Koutouki Cafe

Talk about the contribution of Greek migrants to our dining culture and two stereotypes dominate. One of mustachioed sellers of dips and grill-blistered animal; the other, of the family behind the counter of some fly-specked late night takeaway selling dimmies, burgers or fish and chips.

To some degree Koutouki Cafe conforms to the latter. It's like hundreds of other neon-lit takeaways but where, in the corner next to the fridge of supermarket soft drinks, the TV is tuned to George Donikian reading the news on Channel Ten. At Koutouki you can find the sort of Greek home cooking that is strangely hard to find in this town; one that claims to be one of the world's greatest Greek-speaking cities.

The gigantes are a must. These creamy-fleshed, tomato-sauced beans that are like bigger, fatter butterbeans stand out on a selection of mezedes plates that include marinated vegetables and four imported stuffed vine leaves served with tzatziki flavoured with anithos, a Greek dill.

These beans are imported from a region outside Thessaloniki famed for the plumpness of their beans. Hearing this provenance seems surreal sitting here at a rickety table laid with paper bathed in the light of the bain marie - even with a thick tumbler of retsina in hand.

The expected trills of "mum's were better" from the Greek former basketballer with me are stilled by the first mouthful. Stella Miltsos can certainly cook and her son George is the sort of forceful host that you would let take charge of the ordering - if you had a choice!

In this spread of entrees look out for the rustic skordalia; the potato dip dosed with garlic. It's the best of the four dips taken with pita bread or straightforward fluffy white. The latter is great spread with one of the other specialties, fetta baked on tomato slices. The tomato has caramelised on the bottom of this foil parcel and the heat-softened fetta is sprinkled with chilli flakes and dried herbs. Yum.

Main courses can range from skewers of chook or lamb to the best calamari I've had this year. A little oily maybe but the cracking crust of flour adds crunch against the tender, sweet chunks of cowl and legs, although bear in mind it's not always available. They also do meatballs and rather good rissoles in tomato gravy with a little purr of chilli. These are strewn with fetta that melts into the sauce.

Given the somewhat ad hoc nature of what's on the Greek menu at Koutouki, it always pays to call ahead to see what's available. On Tuesday nights, the cafe does family dinners for groups with a shared main course drawn from a library of Greek classics; on Friday the lamb hits the spit; and most mornings you will find the house's spanakopita on the menu with grated carrot sandwiches and burgers.