Sunday brunch is my favourite part of Sunday. And while I cook a mean toast and egg creation, today we ventured out in the hot sunshine for brunch with some friends. We headed to the old part of Nicosia; the part with teeny tiny winding streets, little alleys that inhabit old tailors, fabric stores and carpenters workshops.
Tucked down a little side street off Onasagorou street, The Market Company reminds me of something I'd find in London. It has an old warehouse feel to it, with exposed brick walls, mix and match chairs and big wooden tables. The decor is right up my street and the music was a perfect mix of upbeat and chilled for a Sunday brunch.
We didn't make a reservation, but somehow blagged a table for 6 at 12pm. I'm still not sure how we did it since the place was packed with people enjoying coffee. A little internet research later and reservations are apparently advisable. I would have to agree.
The menu is compact - around 12 dishes including fish and salad and some perfect brunch options like bagels packed with salmon and cream cheese or fried egg and bacon. My entire group decided on the bagels; and we can definitely recommend them. My salmon and cream cheese bagel seemed to be freshly baked, was a decent size and tasted absolutely amazing. And im not going to lie, I had food envy at the bacon and fried egg version! And if that wasn't enough my freshly squeezed apple juice topped it off; it may have looked like water from a pond but god was it delicious.
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| What was left of my bagel when I remembered I hadn't taken any photographs |
The great thing about this place is its pricing: cheap/reasonable. There aren't many places in Nicosia where you can find great food at such a reasonable price. A bagel is €3 and the juice about the same.
While the food, price and decor are all great, I cant really say the same about the service. Maybe we caught them on a bad day or maybe it was karma for actually blagging a huge table, but the level of customer service was pretty rubbish.
OK so we wanted to swap some bacon for some hallumi for our vegetarian companions, but our waitress was pretty slow and pretty pissed off looking. And when you have to remind them that you actually ordered 6 drinks to go with your food, its not a great sign. Yes they are new, yes they were busy but I really think service is important and if you cant force a smile when you take someones order you really need to review things.
It is the one thing that would stop me going back.
But the quality of the food means I would still recommend you check this place this place out when your in Nicosia.
My pictures are blurry thanks to my rubbish phone, so for more information about the Market Company and better pictures, visit
here.
