O Stratos

On Lonsdale Street, across the road from the Civic Pub, next to an art gallery, and a shop for surfing-and-snowboarding middle-class kids is O Stratos, one of Canberra's few Greek restaurants. We've been here a few times, making a point of sitting by the window to allow gazing at Mt Ainslie and passing junior civil servants on their way home to the 1- and 2- bedroom apartments of Braddon. And generally we've enjoyed ourselves.

The food itself is a bit patchy, with us experiencing repeated evidence of the microwaving of key elements of meals prepared earlier, but while not being cheap, it is also not that expensive (i.e. $16-26 mains). The spanokopita (fetta and spinach pie) and prawn meals we had last time round were OK, but certainly not outstanding. The bread and dips as entrees were somewhat more memorable, and the service has been consistently friendly and efficient time after time. Perhaps, in sum, O Stratos lives up to its self-categorisation as a taverna - complete with representations of white-washed villages above the Mediterranean on the walls - rather than a fine dining establishment, and should be appreciated in these terms.