A La Grecque

Should anyone fancy taking my cultural pulse with the(Melbourne)Magazine's quiz question of ''Portsea or Lorne?'', I'd definitely cast my lot with the Great Ocean Road (and Jon Faine, and tram, I know, I know). Especially after it shakes off the merry hell of Lorne and disappears into the wilds. You'll love it, too, if you begin every trip with a stopover in Aireys Inlet at A la Grecque, which is such a beacon of good food and hospitality it outshines the lighthouse. Many visits, always impressed, for a few reasons:

1. It's Greek without bashing you over the head about it. The best Greek restaurants are notable for what they omit as well as what they choose to keep. A la Grecque (''in the Greek way'') is no misplaced taverna.

2. It's hard to get good seafood on the coast and they don't insult the customers with travesties such as frozen prawns. You might not always get what you're hankering for but it has integrity.

3. They cook what they like to cook without over-thinking what holidaymaking diners would like. How often do you see brains on a menu? Particularly remarkable in these parts.

4. The room has changed little over the past eight years but it still feels fresh. Thatched ceiling, lazily twirling fans. It takes a chance on colour and wins: Mondrian meets the sea. It's not the most auspicious site but even from the broad road-facing decking you can forget about the ugly strip of bitumen in front.

5. The service is good. There is energy on this floor.

6. It's a family affair. Pam Talimanidis rules the kitchen while husband Kosta does the genial patron thing with a glass of wine in his hand, which breaks about a dozen cardinal rules but breaks them with aplomb.

OK, that last one was a fudge. Turns out it's Pam's birthday and the family is celebrating, although Kosta can't break his hosting habit of a lifetime and son Alex, a great cook himself who recently returned to the fold, is the one in the kitchen today.

Birthdays aside, the family has plenty to celebrate. Pam's recent book A la Grecque deserves high rotation in any household, and the busy season is almost over before they pack up and head to Greece for their annual winter R&R in June.

So get there while you can. The menu is divided by Greek headings - mezze, kyrio piato (mains), akri (sides) and glyka (desserts) - but it's no slavish greatest hits. Let's call it modern Greek-ish. It's food with plenty of flavour but a degree of subtlety and unexpected lightness, too.

Much of its appeal is produce-driven. You might say anchovy fillets, tomato bruschetta and taramosalata ladled over the top like a pale-pink blanket is a case of putting ingredients on a plate but, when the anchovies are this meaty, the taramosalata has the right fish-egg brininess and the tomatoes are at their season's-end ripest, that would be missing the point.

The notion of balance as applied to Greek food usually means side dishes offsetting dense servings of chargrilled meat, but this kitchen strives for intra-dish harmony. A trio of lamb's brains is cooked super simply, no more than a browning in the pan, and the almost confronting creaminess is offset by a little bitter-sweet salad of raw celery (nearly always a bad idea but somehow it works in this context), sliced radicchio and pomegranate. It's super crisp and lively as all hell.

Strips of cuttlefish with just enough chew to remind you it was once alive are blessed with the gratifying pop of the really fresh. Stripy from the grill, they laze across a kind of jazzed-up fattoush salad - croutons, radish and olives with finely diced tomato and other bits and pieces mingling with the herby freshness of a green sauce.

Roasted spatchcock has also soaked up beguiling charry flavour that leaches into a rich, oily stew of collapsing red and yellow peppers dotted with piggy slices of loukaniko, Greece's answer to chorizo. It manages to be rustic and lavish at the same time.

There's a Greek dessert wine, but don't worry: it's otherwise a good collection of respected, mostly Australian names. It says loads that the house wine is by Bannockburn.

A passionfruit custard is the only misfire. It's too soupy; the vanilla ice-cream moored in the centre too ordinary. But there's a magnificent, densely textured hazelnut cake. An A la Grecque standard, it's jazzed up for 2013 with a slick of salted caramel and a hit of cream. Neither is strictly necessary, but that's as far as the definition of excess goes here. It's a great place that oozes with the owners' 30-plus years in hospitality. Portsea or Lorne? Aireys, actually.

THE LOW-DOWN
The best bit Atmosphere
The worst bit Driving afterwards
Go-to dish Hazelnut cake, $13
Wine list Smart, mostly Australian list
Vegetarian Four mezze
Service Charming
Value Fair
Noise Moderate

Twitter: @LarissaDubecki

How we score
Of 20 points, 10 are awarded for food, five for service, three for ambience, two for wow factor.

12 Reasonable 13 Good if not great 14 Solid and enjoyable 15 Very good 16 Capable of greatness 17 Special 18 Exceptional 19 Extraordinary 20 Perfection

Restaurants are reviewed again for The Age Good Food Guide and scores may vary.