White Village (Elsternwick) 2/10

Last Friday night we chose a Greek tavern at 587 Glenhuntly Road for dinner. The place had a warm and happy atmosphere with a background of Greek music. We were greeted by Costa,
an ebullient and extremely friendly host who danced among the tables like a reincarnated Zorba. Apologizing for the lack of clientele on that particular night he offered us any free table we liked. The place was simply decorated with with white and blue paper covers over linen cloths. There were a few framed scenes and objects on the walls and over the servery a net with fish and symbols of the sea.
After a short time later we had the mandatory offer of something to drink. I chose a mild and inoffensive Greek beer called Mythos ($6.50)
while Sandra settled for a house white sav. blanc, which was pleasant and cheap ($5.50).
They offer two menus, a banquet ($38) which looked like very good value, and a a la carte menu with very reasonable prices. Starters included typical Greek dips such as tadziki, fried zucchini, pickled carrot, broad beans and tourmasalata and also dishes such as whitebait and saganaki , around $8 and dolmados, $2 each. Mains included whole fish, lamb, chicken and beef or combination platter.
We chose a variety of starters to get a taste of their cooking and a Greek salad to accompany a whole barramundi and a meat platter.
The starters, accompanied by a bowl of oil, they have no butter, and a basket of crisp crusty bread were all quite excellent. The saganaki
as good as we could get, and better than almost any that I've had before, the whitebait
crisp and warm, the dolmaidos
moist and the vine leaves tender and the dips
delicious.
The meat platter was a large serve of flavorsome tender meats
accompanied by a few salad onions and a wedge of lemon. The barramundi were barbecued with a crisp skin,
the only flavour in addition to the natural flavour of the fish was provided by a wedge of lemon. Neither tartar saurce nor mayonnaise were available.
We were prtty full by now and did not have desserts, which are the classical Greek baklava or halva are only $3/ serve.
This is the essence of a Greek tavern. The menu is quite limited, basically dips barbecued food. The serves are large and the prices moderate. They have a modest very inexpensive wine list and a couple of Greek beers among others.
In conclusion a very nice place to eat
Score:13.5 /20