
On Lake Cafe’s deck with views across Lake Burley Griffin. Photos: Michelle Taylor.
The grass is damp underfoot as John begins unfolding tables and setting chairs out, readying for the day ahead at On Lake Cafe. The crisp spring morning dawns cautiously after yesterday’s battering of storms and gloom. Then the sun peeks out through the clouds and John declares: “Sunshine means people will be out walking. It’s going to be a good day.”
The antithesis of every polished, social media-savvy, millennial cafe owner in his neck of the woods, John wears his 76 years like a badge. His battle to make the lakeside cafe a reality has been arduous, exhausting him emotionally and financially. The stress of the past few years has embedded itself deep into the lines of his face.
Back in 2016, John sold up the successful coffee cart he ran on weekends, happily anticipating a few months’ holiday before he began his new café adventure. What followed were frustrating years, years spent navigating a maze of red tape. Even when he eventually received the green light to begin construction, new obstacles presented themselves. A dodgy builder saw the three-month job stretch beyond 18 months, forcing John to take over the building himself to get the job done.

Delicious Greek shortbread.
When COVID-19 struck, John just added it to the list of bumps in the road – albeit one he could navigate.
“COVID probably helped me,” he says. “At the beginning, everything was closed while places regrouped. People had nowhere to go. But our food was already takeaway-friendly and we were ready to serve.”
On Lake Cafe now welcomes dine-in customers to enjoy coffee and Greek street food with lakeside views. Set in Bowen Park, not far from where Brodburger’s original food van once operated, On Lake Cafe’s deck looks out across Lake Burley Griffin and the mountains beyond. Sip your coffee and watch life on the lake unfold. The location is a great meeting point after a walk. There is plenty of parking, toilets are close by and pets are welcome!







Yanni Pounartzis, who’s responsible for the On Lake Cafe branding, says “it’s the first cafe on the lake and something Canberrans have been craving for decades”.
“The area is perfect for dog lovers to enjoy a coffee with their best friends. It’s not just people who enjoy visiting On Lake Cafe; dogs enjoy it too. The array of breeds who visit have provided an opportunity to feature them in an online campaign on FB and Instagram. This is not only a fun campaign for dog lovers, but it also communicates that dogs are welcome. Our campaign features each dog posing proudly, along with their names and breed.”
The chalked menu offers authentic Greek street food, sweet and savoury, along with some Aussie cafe staples. Of course, gyros are front and centre!
“The gyros is so versatile,” John says.” You can turn it into so many meals. We make open gyros too, plus spanakopita and gozleme. We also serve chicken schnitzel, and a popular bacon and egg roll.”
John plans to add Greek-style fish to the menu: generous fish portions that are double-floured, then fried.
“It is healthier than battered fish and delicious.”
I order a gyros for breakfast, with a plate of loukoumades on the side.

My tasty open gyros.
My open lamb gyros plate has seven pieces of pita bread, along with fresh salad, cheese, juicy marinated lamb, tzatziki and hummus. The wide crunchy chips send my healthy diet into disarray by being so irresistible. The open gyros is tasty and photogenic, I would recommend ordering a regular rolled up gyros to get all those delicious flavours in one mouthful.
This is my first experience of loukoumades and these are fresh and hot. They’re golden-fried puffs of sweet dough, dense with cinnamon-scented syrup and topped with walnuts bits. I take a bite, and the syrup that has soaked into it fills my mouth with a sweet fragrance. Scrumdiddlyumptious!

My plate of fresh loukoumades.
On Lake Cafe is located at Bowen Park in Barton. It is open seven days a week from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Come for some Greek goodies and have your pooch featured on On Lake’s Instagram and Facebook pages.
Minos Nikolaidis this is the place I was talking about
Jessica Cariño-Schmidt thanks
Omg can we go lol Dohei
This looks good Janine McBeath
Tracy Mc Beath Johnston omg Greek food... amazing
Jessica Higgins-Anau we have to try this place
Vivienne Higgins oh yes for sure!!
Brodie SalmonTyrell Enriquez should go
Reese Peckham this wked.. Your shout!
Peter Salmon wanna go tomoz?
Caity Naumann Sarah Davis Sabrina Maack Emily Rozyn we would walk here from work!
This looks so good
Tanya Ghenossis could be good! 😘
Caz Heni take the puppies for your lake walk too!
Bianca Constance loukoumades
Gabriella Eva we can go on one of my 7 weekends 😂
I’ve spoken to John the owner and heard about the obstacles the government put in place to discourage a restaurant in the park catering for families. This place has good food, picnic seating and a relaxed friendly ambience. Canberra needs more places like this on the lake, not more apartments.
Amelia Booth Kat Hoy Tessa Fallows we should go here!
Olivia Withers oooh yasss
sounds yum
Great place for a coffee!
Great coffee too. My dog automatically heads for it now 🤣
Helen Sun r u thinking what I’m thinking Margaret
yeah book asap for your 30th, cannot wait to brighten my day with some pets, a lakeside view and become #social ☺️😯
Helen Sun all booked in. should I bring Robb? he’s out of sorts and could use some cheering up ☺️ something about a losing hand of poker at Macau
Jacinta Chen i don't usually third wheel these days, but I'll do it for you considering everything you've been through lately. Of course you should, unfortunate that he's outta sorts but you should really get yourself out there - after all you still got it 😘
Are their gluten free menu options please ?
Georgia Tzavalas Olivia Tzavalas loukoumades omg
Beverley Nicholson need to take doggos here
Natalie Fearon a Booz outing this weekend
Maria Koukides Woodland should have stopped here. Greek Street food 😊
Sandra Neilson next time for sure