Mythic Grill

The menu at Mythic Grill names dishes in two languages. Souvlaki Kotopoulo is chicken skewers in lemon and oregano with pita and tzatziki. Souvlaki Mouskari is the same idea built on triple-A beef tenderloin. Paidakia Arni puts Australian lamb chops on the grill with the same lemon-oregano backbone. The kitchen prints the Greek names rather than the English approximations.

The appetizers do the same work. Saganaki arrives as pan-fried Kefalotiri flambéed tableside with ouzo and lemon. Calamari comes lightly dusted, with lemon and tzatziki, and shows up in both appetizer and entrée formats. Spanakopita layers phyllo around spinach, feta and leek, and can land at the start of a meal or anchor it. The Mezes Platter is built for grazing; the Village Greek Salad runs on tomatoes, cucumber, green peppers, red onions, feta and olives, without the North-American crouton-and-iceberg detour. Moussaka stacks grilled eggplant, seasoned beef, potatoes and bechamel, with a vegetarian option held back for the table that needs it. Baklava closes out the menu, with an ice-cream variation for diners who want the contrast.

The beverage list runs in the same direction. The wine list leads with Greek varietals — Agiorgitiko reds, Moschofilero and Assyrtiko whites, Retsina poured as a category rather than a curiosity, and Xinomavro blends for the table that wants weight — and treats imported and local labels as the support cast rather than the headline. Greek beer holds its own section beside the imports and the local taps. A Mediterranean Bruschetta Skillet sits among the appetizers as the menu's one neighbouring-Italian beat — an italianate gesture set inside a Hellenic frame rather than next to it. Greek coffee and Greek tea finish a meal in the same vocabulary it started in.

Taken in total, the menu argues that this is a Greek bistro by conviction, not a Mediterranean grill that happens to lean Greek. The dietary work runs through the menu rather than off to one side: a vegetarian moussaka option, falafel, a grilled vegetable wrap, dips and sides on offer for guests who are not eating meat that night, all built from the same vocabulary as the carnivore plates. The patio is small and quiet, and the indoor dining room reads as quaint bistro rather than themed taverna. Reservations are by phone, and takeaway has stayed on offer alongside the dining room.

The kitchen's vocabulary, told in local reporting at the time, traces back to trips to Greece and family meals, with local sourcing folded in where the season allows. The early years were built from those references rather than from any planned remake of the form. Moussaka has been singled out in that coverage as the kitchen's representative dish, an honest enough read on how the rest of the menu thinks. The seasonal swing shows up in what arrives at the back door, not in what the menu pursues. The dining room has cooked inside this frame since 2006.

A meal at Mythic Grill can be built two ways. The full-dinner route runs from saganaki or calamari through a souvlaki or lamb chops into baklava, with a glass of Assyrtiko or Agiorgitiko in between. The lighter route stays in the meze offerings — spanakopita, tzatziki, the Village Greek Salad, a Mezes Platter to share — and treats the wine list as the larger order. A patio table on a warm Friday and a quiet dining room booking on a Tuesday read the same intent. Either path uses the same kitchen and the same cellar. On the Albert Street block, the appeal is the consistency of the lane: Greek dishes named in Greek, Greek wines poured under their own grape names, and a dinner that doesn't have to translate itself for either choice.