Ella, Taste of Greece, Edinburgh

Last week I counselled against eating something larger than your head. Today I go further in the form of a plate longer than your leg. Read on.

Finding a rare gap in my wife's diary, I picked this place more or less at random from the latest edition of The List. Continuing our Greek Odyssey, I suppose. Having booked it, I was surprised to find it rated #2 on Trip Advisor. I don't set too much store by the latter, but I find myself checking it more at this time of year, to see if visitors have left 5 star reviews of our Edinburgh Festival Guides tours. If not, I sulk, so be warned.

A trip to Leith used to be a real odyssey. These days just a short rattle in the tram and a stroll down from Balfour Street. There is the option of dining al fresco, but we prefer our victuals without traffic fumes. This is one of those places where you feel good just by walking through the door. An aroma of cooking just enough to tantalise, but not to overwhelm; an understated but warm welcome; and a dining room which makes you feel you've entered a Greek village. There may be cleaner loos to be found in Leith Walk, but I doubt it.

We're looked after by Pedro from the not terribly Greek island of Gran Canaria. His English may be limited, but he has a ready smile, which is at least half the battle. It's a very extensive menu. As we had had a week involving rather too much brain activity, we decided to take the easy way out and share the meat platter. Cue the leg sized plate, so long that it overlapped the table.

There were sausages and kofte and pork and chicken; there was sweetcorn and padron peppers and salad and pitta and grilled tomatoes; there was pitta bread and chips and tzatziki and other dips. An awful lot of food for just under twenty pounds a head. Well, that's the quantity. What about the quality?

Pretty good, it has to be said. I enjoyed the sausage - loukanikakia, I think. L less so, meaning I had to eat hers too - we hate waste. Grilling pork and chicken on skewers takes skill. This kitchen has it. My favourite were the kofte, stuffed with cheese in the middle. The veg stuff was nothing remarkable and, the tzatziki apart, the dips were decidedly un Greek, a well made Marie Rose, and a mustard mayo. Still they complemented the rest of the food well. They say that one in five padron peppers will hit you with a blast of heat. I must be up to number 1000 by now. It's never happened to me yet, but I was struck by the warmth and generosity on offer.

The name? You might be forgiven for assuming her to be the owner's granny. In fact the Greek word Έλα has a vague but welcoming meaning such as, come here. And coming here to 134 Leith Walk is something I would heartily recommend.