BGG

How can you forget the "first on the right" - Sylvana's! Altho its rightful place as first on the right has been usurped by a steak house/chinese/whatever-it-has-decided-to be-this-week interloper. Top prize (for smaller groups) has to go to Polis, altho not so keen since Haris put in the serve-yourself salad bar - invariably eat too much before the meat arrives!

cc

Inflights from Lae and Medang (PNG) were my favourite - Fresh Lobster of course...!

Cyprus Countrybred

You're going to tell me the Green Rock has gone next!

Warmtoast, no prize, because I'm still trying to get your picture out of my head.:)
Ref the Pongos and caviar, on a det in Norway with the Royal Marines, the lads complained that they were sick of the "raw fish" and wanted "proper fish" (ie deep fried cod in batter) with some chips please. Personally, I thought the smoked salmon fillets were excellent.

Polis has been put OOB by the Aki EH Tech recently....:bored:

culinary fare
 

although only a lowly erk I did many hours on shackeltons and recall that rations came by the box for ten crew plus about four ancilliary groundcrew.Usually volunteers where asked for to do galley duty and thats how I learned to cook!!I can recall tinned chickens which just fitted in the oven,also bacon and eggs for breakfast on Gibexs ,good healthy fare for those long patrols and long flogs to the empire! I recall one exercise when we were transitting Eastleigh(Nairobi for those who dont remember!)when we had two aborted trips due to various reasons,like engine fire warning ,both pilots with the runs,no fuel jettison so a 5 hour flog round Nairobi before landing!!Anyway by the time we got back to BKY the galley was full of rations which we erks divided amongst ourselves . Hate waste having seen rationing in force!!

Downsizer - do you know why?

TTN - Green Rock??? Never come across it in my 18 years travelling to Akt (including three years living there)

Enlightenment please!

cc

Off Thread but whilst we're on the subject of Cypriot fare does anyone recall 'Little Arifs' down in the Limassol Turkish quarter?
It was a Shell garage which, in the evening, doubled as the 'restaurant'. Once it had closed, tables and chairs were laid out on the forecourt and the food was cooked on the pavement across the street. The waiters were very quick on their feet! The atmosphere was quite heady, probably due to a mix of kokkinelli (free) and petrol fumes. Could spend the whole evening there for just a couple of quid.

The lunch box provided on a 7O Sqdn (Hastings) flight from Akrotiri to Shajah is easily described. One very stale roll.

Little Arif's
 

Remember it well. Couldn't recall if it was Little Arif's or Arif's Magic bar. Many good nights there early 70's. Stuff ones self rotten less than a quid.
Plan - send one man in to negotiate the price, then about twenty descend on the place. Pity it had to go.

Back to the real thread - Sandwiches out of BZN. The ham was sliced so thin it had only one side.

Lunchbox as provided by civilian caterers at Khartoum c-1980.

Warmtoast - I suggest that your offering looks much more like General Gordon's personal "lunchbox" as "provided" by the MCC (Mahdi's Catering Corps) at Khartoum c-1885!:}

Jack

PS Either way, you still win .....

Jeez. Having to pay for your in-flight meal - that takes the biscuit (pun intended)

Cyprus Countrybred - Possibly before your time - was there up to the 1974 war - may not have survived that. Typical "dive" in downtown Limassol - floor show, cheap drinks and lots of raucous Brits usually, favourite run ashore for tanker trash at the time. Also remember the Limassol wine festival when they drained the ornamental pool in the public gardens and filled it with kokkinelli - inevitably drunken squaddies swimming in it by the end of the evening.

In 1965-67 there were two main kebab places, Big Arif's and Little Arif's. There was a major outcry when both places put up their prices from 500 mils to 750 mils.

Despite UK inflation rates, prices weren't much different 10-12 years later.

Swan was £1.000 whereas the bigger places were £1.500!

Only rule to remember when going to Chris' was to make sure that either he was there - or had told them you were coming. Otherwise things could be...not so good.

My rather more feather-bedded, rates-loving colleagues were astonished when I said I'd sooner stay on base at AKT for a night stop. A jug of sour in the OM, trip to the village, then back to the 4-star luxury of Block 101 before an 0900 launch the next day - snagless. Beat the heck out of a long bus journey to some out of season tourist hotel miles from anywhere just for a few quid in the back pocket!

BEagle

I agree. I have managed to reproduce OM Brandy Sours back here in the UK (cheap Brandy, Lemonade and Lemon Squash with NAAFI Magic Bitters (the key ingredient!)) but never the Tahini sauce that the likes of Chris and Silvano could drum up - maybe it was Cypriot special sauce :}

LJ

I tried and failed with Tahini! Usually it was far too thick and had the texture and taste of quick setting concrete.

One of these days I Will Prevail!!

I do hope it won't require the 'additive' which allegedly goes into 'special sauce'...:eek:

Brandy Sours
 

During my time living out in Limassol I learn't how to make good brandy sours and now nearly 50 years later, I continue to do so, in Seth Efrica!

The esential ingredients are brandy that is cheap enough to be very generous with, fresh green (unripe) lemons and Robinsons Barley Water. Most lemonade's work fine, though the Cypriot 'Alpha Lemon' was the best and Angastura bitters is the same the world over.

Anyone coming for the 2010 world cup, let me know and I'll arrange a tasting. The lemons will be in season :ok:

My thought is that the lemon HAD to be the Kean one. When I was in Cyprus 61 to 63 the only way my wife and I could afford to eat meat (under 25 = minimal allowances) was to be at Arif or Niazi for dinner. ISTR recall one could eat thru the menu for £1 and got to keep the box of Turkish Delight to take home. Small rissoles, lamb skewers, liver, chicken, pitta breads, salad and wine, a good balanced diet!

Best lunchbox? Definitely the one from the BA handlers at Nice en route Gib with a Staff Nav overseas. The delicious roast beef sandwich and the triangle of Camembert stick in the memory - the rest was merely tasty.

Best Lunch Box I can remember was from Tel Aviv en route to Jordan for exercise, well the Wessex didn't have very long legs. We had to suffer smoked salmon and cream cheese butties along with assorted fruits.

Same trip taught me a little about Middle East problems. We were required to climb to 7000 ft to cross from Israel to Jordan, a height that we would never make, probably because of the weight of the in-flight rations. We asked Tel Aviv if they could ask Aman if we could cross at 5000 ft to be told that they had not spoken for 20 years so we were on our own.

I digress, I was last thrown out of the Green Rock in 97, I think.