El Sabor Latino — Restaurant in Lefkoşa Türk Belediyesi

Good value of money Italian and Spanish restaurant with intrusive cats

N35°10.606' E33°21.904' Sabor or El Sabor Latino is a locally popular restaurant serving Italian and Spanish cuisine next to the Selimiye Mosque or Selimiye Camii, historically known as Cathedral of Saint Sophia or Ayasofya Mosque in the Turkish-Cypriot part of Nicosia. It offers seating inside, on the covered and heated terrace and on Selimiye square. If you had enough of kebabs, it offers tapas, pasta, chicken, meat dishes and surprisingly Asian noodles, but no pizzas.

In November 2021, we ordered Parmiggiano salad with mixed greens, arugula, shaved Parmesan cheese and sun-dried tomatoes (tl 39), vegan spaghetti with onions, fresh tomatoes, capers and kidney beans (₺ 40) and linguine sabor with fried prawns, calamari and tomato sauce (₺ 82). The kitchen cooked quickly and soon large bowls of steamy Italian pasta were on our table. The pasta dishes were well-prepared, tasty and nutritious. The Italians do much better when it comes to taste, but these dishes were nothing to be ashamed. The same goes for the white Pasqua Pinot Grigio (₺ 135) Italian wine. Good, but nothing to be remembered.

However, our culinary hearts were racing at the desserts: Incirli pasta (₺ 25) and mosaic chocolate cake (₺ 25). Much more locally infused baking produced light figs and chocolate cake, accompanied by a well-brewed cappuccino. Very good ending to a good local dinner. Service was friendly in English with an English menu. Beware of the resident cat population: this free-spirited army of cats has overstepped the line of begging, jumping on chairs and tables to demand food while you are eating. They know every trick in the book. One trick El Sabor knows is to offer payment in euros at unfavourable rates: pay in Turkish lira.

The food of El Sabor cannot be compared to original Italian or Spanish food, but they do a good job in a nice atmosphere with friendly and quick service....

Although it was convenient, being open on a Sunday, we found Sabor to be the most inauthentic Italian/Spanish restaurant we have ever been to.

We had two pasta dishes - one pesto with cream, 'fresh pasta' and shrimp, and one linguine 'sabor'. My pesto was with macaroni and definitely not fresh, it was all cream I couldn't taste the pesto. In fact I had to ask for salt, pepper and parmesan to try and give it some flavour. To my horror the salt and pepper was pre ground and the parmesan was dried and pre grated. Imagine. A restaurant calling itself Italian with dried parmesan.

My partner's pasta dish had prawns and calamari in it. Both were chewy and small (definitely not fresh) and the linguine tasted low quality also. The pasta to sauce ratio was off (dry) and there were no fresh herbs or accompaniments to give it flavour.

Additionally our carafe of red wine was fridge cold! I understand some light reds should be chilled but this was the house bog standard, cheap rich and dark, and only made cold to disguise the flavour

The waiters weren't massively attentive or all that friendly, making the experience even more dissatisfying. However...

A seafood feast in the heart of Nicosia – June 2023

During our stay in Nicosia (Lefkoşa) in June 2023, we dined at a wonderful restaurant located near the historic Selimiye Mosque. We enjoyed our meal in a spacious, flower-filled garden that created a truly relaxing atmosphere.

The menu was simply outstanding. We tried the traditional Portuguese grilled shrimp and calamari skewers (menu item #74), served with salad and potatoes. Another highlight was the “Sabor” — six pieces of shrimp sautéed in garlic and white wine, accompanied by potatoes and salad (menu item #72). The presentation was beautiful, and these two seafood dishes were by far my favorites during the entire stay on the island.

For dessert, we savored a Cypriot specialty, a type of bread pudding with a creamy cheese filling, paired with complimentary coffees that perfectly rounded off this...