On Saturday evening I ate at a Greek restaurant called Marijka’s for the first time. It’s on Victoria road just after Bakoven (on the sea side), you can’t miss it as it’s the only restaurant along that stretch. We sat on the veranda because we had some smokers in our party, but the veranda is protected by some roll down awnings so the weather and passing traffic were not as intrusive as they could have been.

The decor is very simple, white and clean, as one might expect from a Greek restaurant. The place is quite small, a couple of tables outside and 5 or 6 inside. The place filled up nicely as the evening progressed. It’s not a festive, plate breaking Greek place but rather a casual and relaxed dining environment.

The food was very good. We had a selection of starters like calamari tentacles, potato wedges, humus and salad. Starter prices averaged R25. For mains I had the special of the day which as chicken and mushroom phyllo pie. It was delicious, but extremely rich. I was always told to eat what’s on my plate when I was younger and have struggled to shake that habit which means by the time I finished the very generous portion of pie, I felt very uncomfortable. A few people had the chicken or lamb skewers and others the Moussaka. Everyone thought their dish was very good. All mains are served with a choice of salad, potato wedges or pasta rice and the price of the mains averaged about R80.

A couple of people had homemade halva ice cream and a baklava did a trip around the table. I didn’t try them (was still dealing with all the chicken pie I had eaten) but comments were positive. The total was about R150 each. The wine list was small but sufficient for most and not badly priced. No complaints about the service.

If you are particularly in the mood for Greek food then I think this is one of the better options in Cape Town. Some of the other Greek restaurants I have tried here have not been great.