Blog
Restaurateur lives for the art of conversation
February 23, 2022
In the specialist in turning out warming soups in the north THEO PANAYIDES meets a former mechanical engineer who has moved into the late night dining scene. He now lives for reading books and talking politics
Every cloud has a silver lining – and the one small upside of Covid restrictions is the way they’ve encouraged more Greek Cypriots to explore the foodie scene in the occupied north, which is less hung up on SafePasses and vaccination status. Heybe Corba (pronounced ‘chorba’), a 15-minute walk from the Ledra Street checkpoint in Nicosia, has become something of a meeting point, according to its manager Djamal Tarazi. “Every night, almost, I have one or two [Greek Cypriot] friends coming here,” he tells me in fluent if imperfect English. “And these people that come here, they are all well-educated.”