Going Greek

 26 May 2026

 

MARIA’S GREEK CAFÉ

Dunkley Square, Cape Town

 

This taverna should be called yiayia Maria, seeing as how venerable it is and how long it’s been around, consistently serving agreeable Greek food, as if it were your Greek granny’s kitchen. 

 

Von-Mari and I love Greek food, especially mezze (mezethes, as Maria’s call them), and it’s almost beyond the pale that we don’t eat at Maria’s more often than we do (which is hardly ever), as it’s virtually on our doorstep. 

 

Today, the elder goddaughter, on well-deserved leave, and I dropped in for nosh and natter, something the two of us also don’t have much opportunity for these days. Aah, nostalgia for those halcyon days when so many readers of my humble reviews volunteered for honorary goddaughters status.

 

I digress.

 

The weather wasn’t exactly Greece in May, so we took a table inside. On balmy days the outside seating under the trees is as festive as it would be on a Greek island.

 

At 12h00, we were the vanguard of the lunch crowd who assembled from about 12h30 onwards, fortunately mostly in the front part of the restaurant. 

 

We celebrated this catch up with bubbly (R88 per glass) and ordered 4 mezethes (each sufficient for sharing by two hungry diners) from a variety so extensive it’s a challenge to restrict oneself to a reasonable quantity.

 

We either over order to start with and are then embarrassed by the super abundance we can’t possibly finish or optimistically tell the server that  we’ll start with a smaller number of dishes, see how it goes and perhaps order more later. We never order more later.

 

Our culinary quartet consisted of baba ghanoush (R98), dolmathes (R72), grilled Halloumi (R108) and Komesko (a kind of tempura aubergine with phyllo) (R102) and two portions of pita (R18 per). The latter was so generous we couldn’t finish all of it.

 

The luscious smoothness of aubergine of the komesko contrasted delectable with the lightly crisp crust: incredibly moreish. The Halloumi was perfectly cooked with a delightful, characteristic grill flavour. The baba ghanoush was unctuous and spicy and the dolmathes, not my favourite, were succulent. All in all, a very toothsome platter. 

 

The best part is that it’s not a heavy meal even if one is fully replete afterward.  

 

The goddaughter eschewed dessert or coffee and I feasted alone (well, she had a spoonful) on rizogalo (R64), a Greek version of the Turkish sütlaç on which I dote. The pudding visually resembles sütlac as one would find it in Türkiye yet the rice was as creamy as firin sütlac (the baked version) and not the firmer texture I prefer. Even so, it was nirvana.

 

Unforgivably, I forgot to ask for Greek coffee and had just a good cappuccino (R34).

 

The bill, before tip, came to R690,00 and this seems quite reasonable for a filling, light lunch with a drink. The main courses are considerably more expensive but, as I’ve mentioned, in general we’re more than happy to stick to the mezze and that makes for a better deal.

 

The service was efficient and friendly, the atmosphere was warm and homey (fortunately our table was some distance from the noisy section) and the food was exemplary.  

 

I think I should whisper Greek sweet nothings to Von-Mari, like hummus, taramasalata, spanakopita, tzatziki and keftethes (she likes it when I talk foreign) to persuade her to go Greek soonish.