THE owner of a successful Greek restaurant is finally about to realise his dream.

George Afentakis, who was brought up in Crete but is a long-time Brighton resident, has always dreamed of re-creating an authentic Greek grill restaurant known as “psistaria”, which cooks and serves only traditional Greek food on a dedicated grill, unique to Crete.

George, 60, owns Adelphia in Preston Street, Brighton, and has been active in catering in the UK for the last 28 years.

Now he has finally found the perfect place to fulfil his dream – on the first floor of an impressive grand building with imposing walls and dome and painted renaissance pictures within The Village at Brighton Marina.

Kirsty Pollard, general manager of Brighton Marina said, “Unit 23 has been vacant for ten years so we are delighted to see this beautiful harbourside venue bought back to life.

“The venue has lovely views across the inner harbour – this is the first and only Greek restaurant at Brighton Marina and its offerings are so unique to the catering industry.

“We look forward to welcoming Greek culture and freshly baked pastries every morning.”

The restaurant is known as Skara, meaning “grill” in Greek.

George’s goal is to import ingredients directly from Greece to ensure authenticity and all recipes will be freshly prepared on site.

He said, “We want to bring our culture and Greek hospitality here. We want the customers to feel that in Skara, they are somewhere in Greece .

“Customers will be greeted with a bottle of water and a basket of baked bread with oregano on arrival, as is the tradition in Greece. For me, our culture is intricately entwined with our cuisine.”

George was destined to work in the industry. He said: “When I was five years of age my parents asked me what toys I wanted? I said frying pans and saucepans so that I could make a restaurant under the trees. I called my friends and cooked stones and leaves and made all this food for the local children.

“When I was 18 my grandad said ‘I know how much you love cooking so I will open up a Greek Mediterranean restaurant for you in Athens’. At 13 years old, I started cleaning and washing up and from then on I always worked in this industry. All my recipes are from my grandma.”

George, who is also offering vegan dishes, said: “I want people to come to my restaurant and relax and know that the food they are eating has been prepared with great care and precision. We can achieve this by cooking in an open kitchen so that customers can see exactly what we are cooking and how.”

His business partner Praful Patel, who owns Hove-based Harp Wines and Spirits, said: “Unit 23 is such an incredible space so when this opportunity arose with George I jumped at the chance.

“I had this vision to make a lounge bar called The Emerald Bar downstairs from the Greek Grill, which will be accessible to people who would appreciate a more sophisticated atmosphere. There will be a great ambience with music and a dance floor.

“Every morning we can offer freshly baked Greek sweet and savoury pastries to enjoy with coffee.”