Colosseum Restaurant

Colosseum Review

By the lintv team

When lintv recently dined at Colosseum II in Kato Paphos, we’d already had experience of the fine food on offer from Colosseum I, so we knew we were in for an evening of excellent dining. The well-known Paphos name has built up a reputation for serving high-quality Italian nouvelle cuisine.

Colosseum II is located in a side street off Poseidonos Avenue. The flight of steps to Colosseum I were always worth climbing, but patrons to the sister restaurant will be pleased to know that the new establishment has only four steps to the front door! It also has wheel chair and pram access.

Three of us from lintv had been invited. We were greeted personally by chef and proprietor, Nicos, and shown to a corner table in the open air part of the restaurant. A fountain tinkled next to us and a balmy breeze came in from the street. Covered in crisp white linen, the table was large enough for roomy dining.

Nicos has taken considerable care over the look of the restaurant. The interior has a romantic, Italian ambience with classical statues, a fountain and flowers. He has also specially commissioned art work by local painter Tassos Kapsosideris. Revealing a sense of humour, in the paintings, crockery and cutlery battle it out, the Colosseum rests in a dish and the famous Roman building also appears in the Cyprus landscape.

We were immediately served by charming waiter, Dorrel, with a refreshing special Colosseum cocktail called Prosecco Rossini. It was a light, fruity combination of Italian sparkling wine, strawberry liqueur and Crθme de Cassini. Soon afterwards, fresh, crispy Tuscany bread, sun-dried tomatoes, olive pate and butter arrived on our table.

The new sister restaurant to the original, Colosseum I, has retained the best of the old menu with splendid new additions.

For this reason, we took more than the usual amount of time selecting our dishes. The choices of soups, pastas, salads, seafood, steaks and carne dishes are tantalising. Being the sister restaurant to Colosseum, you know that all of them will be tip quality.

The menu includes specially selected, Chef’s favourites, which are helpful when making a choice. In the end we went for Ruccola e Parmigiano, Carpaccio al Parmigiano and Salmone con Mascarpone to start. With some help from Nicos, we selected vegetarian dish of ‘pasta parcels’, Fagotti Tartufo Nero, Steak Rossini and Rib-Eye Steak with a custom-made pepper sauce as our mains.

The first course arrived, presented in an honest, appealing style with no fuss. Nicos explained that he prefers to focus on the dish itself rather than presentation, something that other restaurants get carried away with.

The Ruccola e Parmagiano was fragrant and fresh. The salmon had a mouth watering mascarpone cheese flavour and the carpaccio was perfectly flavoured with a delicate taste of beef combined with parmesan.

There is no feeling of being rushed at Colosseum. The waiting staff are attentive without being overbearing. We took our time with the starters and were served the mains at a leisurely pace.

The Steak Rossini was perfect – tender fillet covered in foie gras truffles and Madeira wine. It was served with the best potato croquettes. The tender Rib-Rye steak with its special pepper sauce was a perfect blend. As for the Fagotti - it is no exaggeration to say that it was divine. The combined flavours of ricotta, black truffle, gorgonzola, fresh cream and port stuffed in the fagotti were absolutely exquisite. Nicos told us that this was one of is favourite dishes too. It is a good example of a dish which shows how creative he is in the kitchen.

Nicos didn’t have to twist our arms too much to persuade us to have desserts. Again, here the menu shows a good selection of traditional Italian sweets with a creative touch.

We went for panna cotta con frutti di bosca, crθme brulee and ricotta with honey.

The Creme Brulee was beautiful and the panna cotta con frutti di bosca was delicate with the gentle taste of the panna cotta contrasting with the tart, flavour of the forest fruits. A natural sweet, ricotta and honey is always a hit.

As we were waiting for special coffees and liqueurs, Chef and proprietor, Nicos, talked to us about his love of French and Italian cuisine. He is always exploring new culinary ideas and has a love and knowledge of wine that takes him to viticultural events around Europe. His passion is evident in the wine cellar he has for public view at Colosseum II. Here there is an array of international and rare wines are available for purchase.

The entertainment programme at Colosseum II is on six times a week and includes the best local acts such as Andrew Oliver and Dean Robins who was performing on the night we were there. His voice is a dead ringer for Neal Diamond’s and, charming too, he serenaded our table with flowers. The level of music was perfect – loud enough to tune in to but low enough to make conversation possible.

Colosseum II is an ideal venue for large events and wedding parties could hardly find a more romantic atmosphere in Paphos.

We had a truly pleaseant, relaxed evening – and the taste of the Fagotti Tartufo Nero still lingers.

Open seven days a week. Smoking and non-smoking. Wheel chair access

Address: Second right turning after Aloe Hotel, 200 metres on left-hand

side of the road.

Telephone: 26 964 096

Special offer from Colosseum - Let Nicos know that you read about Colosseum on lintv and you will be served a welcome Prosecco Rossini on the house.