From old-school joints with platters of lamb and fish to the new-wave venues spotlighting key regional styles, Melbourne is spoiled for choice. Here are key names to note down for halloumi, tarama, octopus and more.
Greek food is nothing new in Melbourne. Most of the city speaks fluent spanakopita, galaktoboureko and kefalograviera. But in the past few years, a new dialect entered the chat, one that represents the cuisine more fully.
Rustic village-style cooking was the pitch of Kafeneion, the first Greek venue from serial restaurateur Con Christopoulos and the second of his business partner Stavros Konis, whose family runs 57-year-old Salona in Richmond.
The pair initially opened Kafeneion as a pop-up on Bourke Street in May 2023, with a menu including simple braises of pork, celery and lemon; vegetables cooked with nothing more than olive oil and time; and Victorian-made yoghurt with Cretan honey.
The idea, says Konis, was to serve food that would make Yiayia happy, “but then it became its own thing. It just grew; it went crazy.”
A permanent location in the former Melbourne Supper Club followed in early 2024 and, since then, homespun Greek restaurants have multiplied around Melbourne.
Some, like Brunswick East’s Taverna, are run by leading names such as Angie Giannakodakis (ex-Press Club). Others are from fresh faces, like the friends behind The Pontian Club. Spots such as Yarraville’s Tzaki offer a window into what Athenians are eating now.
All strive to write a fresh chapter in Melbourne’s Greek epic.
“People are doing a deeper dive into regional dishes and doing things that come from Greece, not just the proven taverna stuff,” says Konis.
Even if they don’t officially fly the blue-and-white flag, other restaurants around town are also weaving feta, skordalia and yoghurt into their menus.
To taste the full spectrum of Melbourne’s Greek offering, you might work your way through the following venues.
South Yarra’s Astoria Bar Ke Grill is a dream that’s been bubbling away for decades. Owner Nik Pouloupatis is a child of the 1970s who spoke Greek before he learnt English. After 35 years in hospitality, he is finally sharing his version of taramasalata (fluffy, whipped with potato) and stifado, a stew made here with octopus and tomato-tinged gravy heady with cinnamon and star anise.
Further south, Oakleigh is Melbourne’s Hellenic heart, with pedestrian-only Eaton Mall a lively hub. Longstanding Vanilla Lounge has opened Vanilla Dessert Bar across the road, serving fro-yo with Greek flair. Around the corner, Olympia is a rooftop bar with Santorini-style spritzes in summer and Greek mulled wine (and heating) in winter.
In December, Bar Sophia sprung up in Glen Iris with former Good Food Guide Young Chef of the Year Nicholas Deligiannis running his first Greek kitchen. Wood-fired plates for sharing are the draw – prawns with capers, halloumi with lemon and paprika – plus a strong line-up of Greek beers, ouzo and vermouth.
Some classics never get old. Jim’s Greek Tavern in Collingwood has been sizzling saganaki for more than 50 years and still pulls crowds for BYO feasting. In Richmond, Salona has a new lease on life following renovations but the food, especially goat baked with potatoes, still hums with soul. Stalactites is a reliable late-night gap-filler and one of few hold-outs in the city’s former Greek hub around Lonsdale Street. Nearby, Good Food Guide Critics’ Pick Kafeneion is another late-night option, offering hangover-banishing soups such as magiritsa between 10pm and 1am.
Ioannis Kasidokostas has proven himself at Carnegie’s mod-Med Sowl; he’s leaned further into Greek traditions at Aegli in South Melbourne serving “lamb of the gods”: slow-cooked, pressed shoulder.
Northside, one-time pop-up The Pontian Club dispenses olive oil and love from a weekly blackboard menu on Collingwood’s Smith Street. Angie Giannakodakis is honouring her parents’ recipes at Taverna in Brunswick East, where you’ll find the split pea dip fava, octopus in the grape molasses petimezi, and goat ragu. Capers is part of an energetic surge in the old Greek neighbourhood of Thornbury, mixing fun cocktails such as Greek salad martinis.
Former Press Club chef Alex Xinis has given Greek snacking and sipping contemporary edge at Yarraville’s Athenian-inspired Tzaki, where the flatbread has a devoted following. His nearby charcoal chook joint Kokoras also has a Greek flavour. Chickens are brined for 12 hours with rosemary, lemon, oregano, coriander seed and cinnamon. In the same neighbourhood, old-school spreads at Eleni’s Kitchen and Bar are great for groups.
By day, follow the high-vis to Secret Souv in eastern Ashwood for excellent charcoal-grilled meats, gyros-loaded spuds and sprightly salads. Foti and Friends is a home-style hangout with lovingly made daily dishes in Albert Park: do not bypass the bougatsa.
Want your Greek fix with a side of scenery? In Lorne, the hatted Ipsos is lovely for lunch and might just do the best oregano potatoes in the state.
Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.
Emma Breheny – Emma is Good Food’s Melbourne eating out and restaurant editor and editor of The Age Good Food Guide.
