Moroccan Night at the Food Lodge

A great Success!

By Ralph Kratzer

Last Saturday I had the pleasure to participate in the Morrocan Night at the Food Lodge in Catalköy together with my girlfriend.

For all of the readers who are not aware of the name – Food Lodge – please click here!

I called Sonja, one of the owners of the Food Lodge, in the afternoon, because I had forgotten to reserve places. She said on the phone: “We are totally booked ! I do not know where to accommodate all the people! “

So, I thought we had better eat first, before the event, or we would likely go to bed hungry…

What a terrific mistake !

When we arrived about half an hour after the official start of the event the Food Lodge, actually a bakery, was already completely filled with guests. I did not count, but I estimated that about 80 guests or more occupied the narrow terrace in front of the location.

I found a table completely packed with members of the TFR – The Foreign Residents of the TRNC! Where are they not to be found…?!

Sonja had her hands full dealing with the organization of the event and Latifa, her partner, was busy in the kitchen endeavouring to bring all the food to the tables on time.

So I wandered around with my camera to catch a few pictures. Unfortunately I am not yet familiar with my new camera, so a lot of the pictures were destined for the trash bin… but some remained which were presentable.

Finally the buffet was opened and the guests had apparently become very hungry… so therefore quickly formed a queue in front of the beautifully presented food.

I had taken the opportunity to take some photos of the goodies before the onslaught.

The Morrocan cuisine is is said to be one of the best in the world. And Latifa is one of the best Morrocan cooks! The dishes were absolutely authentic, from the main dishes to the side dishes and salads and to the desserts… even the breads were traditional Morrocan. So it was no wonder that the plates of the guests piled up and I saw many happy faces and some guests who were still getting one or two more plates from the buffet…

But as well as the excellent food, there was another absolute highlight of the evening, namely the performances of the belly dancers of “Little Eastern Studios” from Catalköy! I’ve seen a few events of this kind in Cyprus before, but these ladies have so far topped all of it! You can easily see when people are fully behind the thing they regard as their profession or their hobby! All guests of the evening were thrilled by the performances of this group!

I hope I will be able to see the dancers again on another occasion!

After having eaten the main course and the wonderful, of course again, typical Morrocan dessert, the evening came slowly to a successful end for the guests.

I think Latifa and Sonja were happy with the overwhelming result of their invitation, all in all a great evening and this should be repeated!