4 September 2026 · Eleni Kyriakou
How we make sheftalia
About four hundred on a Saturday, all rolled by one man before the lunch team arrives. Pork shoulder, caul fat, the cinnamon argument, and why the grill has to be patient.
Journal
Notes from the kitchen. Not often, and only when there is something to say.
Kitchen notes
12 September 2026
Palouzes are back
The first grape must of the season arrived from a Cypriot grocer on Green Lanes on Wednesday, so Maria has started on palouzes: must thickened with flour, set in shallow trays, topped with toasted sesame and almonds. It's on the dessert list until the must runs out, usually by the end of October.
1 September 2026
The motor
The motor that turns the skewers on the foukou gave up at 8.40pm last Saturday. Hüseyin turned forty skewers by hand for an hour and a half while Jude drove to Edmonton for the spare. Nobody in the dining room noticed. Hüseyin noticed.
3 August 2026
Watermelon and halloumi
Cold watermelon, halloumi straight off the grill, a few mint leaves. It's how half of Cyprus eats lunch in August and it's on the menu until the end of September.
14 July 2026
Why the chips aren't gluten-free
People ask. Our chips share a fryer with the kalamari, the koupes and the keftedes, all of which are floured or made with wheat. For anyone avoiding gluten because they're coeliac, that's a real risk. So we say it plainly on the menu and offer roast potatoes instead, which never go near the fryer.
20 June 2026
Twenty-eight years
Hüseyin's first shift on the grill was a Friday in June 1998. We asked what he wanted to mark it. He said a new pair of tongs. He got the tongs, and a cake from Maria that he pretended not to want.
17 May 2026
Five years as Foukou
Five years ago today we reopened under the new name. Andreas made 600 sheftalia yesterday instead of the usual 400 and was still out of the kitchen by ten. Thank you for coming back.