Secret Diner: Greek fare at Delfi Greek Taverna

EVERYONE has a regular neighbourhood local – they always offer good food at good value, you get to know the proprietor and staff and become part of the

restaurant family.

Delfi Greek Taverna is one such spot in Morningside. The food is unpretentious and traditionally Greek with all its flavourful ingredients of lemon, olive oil, garlic and parsley.

Owner Maria Teranes’s hospitality is warm and welcoming and there are many regulars. The decor may not quite be 21st century chic, but the Greek flags, fishing nets, ukuleles and ouzo bottles all add to the charm of the place. It’s cosy, and homely, matching the food and service.

Maria’s prawns are legendary. I ordered these as starters and they were plump, cooked in a garlic butter with a good dash of periperi. They come with chips – for some these home-made fat chips are the best in Durban – or fresh green veg, or Greek salad (the traditional one, so minus lettuce).

We also ordered squid heads – crisp and nicely spiced – with a decidedly garlicky skordalia dip.

Starters can include a mezze platter – home-made spinach and feta pies, lamb meatballs, brinjals wrapped in feta, halloumi, courgette fritters, vine leaves and an array of dips.

For mains, a friend had lamb shank with those chips – and a meltingly tender shank it is. Another had the moussaka, fresh and alive with authentic flavours.

Another had the famed imam bayldi baked in olive oil with garlic, tomatoes and onions. It was rich and rewarding hearty.

My dish, kokonisto: a beef (it would’ve originally been lamb) pot roast in tomatoes, garlic and herbs, was succulent and tender.

Dessert is somewhat limited: predictably baklava, the little custard pies, halva ice-cream and Maria’s grape or citrus preserve are options. I’d tried all three, but tonight we’d all eaten our fill so we had good strong Greek coffees, passing up on a Greek brandy.