Kouzina (modern Greek and mezze bar)

OK, OK. We've conceded defeat. kate and zoe are officially passing the food blogging baton to our fantastic mate, James.

This food-loving 11-year-old from Northcote has showed both of us up over the past few months blogging on MoVida, Bistro Guillaume and restaurant-of-the-moment (though not in his opinion...) Coda.

We just love his stuff so - though we may pop our heads back in from time to time - from now on, kate and zoe is all about James.

We hope you enjoy his thoughts as much as we do.

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Westfield Doncaster
Shop 2001, 619 Doncaster Road (Cnr Williamsons Rd)

IN THE heart of Doncaster Shoppingtown is a nice Greek eatery with a great view.

Mum, Dad and I have been to Kouzina in Southbank and it's really good food.

When we arrived at the Doncaster Kouzina, we ordered some warm pita bread with tzatziki, lamb lady fingers and beef and lamb keftedes, which is a Greek-style chargrilled meatball.

First came the pita bread with a huge dollop of tzatziki but only four pieces of pita bread. The amount of pita bread compared with the tzatziki was a bit silly, so we had to order some more pita bread.

The bread was thick and fluffy, and it tasted nice and warm and went very well with the tzatziki.

Next came the lamb lady fingers - filo pastry rolls filled with lamb and spices. I didn't have them (I've tried them before but didn't like them), but Dad said they tasted really nice but were way too hot. He even said he burnt his mouth.

Next came the beef and lamb keftedes. They tasted very nice and went very nicely with the tzatziki they were served with.

After a very short wait (too short in my opinion), the mains arrived. We had ordered T-bone brizola, prawn saganaki and lemon lamb.

I tried the steak first. It tasted quite nice but it was a bit dry and overcooked.

Next, after some persuasion, I tried the prawn saganaki (I'm not a fan of feta cheese or cheese in general, so I wasn't that keen on it). But the tomato sauce, which contained chilli, spanakorizo and cinnamon, tasted really good and I would have it again.

Finally I tried the lamb. In my opinion it was the best dish of the day. A good tasty sauce with lovely melt-in-your-mouth slow-cooked lamb is pretty hard to beat.

Overall a good meal, but service could be slowed down a bit.

The views of Melbourne from the restaurant are good, but it's a bit of a shame it has to be in a shopping centre rather than by itself.

7.5/10


- james