Oikos is the new Greek Restaurant, in the the southern most southest part of Miramar,  on the 2 bus route, and close to the cycle tunnel. This is firmly in Greek territory of Wellington. The local fish’n’chip shops also serve a variant of Greek food (yeros mostly), which is a delicious alternative to fried fish. There’s Greek clubs and societies, a Greek shop in Kilbirnie nearby (Taste of Greece), and many local kiwis will declare their Greek heritage, speaking some Greek language in their homes, and trips to Greece to visit the land of their parents and grandparents. So I expected this to be authentic Greek but also kiwi as.

This new restaurant is in an area under-served by good food. North Miramar is awash with amazing restaurants (The Larder, Cafe Polo, La Bocaloca) but South Miramar and Strathmore have only had the amazing Burger King (and maybe Gypsy Kitchen for lunch).

It’s plausible you could visit this restaurant on the way to the airport (after checking in luggage even). This local block of shops dates from before the airport was built. The dairy has long ago shut down, after the petrol station opened. The Chinese restaurant burned down dramatically last year.

We booked a table online – this is lovely instant way to book a table. I received a text message asking me to confirm the booking (by following a link). 10 minutes later they phoned us to confirm again. The line was noisy and my hearing is terrible. By now we were well and truly confirmed.

Gosh it’s a lovely tiny restaurant. Soothing green colours with natural wood. They’ve used those cage light shades that don’t actually shade the light downwards but they look pretty.

The staff were super busy. It was tricky to flag them down. They are indeed extremely popular. While we waited for someone to notice us at our table a crowd formed inquiring for a table. Most were turned away, as they were fully booked. Some decided to get takeaway.

We managed to order. Pita breads with tztatiki. Lamb Kleftiko. Chicken Kalamaki. Spetsofai pork sausage. The lamb melted, as all good slow cooked red meat should. It was sticky sweet, but not too sticky sweet. The pork was salty, but not too salty. The chicken a bit dry but others dining with us declared it the best of the dishes. We had to re-order more pita bread a few times.

Alas, just as out meals turned up, the staff arrived with a dilemma. They’d double booked our table. Could we move?  We guess so. We were moved into the window, sharing with another group – onto high stools at a high table, which was a bit awkward for the shortest members of our group (taku tamāhine, whitu).

But I have great news to report. They gave us free dessert to make amends. Let me describe the dessert. There was Loukumades, which are doughnut balls covered in the most perfect honey, served with icecream. And there was a chocolate baklava. Our youngest was very amused that it came with “soil”.

The bill? Three people for $130. That’s with dessert free and a very very lovely wine.