Basiliko Restaurant is located in the basement of the Cypriot hotel Anassa. The hotel opened in 1998 and is one of Cyprus’ most luxurious hotels. Basiliko Restaurant is the hotel’s signature restaurant, but is unfortunately a perfect example of when everything looks right, but where everything is wrong.

Basiliko Restaurant is set in a stone cavern and you walk down to it on a beautiful long winding staircase. The restaurant’s and the whole hotel’s interior is supposed to reflect the rich cultural heritage of Cyprus and features Roman mosaics, Greek motifs and Venetian frescoes. The restaurant is in perfect condition and feels brand new and the style is classical with candlelight and white tablecloths. Basiliko Restaurant only seats 24 persons, but has a courtyard to dine in as well.

It is obvious that Basiliko Restaurant lacks a clear direction of what sort of cuisine it should specialise in, with contemporary Cypriot cuisine based on Asian cooking techniques. Mediterranean herbs and Oriental spices all mixed up in a confused and disastrous way. To start with some shrimp appetisers that are not eatable due to texture and pure flavour that does not deserve to be in anyone’s mouth is not a good way of starting an evening. But to continue with almost tasteless tuna, and lamb racks that will force you to chew on them until you give up and spit them out again concludes an evening at the Basiliko Restaurant.

The Basiliko Restaurant team lacks self-confidence and the waitresses do not have enough experience to serve in a signature restaurant of the country’s best hotel. You can forget about asking any substantial questions because the employees simply do not know the answers to them.

Basiliko Restaurant needs some significant changes before it deserves to call itself a fine dining restaurant. To just look good is far from enough and especially with the hefty price tag compared to what you get. Maybe sun worshipping tourists do not care that much about the quality of food of a hotel such as Anassa, but we doubt that. Of course everyone deserves a proper meal if it is sold as a fine dining experience and priced thereafter.

Written by Andy