A La Grecque

Kosta Talimanidis stands on the verandah loudly welcoming guests as if they were members of his own family. But then, after 35 years on the Great Ocean Road, including 27 at the legendary Kosta's in Lorne, the Talimanidis clan has accumulated a vast, extended family. While Kosta is busy kissing babies on the outdoor deck or inside the split-level colour-splashed dining room, his wife Pam is in the kitchen turning out beach-house, surfside-friendly food bearing varying degrees of Greekness. The best idea is to just cover the table with everything from a shimmering salmon gravlax with silky mayonnaise and kid-friendly fried Queenscliff calamari with oregano and lemon to rustically Greek baked beans topped with hearty loukaniko sausages and chunks of feta. Service can get stretched, but this is holiday food - great holiday food - so relax. Simple grilled local fish is a no-brainer, as is the pear and custard teacake - or a little baklava.