't serve a dish that I wouldn't eat myself,’ he says with a mischievous look. During our visit, we were treated to a menu featuring Alba white truffles, of which Giorgio is a demanding expert. ‘You don't cook with white truffles, unlike black truffles, which you can stuff into meat during cooking,’ he reminds us. ‘You grate the Alba truffle on a dish and it releases incredible aromas!’ The chef grated it himself on a veal Wellington as a starter, then on a creamy parmesan risotto, and even on his chocolate-praline dessert! ‘Here, I don't do Michelin-starred cuisine but gourmet cuisine,’ he explains. That's what the owners asked of me; they have been customers of my London restaurant for twenty-five years.'
The other two Amara restaurants are less surprising but remain great classics that are very popular wherever they have been. Matsuhisa is a must for Japanese-Peruvian cuisine: finely sliced white fish sashimi, seasoned with a touch of garlic and ginger and a sesame oil sauce and the inevitable yuzu, chef Nobuyuki Matshuhisa's famous black cod caramelized in miso, or tobanyaki beef garnished with small fresh vegetables (shiitake mushrooms, asparagus, etc.). And to finish, Nobu's signature dessert, his whiskey cappuccino. As for the Beefbar, faithful to the line of conduct that made its success, it unrolls slices of this Kobe beef so tender it could make you cry…
To have such a high-quality and varied culinary range in a Cypriot hotel is undoubtedly an asset, in addition to the fact that all the rooms have a sea view, that the 3,000 m2 spa is very complete in terms of facilities and offers top-quality treatments, and that the geographical location of the Amara, 40 minutes from the airport and 30 minutes from the centre of Limassol, makes it easy to shine on the island.
Article written by Yves Derai, to be found in issue n°10 of OniriQ Magazine.
