Where to eat Greek food in Melbourne
The biggest ever guide to Greek food in Melbourne
With roughly half a million Greeks in Australia, Melbourne has one of the largest Greek populations of any city on earth, and its Greek food scene reflects that – both in terms of accessibility and quality.
Like Hellenism and Greek culture, good Greek food is ubiquitous in Australia’s Greek (food) capital. Here are 25 Greek food spots, all worth talking about. Tavernes, restaurants, souvlatzidika, gyradika & bakeries. Greek & Cypriot. Traditional & contemporary-yet-still-rooted-in-tradition. Plus, at the end: the few that I still have left to visit next time.
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Stalactites Restaurant, Lonsdale Street: the cult 24-hour Melbourne gyradiko
With a history that stems back to 1978, it wouldn’t make sense to start the Souvlakination Guide to Greek food in Melbourne without paying homage to the Melbourne Greek hospitality institution that is Stalactites. Its history and reputation are one thing. It sits at a corner where Russell Street meets Lonsdale Street – the heart of Melbourne’s Greek Precinct – just a few steps away from the iconic stele of Alexander and St Dimitrios, and across the road from the Greek Centre’s head-turning frieze. Even the traffic lights are lined with the Greek meandros pattern. As for Stalactite’s reputation, its longevity and decision to operate 24/7 made it the destination of countless nights out, let alone breakfasts, lunches and dinners of Melburnians, Greek and non-Greek.
But it’s also the gyros itself that merits a conversation. As someone who has eaten gyros across Europe, the UK, Cyprus, and thoroughly throughout Greece, it should surely carry some weight to say that it’s rare you see a grill packed with giant skewers of gyros as impressive and distinct as at Stalactites. Forget the actual stalactites on the ceiling, the huge grill to your right is the main show. Giant, bulging, horizontally rotating skewers of chicken and lamb gyros that you can’t stop staring at to the point that it’s rude.
Stalactites is one of the spots in Australia that uses a gas grill as opposed to charcoal, exactly as you’ll see at most gyradika in the rest of the world. Although there’s no pork and the pita is a little different to the typical forms of the traditional Greek pitogyro, with some lettuce* added in, it represents a snapshot of a moment in time when Greeks in Australia worked hard to preserve and share their culture, and did the best they could with the ingredients that were available to them while adapting it to the local market. That’s something to be respected and celebrated.
So I came with an open mind and have done this enough times by now to be able to limit my own biases. The pita is the thinner kind that you tend to see at Australia’s older gyradika and souvlatzidika, which is more like the ladopita that Greeks on islands like Rhodes use for souvlakia. The homemade tzatziki is smooth and mildly sour. The meat is cut by hand, not wafer-thin, and I like that – you get to taste the meat. And it’s great. You have really good, tender, delicious cuts of real meat in there. Besides, it’s hard to not enjoy any pita when the meat is this good. It’s a big portion too.
The quality of Australia’s ingredients and widespread culture of in-house processes are things that have a real, noticeably tangible effect on the final product – something which sets the tone for the rest of this guide. As for Stalactites? Quite arguably the greatest σβήσιμο after a night out that Greek Baby Boomers and Gen Xers had anywhere in the diaspora. Melburnians are lucky for that.
📍Stalactites Restaurant, 177/183 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
https://www.stalactites.com.au/
Aegli, South Melbourne: the best refined take on traditional Greek food
Spoiler alert: Aegli is the highest-quality, tastiest, most impressively surprising and original yet simple, sensible, logical, respectful, and genius refined take on traditional Greek cuisine that I am yet to encounter anywhere. On the spectrum of traditional to contemporary Greek cuisine, restaurants tend to concentrate on polar ends; it’s rare that you see one capture the middle-ground so successfully.
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Having worked in Athenian Michelin-star kitchens, Ioannis Kasidokostas (‘aka Yiannis’) moved to Australia, where he became the first to introduce traditional Athenian souvlakia the way he grew up eating them, at former project Little Athens. Coming from a family of butchers, whose name you still see at Athens’ Varvakeios Market, Ioannis talks about Greek food in a way that I haven’t ever really heard anyone else do so before. He is simultaneously a staunch advocate of respecting and preserving tradition, yet also for pushing it to its full potential and ‘playing’ with ideas in a non-contradictory way. Though not mutually exclusive, the ingenuity it takes to reconcile both of those principles with sensitivity is sheer genius.
Aegli’s menu in itself is straightforwardly traditional; it showcases real Greek food and unsung aspects of it. It’s not often that you see dishes like Maniatiko siglino, Pontiaka manti(a) and kavourmas, for example. Ioannis pushes every ingredient to the limit and manages to find novel and genius combinations without departing from the remit of Greek cuisine, nor its ingredients, nor flavours. Aegli’s ‘mageiritsa’, usually made with entrails, instead features artichoke and truffles, which mimic both the appearance and the richness of offal without its after-taste – Ioannis calls the truffles “the offal of the earth” and I lose my mind. On paper, it looks fine, but in reality it’s an incredibly well-balanced and harmonious dish that is, in a time where it’s most exhausted in modern restaurant scenes, the best use of truffle I’ve tasted. Moreover, it puts mageiritsa on the map in a broadly appealing way.
In soundbursts and snapshots between the serving of our dishes, each dish would come with another succinct, concise philosophical insight from Ioannis that has reshaped the way I think about food forever. He talks about hospitality as more than just eating, but as a holistic experience that needs to be fun and comprehensive. You see that manifest in Ioannis’ meticulousness and relentless focus, with his team working around the pass like clockwork in a way that Henry Ford would envy. Ioannis silently darts between the pass and dining floor, while somehow managing to find time for personable interactions with all his patrons. He looks you in the eye, nods, and darts off again, never breaking his focus on service for a second. He seems to be everywhere at once, simultaneously conducting and performing – like the watchmaker in the clockwork itself. Aegli is Paley’s Watch, and the moment you realise it is the moment you realise you are in the presence of a creation so precise and harmonious, that it brings the question of a greater intelligence into the equation.
Most admirable is that the ingredients are all Greek – there are no phone-a-friend sumac or toum departures that try to look smart. Even the truffle is from Meteora, and this is a menu that takes the arduous hill of differentiating itself without diluting its identity or betraying its own label. The woodfire-grilled pork chop is sealed with petimezi that manages to sidestep any heavy tartness, instead adding a subtly-sweet grape glaze to the tender, sliced pork chop. You fold its slices into ribbons and fork through to get the whole slice in one bite, and repeat.
As well as finding incredibly niche and novel angles through which to present even the most common of Greek dishes, Aegli’s menu also educates through introducing lesser-known ones. Pontian manti – pasta with a spiced minced meat filling, burnt butter, a housemade xygalo (aka kefir) and myzithra – pays homage to Ioannis wife’s Pontian roots. It’s refreshing to see Greek restaurants highlight dishes from the fringes of Greek cuisine, nonetheless eaten by an ethnic group that is inextricably a part of modern Greek culture.
Elegantly piped Mykonian kopanisti cheese seems to be the perfect comfort Greek dip we’re all searching for as an alternative to the clichés, without needing to leave Greece’s borders and leap to Middle Eastern hummus or tahini. As you scoop it all up with a delicious crusty-soft housemade bread, you remember why kopanisti is known as the Greek cheese that should be better known around the world. Perhaps a natural next step would be in it following tyrokafteri to become the next authentically trendy cold meze in the diaspora’s Greek food scene.
The genius continues. Bread or potatoes usually form the base of taramosalata, but not this one’s. Ioannis explains that taramas, to him and many Greeks, represents one particular day of the Greek calendar: Kathara Deftera. On ‘Clean Monday’, Greeks traditionally begin lent by abstaining from the consumption of meat, and so the typically Kathara Deftera table consists of dishes like taramosalata, lagana bread, calamari, and fasolada – the last of which Ioannis uses to form the base of this tarama and thus combine the flavours of the Kathara Deftera table into one dip. You actually get subtle snapshots of the fasolada, in the sharpness and sweetness of the carrot and celery, and in the earthiness of the beans. And it works incredibly well. Nothing goes to waste either. The fasolada is strained, with the liquid used to enhance other dishes, and Ioannis and his team make pretty much everything, from aged cheeses to breads, in house.
At Aegli, the magic is clearly in the duality of the experience and the playfulness that comes with pushing the boundaries of Greek cuisine without changing it. You simultaneously feel stimulated, surprised and comforted. And what makes Aegli so good is that this is the best-executed victory of that – better than any other refined take on Greek cuisine I’ve tried anywhere. Everything feels enhanced, like you’re eating it in cinematic quality. The desserts don’t forget to punctuate that either. A delicious deconstructed bougatsa is filled with a semolina custard that is rich and vibrant with orange zest, between layers of diples-style filo pastry, and you can’t help but scoop up every last bit of the moreish karidopita with coffee syrup and ouzo Chantilly. I started chipping away at the plate at one point.
This is it.
📍Aegli, 226 Coventry St, South Melbourne VIC 3205, Australia
https://www.aegli.melbourne/
The Brotherhood Yiros & Grill, Seddon: charcoal-grilled gyros in the best house-made pita breads anywhere in the world
In at least two decades of eating souvlakia and in the 2.5 years that I have been running Souvlakination, out of hundreds of souvlatzidika and gyradika, I’ve only actually found about 4 that make their own pita breads in house, from scratch. Because of the near-exhaustive extent to which Greek food journalists have documented Greece’s souvlaki scene (and of my own research and travels), it’s unlikely that there are that many more. Two of them are in Athens. The other two are in Australia. One of them is Melbourne’s The Brotherhood Yiros.
For context, first: many of Greece’s pita manufacturers started out as family bakeries who struck success by catering for the booming market of Greek streetfood throughout Greek cities in the decades following World War II. But as souvlatzidika opened all over Greece and understandably worked with those few bakeries who specialised in the relatively new niche of the modern Greek pita for souvlakia, those bakeries in turn scaled their operations, began exporting, and therefore began adding additives and preservatives to their pita breads in order to prolong shelf life and meet nationwide, let alone global, demand. Don’t get me wrong, the quality of Greek pites are great, with Chasiotis and Stamatis perhaps the best options on the market but – not to mention the health benefits – absolutely nothing beats the livelier flavour, lighter texture and nostalgic aroma of fresh, homemade, natural bread, whether it’s a loaf, for pizza, sandwiches or souvlakia. And the same applies here.
Not only is The Brotherhood Yiros & Grill in Seddon one of those few Greek street-food spots that makes its own breads in house, but it actually makes the best of all of them. All natural ingredients, with none of the preservatives that have become the default in Greece. Fluffy, elastic, pillowy pita breads with patches of golden-brown crust that the Brotherhood team make every couple of days by hand and cook on a griddle plate. Having watched the process, the volume of the batches seems to defy the size of the kitchen, which adjoins the tiny, 2x4, hole-in-the-wall grill.
To further emphasise the point – and I have to stress that this is a merely comparative point and that all are souvlatzidika that lead a worthy example – I think The Brotherhood Yiros’ pita breads are better than the Athens two’s: Hoocut and Evlogison, which use a pizza oven and griddle plate respectively. The other, in Sydney, uses a woodfire oven, as you’ll see in the Sydney part of this guide. In any case, I enjoyed this pita the most, as it’s the closest of all of the aforementioned spots in recreating the classic, fluffy modern Greek pita bread.
We haven’t even got onto the gyros yet: it’s marinated and skewered, also in-house, and cooked over an iconic charcoal grill that I can’t help but picture as my mental cover photo for this entire guide. Like most Greek Australian gyradika, the Brotherhood cut their gyros nice and thick, giving you perfectly balanced, meaty cuts with a glossy caramel exterior. Lamb and chicken are on offer, with a homemade tzatziki complementing both in one of those beautiful pita breads. A special shout-out has to go to Yitonia and Dean Kotsianis for introducing me to the Brotherhood, where we catch the midday sun together with Liam (of Finding Figaro) and eat one of the first pitogyra of the trip.
You just do not find food of this quality that easily in Europe let alone Greece. And I hope that this guide helps Greek Australians see that it’s them who are currently setting the standard for Greek food in the diaspora, even beating Greece in some areas. In this instance, the pita and gyros game. There’s not even any pork here and I’m saying that.
Well done to Harry, Molly and their awesome team. For any Australians interested, The Brotherhood’s pites are also stocked at Happy Apple. And don’t forget to finish things off with some loukoumades.
📍The Brotherhood Yiros & Grill, 99 Buckley St, Seddon VIC 3011, Australia
https://www.thebrotherhoodyirosandgrill.com/
Jim’s Greek Tavern, Collingwood: Melbourne’s Greek taverna sensation
There is no menu and the lights are off. From the minute you breach the queue that barricades the entrance, and finally get past the heat of the grill and river of plates flowing off the pass, you already know that you’re in for a good night here - whatever happens. We’re sitting in the back room, and the power has dropped. All of the lights are off. And there is no menu (there is no menu, even when the lights are on).
No one is fazed, business as usual. There isn’t a single table in here that doesn’t look as if everyone is having the best night of their week. Everyone is laughing. No one is here to be seen to be here. No one is complaining that the lights are off, nor that there is no menu. No one is pretending to have a good time; everyone is having a good time. And there is something ταβέρνα του χωριού about that. Perhaps, partly, because the lights are off.
There is no menu. The food just comes. You gradually extend your fork with trepidation, unsure as to whether the nameless food that you can barely see is either too good to be seen and written on a menu, or if it’s hiding for good reason. At which point you realise that the flocks of Millennials and Gen Zers aren’t as indifferent to the quality of the food as they are to the lack of menu (and lighting on this particular night), but that they’re actually here for it.
It’s not just the atmosphere that manages to re-create the illusion of a fully-booked village taverna in the middle of the city, but the food too. Simple, honest, tasty Greek taverna food, hot off the grill, which comes when it comes. Tender, glossy lamb kontosouvli (called ‘gyros’ but actually cooked and cut more like kontosouvli), moreish tender lamb cutlets and juicy beef biftekia, all cooked over charcoal. Yiayia-style, hand-cut chips with a dash of oregano, crispy, tender calamari, tasty grilled fish, and proper, stringy cheese saganaki.
Jim’s Greek Tavern has been around since 1980 and it’s not hard to see why it’s so popular, with its quirks and genuine, nonchalant character. That in itself is vividly reminiscent of my grandfather’s village taverna, where I’ve never had to look at a menu to know what I’m ordering, knowing that every dish is 10€, and that, no matter how much you order or how large the party, you will always end up paying 15€ per head. Before you’re ready, the bill arrives, torches come out, and you finally get to see what it is you didn’t order. You couldn’t care less, knowing you probably would order exactly the same in retrospect.
When everything is so modest and lo-fi, and the food is so simple yet fulfilling, you can’t help but forgive any inconsistencies or quirks, which in themselves become endearing. Like the fact that there is no menu and no lights. All of which help to create character and personality and build a real, loyal human connection between the restaurant and its diners. As for the food, there is absolutely nothing to forgive.
Jim’s is an honest, straightforwardly and shockingly accurate reflection of a Greek taverna, the kind of which I really did not expect to find in a city like Melbourne. For that reason, Greek Melburnians understand it and respect it. Even current Greek restaurant owners I encountered who used to work there still dine there. Considering the longevity and just how relentlessly busy this place is, it’s incredibly noteworthy how enjoyable and authentic the food is. This food could have been served in a Greek village taverna and I wouldn’t blink twice. And that’s a global Greek food success story.
📍Jim’s Greek Tavern, 32 Johnston St, Collingwood VIC 3066, Australia
There is no website. https://www.facebook.com/jimsgreektavern/
Tzaki, Yarraville: refreshing Athens-inspired small plates from a wood-fire oven
This ode to Athens references its plethora of young gastrotavernes & gastrokafeneia that have inspired a wave of swanky ‘Athens’-inspired projects outside of Greece. Here, like at Pharaoh in Exarcheia, most things are cooked in a woodfire oven – which is where it gets its name: Tzaki.
Like much of the ‘Athens’-inspired wave in the diaspora, Tzaki also invokes Athens’ fabled basement taverna, Diporto. I was gutted I didn’t get to try the now-world-famous chickpeas “a la Diporto”, as it tells you a lot about a restaurant and its understanding of Greek cuisine (similar Athens-inspired concepts in London have explicitly referenced this dish and really not done it justice, usually overcomplicating it with herbs and spices which simply do not feature in the typical Greek revithada let alone Diporto’s, while overlooking the fundamentals: good ingredients and simple, slow, patient cooking). Judging by the rest of its menu and the food, though, Tzaki surely does it justice. This is one of the places that has understood the brief and got it right.
Dishes are rotated weekly on a simple but effective menu, which looks current while adeptly steering clear of cliches and instead contributing some fresh ideas. A handmade pita bread, which is fluffy and crispy and oily, comes with a fun, rich Greek coffee-petimezi butter that you only need to use sparingly but can’t help but clean off the plate. In a few (generous) spoonfuls, you can easily wolf down the rock flathead, creamy-smooth skordalia and stewed grapes. The melitzana, pasteli (honey-sesame snaps), feta and pastourma (sliced cured beef) is fresh and balanced, with the ingredients able to speak for themselves (finally an aubergine dish that doesn’t try to conform to the honey-chilli-coriander-almond cliche).
As for the feta cheesecake: cheesecakes in Greek restaurants seems to be the new trend – especially in London, where you see the Basque cheesecake imported in the Pachamama group’s Greek-inspired spots, and a good feta cheesecake at Myrtos. You also see a lemon-meringue pie at The Apollo in Sydney. But Tzaki’s burnt feta cheesecake, with a lemon zest finish, knocks them all out the park. It’s creme brûlée-creamy in the centre, and Basque-cheesecake fluffy around the edges. You don’t even need to pretend that it matters that it’s cooked in a woodfire oven, because it wins anyway, and I have to say that it’s much more deserving of the “avgolemono pie” label that Apollo gives what is actually just a lemon-meringue pie.
Authentic, honest, novel, fresh, classy, stylish with substance. If this place was in Athens, people would be freaking out about it. All well-paired with a (good) piney Retsina (Kechris Tear of the Pine).
📍Tzaki, 31 Ballarat St, Yarraville VIC 3013, Australia
https://www.tzaki.au/
Salona, Richmond & Kafeneion “emeis & emeis”, CBD: Traditional, trendy Greek plates
Salona and Kafeneion are two of Melbourne’s Greek hospitality institutions. ‘Ta Salona’ first opened in 1969 and last year underwent a stylish revamp in Richmond. Plus, under the direction of brothers Stavros and Alex Konis, Stavros’ wife Alexandra, and together with Melbourne hospitality veteran Con Christopoulos, it has since branched into Melbourne’s CBD, with parallel project Kafeneion becoming a permanent fix at the Melbourne Supper Club in 2023.
Both Salona and Kafeneion recreate the essence of the Greek kafeneio, with an honest, authentic Greek menu that spoils Melburnians with an incredibly accurate picture of real Greek food, even 10,000 miles away. The fact that Kafeneion’s menu itself features ‘ladera’ (patiently cooked ‘oily’ dishes like gemista, beans, and greens that form a substantial pillar of Greek cuisine) in itself underlines that, with the menu split into mezedes and a mix of mains at Salona. There, I order the charcoal-grilled païdakia (lamb cutlets), and they’re exactly as you’d expect them in Greece. A bit more patience to avoid the fume-y smokiness of black-charcoal, and some more rendering on the fat, and these would be perfect, but I have to admit that they pair well with a relaxed sunny afternoon on Swan Street.
Kafeneia are social hubs that serve mezedes alongside coffees and drinks. Like tavernes (which specialised in wine), the concept of the kafeneion has evolved into what can perhaps be described as a kind of ‘small plates’ restaurant, where you share plates with your company. Nowadays, the focus is often the food. At Kafeneion, the starters beg for an ouzo or a tsipouro to keep them company. You even have a selection of tsipoura to choose from, and even the bill arrives in a Plomari-branded glass at the end. The concept is thoroughly coherent, with a thorough Greek wine list for oenophiles.
When I go to Kafeneion, it’s Kathara Deftera, meaning the start of Lent, fasting and, consequently, no meat. Which is actually a great time to put a restaurant to the test (or a bad time to be somewhere average). If tarama had a national holiday, it’s this day. Thankfully, it’s good here, with an idiosyncratically good kick of garlic. Beetroots with their leaves are simple and good, submerged in a good Greek portion of good olive oil. The pickled octopus with green peppers literally tells me to order a tsipouro, and I do. The waiter then tells me to order some bread to go with the black eyed beans with chard that is about to arrive, and I do. And I sweep every last bit up with it. Because even the bread is so good. I empty the tsipouro and settle the bill in the empty Plomari glass that comes with a cube of watermelon on a big toothpick. And I realise the irony in having come to a kafeneion by myself, without ordering keftedakia or loukaniko or any of the classics. Normally that would bother me. Here, I’m just glad I got to eat a proper Greek meal on Kathara Deftera in the heart of Melbourne.
📍Salona, 260A Swan St, Richmond VIC 3121, Australia
https://www.salona.com.au/
📍Kafeneion “emeis & emeis”, First Floor/161 Spring St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
https://www.kafeneion.com.au/
Kiki Tzatziki, Strathmore: a Greek-and-Cypriot, souvlaki-and-gyros marriage
Half of the street sees ‘SOUVLAKI’, and the other half ‘GYROS’, as it approaches this lively, wholesome neighbourhood grill where duality is a running theme. As well as your classic Greek Australian gyros and souvs, this is the only place in Australia where I find a classic Cypriot pitta souvlaki, and one of the few where you find good pork souvlakia.
If the koubes (minced meat in a bulgur wheat shell), sheftalies (pork meatball, onions and parsley wrapped in caul fat), halloumi and pikla (Cypriot mustard picalilli) aren’t signs enough that there’s a Cypriot in the house, you won’t miss the Cypriot flag that faces the Greek one. Here, you get to eat souvlakia the way Cypriots do: pork and sheftalies in a Cypriot pitta, with chopped onion, parsley, tomato, cucumber, and lemon. Even the Cypriot condiments are there alongside the tzatziki and tyrokafteri, namely the homemade pikla and tashi (tahinosalata). It doesn’t get any more authentic than that. That said, the first thing you’ll see are the massive skewers of house-made gyros spinning over charcoal, and you can get your classic Greek-Australian pork/chicken souvs too.
Cypriot-Greek wife-husband duo Andrea and Chris, together with Chris’ father Bill, named Kiki Tzatziki after their daughter Kiki. Like many of the people in this guide, they run their restaurants like neighbourhood stekia, or hangouts, where everyone knows and supports one another. While I’m there, customers come all the way from Oakleigh just for the food. One of them stays in the car, but Andrea goes out to greet them. She talks about how her and Chris support their neighbouring businesses, such as Athos Cafe Deli around the corner. Like many others in this guide, they show a genuine interest in the people in their shop and lift your mood. I end up overstaying my welcome and having a heart-to-heart about how you don’t find that level of community spirit anymore in London, and that I’m just grateful to have come to Australia to find it alive and well here.
Besides, Kiki Tzatziki is one of the few souvlatzidika in the world where you can find both Greek- and Cypriot-style souvlakia to a good standard, and it captures both Cypriot and Greek Australian traditions well.
📍Kiki Tzatziki, 301 Napier St, Strathmore VIC 3041, Australia
https://www.instagram.com/kikitzatziki_strathmore/
Karvouna Greek Street Food, Black Rock: real Greek pites and real Greek meraki
Makis grew up in picturesque Monemvasia but also has Greek Australian roots. With his wife Cathy and their team, they recently opened a typical Greek Australian gyradiko a short walk from the beach, which has an extra streak of Greek authenticity.
This is the only gyradiko in Australia that I find using imported Greek pites (Chasiotis, arguably one of the best). Most others use Australia’s Mr Pitta, with a couple in this guide setting themselves apart by making their own). The oregano is a proper wild, earthy, aromatic oregano from Greece, which is quite different to the greener, milder oregano I come across in Australia.
At the same time, Makis’ mother was raised in Australia, a root which led him back here after growing up in Greece and leaving his beloved hometown of Monemvasia. And he’s clear that he wants to make gyros for Australians the way that they like it – like any good hospitality professional catering for their patrons, while giving an accurate picture of the heritage of the food. As he explains, he might add lettuce to the chicken gyros, and offer lamb gyros instead of pork gyros, but he also sets some smaller portions aside for his Greece-born customer base. A smaller pork kontosouvli is ready by the evenings, and the smell of it cooking over charcoal is something that any Greek recognises from metres away.
Makis’ house-made gyros is cut thick. It’s meaty, juicy and natural, with that iconic smokey, honey, caramel crust that usually comes with good-quality marinated kontosouvli. In a proper Greek pita from Chasiotis, it’s a real taste of Greece, adapted to speak in an Australian accent, and speak the truth about Greek cuisine and charcoal grilling in all its glory. A simple, meaty, Greek-as-it-gets beef bifteki is served with sliced red onions, paprika and bread, as it would be in Athens, and the kolokithokeftedes (courgette fritters) are some of the best I’ve had anywhere in all of my time running Souvlakination. They’re crispy and crunchy on the outside, soft and gooey in the middle, with the components of sliced courgette and feta still alive enough to create a 4D screening of all the flavours on your palette. Honestly? They’re too good for a souvlatzidiko. Seasoned properly too.
Maria from Naoussa (pictured) also brings a taste of Greece Karvouna, especially in the form of her mother’s and grandmother’s recipes. One is a world class baklava, built with so many more alternating layers than usual – something which takes an incredible amount of work. Again, too good for a souvlatzidiko. Even the baklava stands out, with a delicious honey syrup that combines all of the flavours and properties of clean, natural, rustic home cooking, and the best offerings on the market.
I take the rest of the pitogyro to the beach and let the relentless quality I’m encountering sink in. I’m eating proper handmade gyros in a Chasiotis pita, while admiring the waves stacking onto the sandy coast from a bench a few metres up. I might be thousands of miles away, but Greece is right here.
📍Karvouna Greek Street Food, 15 Bluff Rd, Black Rock VIC 3193, Australia
https://www.instagram.com/karvouna_/
10 Greek Plates, Brighton: a stylishly intimate neighbourhood Greek restaurant
Bill Solos and his wife Mary are the people behind this refined, intimate take on a Greek taverna in Brighton that brings classic Greek food into a classier setting, without ditching the comfort or the essence of the food. It’s good Greek food in a stylish and elegant setting, with world-class service and a playful approach that names the souvlakia tylichta after Greek household names, like Onassis and Nana Mouskouri. It’s classy without being pretentious, with a dedicated take-away section for beach goers to grab a souv.
Following in the footsteps of his father, Nikos from Patra, Bill ran 10 Greek Plates at a separate location on the same street for over a decade, before expanding his restaurant – and the original 10-item menu – to its current spot in 2025. As well as the warm, seamless service, the food is all really enjoyable. Silky housemade tarama, crispy, crunchy calamari that is addictively well-seasoned, a 12-hour slow-roasted lamb shoulder, and a rich chicken manestra (aka kritharaki). Bill talks about the real passion and work ethic it takes to run a restaurant well, qualities which are clearly reflected in his whole team – from the impressively authentic, delicious menu crafted by head chef David Primrose, to the smiley front of house team.
The desserts are an absolute killer too. A housemade bougatsa is flakey with a delicious, toasty outer layer and oozes with hot semolina custard, and the Metaxa chocolate cremaux with honeycomb, orange and salt is easily one of the most delicious desserts of the entire trip. Credit to George of Melvourni for the tip, and to quote a friend who grew up in Brighton, it’s “a neighborhood goodie”.
📍10 Greek Plates, 146 Martin St, Brighton VIC 3186, Australia
https://www.10greekplates.com.au/
Bahari | The Hellenic Plate, Richmond: traditional Greek plates in a modern setting that appeal to all ages
Like much of Melbourne’s Greek food scene, Bahari makes real Greek food well, while bringing it into a contemporary room that speaks to both younger and older generations.
While chef Philip Vakos is doing his thing on Masterchef Greece, wife Heleena keeps the show running alongside the power-couple’s ready meal venture Phlavour. She also leads the team that is trading at the Antipodes festival plus the Formula One Grand Prix this particular month, as well as the Greek Australian fan club amongst diners and community who are cheering on Phil as he competes in Athens. The couple’s Richmond restaurant shows why the community are all getting behind him.
Heleena also magics more time out of reality to join Con of Thematikos and I for a meal, and the food is as good as the brilliant company. As cliche and often-underwhelming as the typical slow-cooked lamb shoulder/kleftiko dish has become in Greek restaurants, I’d go back to Bahari just for lamb shoulder. It arrives semi-shredded with a good Greek serving of oil, but without the heaviness, its salty, crispy, crystallised crust in perfect harmony with the silky, tender threads between and a subtle touch of rosemary and oregano. Plus good mousaka, charred, tender octopus, proper saganaki and proper Greek salad.
Bahari is stylish but honest Greek restaurant that focuses on making the food we love and know well, and in a setting that everyone can relate to. Perhaps Greek Australians’ ability to do that so successfully is what helps make this community so strong and dynamic - or maybe it’s a result of that.
📍Bahari | The Hellenic Plate, 179 Swan St, Melbourne VIC 3121, Australia
https://www.bahari-richmond.com.au/
Capers, Thornbury: Greek-Cypriot flavours in a nostalgic retro kafeneio
Capers is another masterclass case study in showing that you can bring traditional Greek & Cypriot food into a modern, universally inclusive context without having to eschew tradition and identity, nor mess with the food.
I’ve never really eaten anywhere like this, anywhere. We arrive to find a tavli tournament in the back, and a look at Capers’ Instagram shows a string of collaborations like the current art exhibition showcasing work from Demi Kromidellis. There’s something incredibly encouraging about a young, diverse audience embracing our heritage for what it is.
Seeing louví (Cypriot for mavromatika fasolia) on a specials board always hits you in the feels if you’re Cypriot, but the Greek chefs here add a nice twist in the form of plenty of dill - and also some toasted coriander seeds. It works. Plus Cypriot koubes, pastitsio (aka makaronia tou fournou), homemade toursia, a proper cheese saganaki, and herby potatoes that taste like Yiayia’s. A plate of dolmadakia would have been the cherry on top had we not been spoiled with a special of Cypriot sheftalia on the day.We also tried some food from Capers’ parent restaurant next door, Grk Kitchen, with somewhat of a crossover between the two spots, Capers offering more of a relaxed kafeneio vibe, and Grk more of your restaurant and taverna grill classics.
It’s real Cypriot home cooking in a place that is deeply rooted in its local community, gets on with pretty much everyone, and enshrines its traditions and heritage in an honest way, reconciling that all with the younger local crowd to guarantee the food we love a seat at future’s table.
📍Capers, 843 High St, Thornbury VIC 3071, Australia
https://www.capersthornbury.com/
Ermou Gyros, Richmond: the Greekest gyradiko in Melbourne
Nikos from Athens and his partner Katerina are on a mission to populate Melbourne with as many Athenian neighbourhoods as possible. Nikos’ menu is unapologetically, authentically Greek, with the product exactly as you would expect to most typically find it in Athens.
While lamb and chicken tend to be the most common gyros options in Australia, Ermou brings pork gyros to the fore, figuratively and literally – the pork is the option nearest to the counter and which customers first see. There’s an authentic Athenian bifteki pita on the menu with traditional red salsa, which is peculiarly difficult to find outside of Greece but actually mirrors the true original souvlaki tradition as it took off in mid-20th Century Athens. Although the typical Australian practice of cooking gyros horizontally over charcoal is admirable, Nikos is keen to show Australians the way Athenians typically make gyros, cooked on the vertical rotisserie broiler and usually served without lettuce (apart from chicken, which sometimes is nowadays in Greece).
What’s especially admirable about Nikos’ mission is that he’s found a way to execute it while giving his focus to one shop: he opens a shop, gets it off the ground, runs it, then sells it on with the IP before repeating the process in a new location. Which means you get to follow Nikos around Melbourne and actually find him working in his incumbent location, or visit the trail he leaves behind him, with the same authentically Athenian menu that he is introducing to Australia. We also checked out his previous project, Plaka in Glenferrie, to find its quality intact under its new non-Greek ownership: good housemade gyros and the same authentic menu that Nikos handed over. I’m not exaggerating – my Greek Melburnian friends still eat at Plaka too. That in itself is a story.
After selling on Kolonaki and Plaka Gyros, you can currently find Nikos running Ermou on Swan Street, a street full of Greek restaurants (including Bahari, Salona and Agapi). With its iconic, bright red branding and a logo that mirrors Greek street signs, it stands bold on a corner that grabs the attention of every passer by, with patrons spilling out into the outdoor seating, even on a rainy day. Ermou may well be Melbourne’s Embassy of Greek gyros and, overall, this was the single pitogyro I ate in Melbourne that tasted most like Greece.
📍Ermou Gyros, 77 Swan St, Richmond VIC 3121, Australia
https://www.ermougyros.com.au/
Agapi Restaurant, Richmond: heart-warming, home-cooked classics in a classic, homely taverna
Panagiotis may have been born in Australia, but his fluent Greek accent is distinctly Greek. He hails from Sparti and runs one of Swan Street’s most classic, almost-stereotypical traditional Greek tavernes, which has been around since 1993.
Compared to neighbouring Salona, Agapi is a touch more traditional, with the emphasis on heart-warming, honest Greek home cooking. The food is what we call “μαμαδίστικα”, i.e. motherly. Warm, hearty, comforting, and oily in a good way. Simply, but full of flavour. And you see that in the mageirefta, especially the beef kokkinisto that Panagiotis recommended. Tender, steaming beef in a rich, flavourful tomato sauce with tender courgettes and runner beans. Simple flavours, patient cooking, and full flavour.
One of those lunches where you feel as though you’ve just eaten at your aunt’s or grandmother’s, and need a coffee to get back to work and out of the chair you’ve just sunken into. That said, my flight back to London through the Middle East has just been cancelled, and I’m here for another week. I take a few sips of my sketo Elliniko and see a big Australia-shaped blob of coffee staring back at me.
Agapi, it turns out, isn’t another cliché, stereotypical taverna of a bygone era that has grown stagnant with age, but one that is still doing Greek food justice, after decades. Further, it does so in a way that makes the people who know it best feel at home, and that well and truly does live up to its name.
📍Agapi Restaurant, 262 Swan St, Richmond VIC 3121, Australia
https://www.agapirestaurant.com.au/
Foti and Friends, Albert Park: a real community steki, homemade classics and the best freddo espresso I found in Melbourne
It’s in places like Foti and Friends that you realise how special Australia’s Greek community is. A real neighbourhood steki that exemplifies the Hellenic values you see on its walls: meraki (to do something with passion/flair/love/competence), koinonia (community), kefi (spirit/passion), oikogeneia (family). Words, which, although not always directly translatable into English, you find in more than writing here.
Foti and his friends spend a lot of time together, so much so that his parents, Petros and Suzie (pictured with her father Tasos), decided to give them a new hangout in the form of this authentically Greek yet fun and modern cafe in Albert Park. You can’t help but smile when you’re given a surprise paximadi with your coffee order, a trademark touch that sets Foti’s apart. At the same time, it’s a great reflection of Australia’s Greek community. Here, you find that meraki and kefi alive and well. While housemade pites seem to have nearly disappeared from much of Greece and Europe, many of Australia’s Greek hospitality space continue to make their own spanakopites and tyropites from scratch - not to mention Suzie’s kreatopita and prassopita, which come in beautifully flakey handmade filo. Dolmades, gigantes, baklavades, ravani and so on and so forth populate the deli counter, and the whole place is adorned with hidden corners of Hellenic products, iconography and decor.
It only took two words before Petros pulled up a chair and sat to speak with me the first time I visited – before he even knew I ran a Greek food page. That sums up not only Australia’s Greek community, but also its warm and welcoming hospitality scene pretty well. And Foti is one of its best Greek ambassadors.
📍Foti and Friends, 59 Cardigan Pl, Albert Park VIC 3206, Australia
https://www.instagram.com/fotiandfriendscafe/
Taki’s Bakery, Coburg: a portal to Athens and village spanakopites
The award for the Australian bakery that most looks like something you’d stumble upon in the heart of Athens has to go to Taki’s Bakery. A small, hole-in-the-wall counter that overlooks an outdoor patio, sheltered by a zigzag of incandescent lightbulbs, and sealed by a 2m, half-brick, half-window wall with a door frame. It gives that minimalist, industrial look you find in places like Barret in Psyrri. Overlooking the patio, where two strings of lightbulbs converge, is bold-blue wall art that reads “TAKEAWAY” on top and the Greek translation, “Πακέτο”, below.
I walk through the door in the wall with no ceiling and feel like I’ve entered a different dimension: there’s klarina playing through a bulging portable speaker that sits in front of the counter, and I’m now in some sort of Greek village-equivalent of Narnia. I look up to see that it’s not my Pappou playing the Eipirotika, but Stacey, who looks as though she won’t ever look a minute older than 28, frozen in the Greek village of Narnia. It’s not even 10am yet.
As I catch a glimpse of the homemade pites and order my freddo espresso, the playlist meanders from the klarina to Oikonomopoulos and Pantelides, and from laïka to Greek pop, and you feel like you’re at a Greek diaspora family barbecue. Stacey tells me that the bakery is named after her younger brother Taki, with whom she started loukoumades project ‘Taki’s Balls’ in 2013. Taki’s Bakery followed in 2020, and is yet another Melburnian Greek bakery where you find genuine character and proper handmade pites. While that’s the exception in the UK, it’s clearly the norm here.
Taki’s/Stacey’s pites are have that perfect homemade, rustic feel, with the filling perfectly seasoned and balanced. So much better than the factory-made stuff that’s conquering Europe. “Πακέτο”, but I sit down at one of the garden tables with my freddo and spanakopita to see where the playlist will take me next. It’s 10.15am on a Tuesday, but it feels like 5am on a Friday. Although there’s nothing but a bunch of lightbulbs above your head, you feel safe and shielded from the world and its troubles, just on the other side of that door as they are.
📍Taki’s Bakery, 101 Gaffney St, Coburg VIC 3058, Australia
https://www.instagram.com/takis_bakery/
Athos Cafe Deli, Strathmore: a Holy, dynamic neighbourhood café
Suzie & John once ran Greek restaurants Philhellene and Piraeus Blues, but are now at a new café-deli in Strathmore. I stop by for a freddo espresso before a lunch date at Kiki Tzatziki around the corner, but I wish I came earlier, and not just for one of the housemade deli goods.
Athos is abundant with Greek memorabilia, including retro signage from Piraeus Blues, and a vintage Greek drachma cashier from the US. Suzie takes the time to come over and talk me through it when I show an interest. Like Suzie, the whole team are all bursting with kindness and enthusiasm. At the same time, you still find the old guard of local Pappoudes and Giagiades rigorously studying the newspapers in quiet corners. It’s one room, but it’s a dynamic café full of depth and dimensions wherever you look.
Like so many of Australia’s kafeneia and Greek coffee shops, Athos has got that real, personable, genuine neighbourhood steki feel. When he was in Melbourne in February 2026, Cypriot musician Stephanos Pelekanos and his band treated customers to an impromptu performance outside the café – just like the pro musicians get together to hang out and practice at lowkey neighbourhood shops in Greece and Cyprus. There is a kind of magic about Athos that is hard to fathom, and is one that certainly lives up to the sanctity of its name.
📍Athos Cafe Deli, 8 Lloyd St, Strathmore VIC 3041, Australia
https://athoscatering.squarespace.com/
Skewer’d, Port Melbourne: a real provenance-driven souvlatzidiko
There are times in life when you realise you’re in the right place, on the right path. This is one of those moments: the gyradiko that just so happens to be across the road from my apartment, ends up being the only souvlatzidiko I have ever encountered that lists the exact source of its meats on its menu: free-range, naturally-fed pork, free-range chicken, hormone- and antibiotic-free, grass-fed lamb, and Angus beef. Having been ranting for months on the internet about the importance of provenance (knowing where your food comes from), especially when it comes to souvlakia and Greek food in general, I’m finally somewhere where I don’t feel the need to do so.
Listing the source of ingredients on a menu is more than marketing. You genuinely do taste it in the end product – in the same way that you taste the vivid liveliness of locally-sourced, de facto-organic produce in villages. For a start, Skewer’d as a whole is authentically Greek, with owner Angelos inviting me over for a retsina after I first visit. The menu covers all corners, with pork gyros, housemade pork souvlakia, an authentic bifteki option, loukaniko, as well as the popular lamb and chicken options.
And, in the end, the care and attention that goes into provenance is clearly matched in the food itself. The gyros meat is cut thinly but still has a natural, real meatiness and isn’t oily or greasy like the factory stuff. A good mustard sauce ties it all together and the tomatoes and onions are cut as they should be, all wrapped in a good, fluffy pita. Although the pork souvlaki skewer is a little gristly, I’d rather that than an inadvertently-cured, οτιναναι factory-skewered amalgamation of meat roulette from around the world.
As at Skewer’d, and so many others, Australia’s gyradika set a high standard on that basis. Even better if all listed their provenance like Skewer’d does.
📍Skewer’d, 151 Bay St, Port Melbourne VIC 3207, Australia
https://www.skewerd.com.au/
Taverna, Brunswick East: a fresh-looking traditional taverna
Angeliki Giannakodakis, whose parents are from Athens and Chalkidiki, used to run Epocha in Carlton and Elyros in Camberwell. Now you’ll find her at Taverna, where its name is boldly painted on an iconic galanolefko facade.
It’s fresh, simple, housemade Greek food in a forward-looking taverna that opens out into a beautiful sunlit courtyard. Meri Lida, Maraveyas and Imam Baildi form the basis of the classic modern Greek restaurant soundtrack, which works to reinforce the overall message of authentically traditional Greek food belonging in the 21st Century.
A simple plate of fried barbouni (red mullet), with some tarama and fresh, warm bread (all of which are housemade) is all I can find time for as I’m heading to the airport. The barbouni is a little overcooked, but it’s great to seal my time in Melbourne in a place that sums up its Greek food scene well: real, traditional, produce-driven, housemade Greek food, which Greek Australians don’t shy away from presenting in an honest light, in beautifully chic rooms that are adorned with a wealth of unapologetically Greek memorabilia, and real Greek hospitality and personability. So many Australians are lucky enough to have their own version of that in their own neighbourhood. And if this were my local Greek taverna at home in London, I’d be more than happy.
📍Taverna, 434 Lygon St, Brunswick East VIC 3057, Australia
https://www.ourtaverna.com/
Nikos Cakes & Vanilla Lounge, Oakleigh: Oakleigh’s cult-status Greek patisseries
Nick and Tass Papouzas were among the first to lay down the foundations of Oakleigh’s Greek business boom when they opened Nikos Cakes in 1987. But the Hellenic boom really took place in the first quarter of the 21st Century, as the Greek community’s capital hub shifted from Lonsdale Street to Oakleigh. Vanilla followed Nikos Cakes and is another popular patisserie on Eaton Mall. Greek pites-, pastries-, koulourakia-, baklavades-, and coffees-galore in both Nikos and Vanilla.
📍Nikos Cakes, 25 Portman St, Oakleigh VIC 3166, Australia
https://www.nikoscakes.com.au/
📍Vanilla Lounge, 17-21 Eaton Mall, Oakleigh VIC 3166, Australia
https://vanillalounge.com.au/
Sweet Filosophy, Oakleigh: the best spanakopia in Australia?
For me, the real highlight of Oakleigh has to be Sweet Filosophy, where Peter of Yitonia and I meet the enigmatic Matoula. Although we waste no time launching into a therapeutic heart-to-heart about how amazing life in Greece is, I’m also trying to tell her that I think Australia, and the incredible success of Greek Australians in replicating their traditions here, is amazing. Above all, the spanakopita at Sweet Filosophy is both testament to that and a Greek-Australian victory in its own right.
Real, handmade filo/pyllo with extra virgin olive oil that crumbles and crunches before it melts away to expose the perfect balance of greens and feta, with just the right amount of salt and the optimal silky-yet-structured texture. It’s a quintessential Greek pita in one of its archetypal Platonic forms, even 10,000 miles away from the navel of the earth at Delphi. (You can find a very similar traditional spanakopita recipe here by the way.)
Those of you who live in Greece or spend enough time there know well that the homogenising, soul-destroying, factory-made pastries produced at scale are fast becoming commonsight in bakeries across a country that used to be defined by handmade pites. While Europe is hellbent on process-streamlining and scaling every last surviving businesses to death at flavour and quality’s expense – to the extent that it’s increasingly difficult to find a handmade pita this good even in Greece – this spanakopita at Sweet Filosophy in Melbourne’s Oakleigh is a massive victory for Hellenism, Greek food, and humanity altogether.
If Australia is a time capsule, it’s also preserving the best aspects of the form of a cuisine that we deem to be the tastiest and healthiest on the planet.
📍Sweet Filosophy, Shop 5/24-28 Chester St, Oakleigh VIC 3166, Australia
https://www.sweetfilosophy.com.au/
Gyros and souvlaki in Oakleigh
Meat Me Souvlakeri
Good, salty, fatty pork, cooked over charcoal, good smokey flavour. Good authentic pita as a whole. Wins on the meat especially, and the good, garlicky tzatziki.
📍Meat Me Souvlakeri, 24 Eaton Mall, Oakleigh VIC 3166, Australia
https://www.meatmesouvlakeri.com.au/
Orexi Souvlaki Bar
Lamb and chicken gyros over charcoal. Lettuce and thin pita, like many of the original gyradika in Australia, although not the most accurate depiction of the average traditional Greek pitogyro. Meat not bad, good to see housemade gyro over charcoal. Nice custom souvlaki packaging.
📍Orexi Souvlaki Bar, 33 Chester St, Oakleigh VIC 3166, Australia
https://www.orexisouvlaki.com/
Mythos Gyros Bar
Good to see housemade pork gyros here, cooked vertically too like you see in Greece (neither a good nor a bad thing). Authentic Greek pita as a whole. Not the only place to be cooking gyrous from frozen in Aus but wasn’t appetising to see that in action with the lamb that just went on. Pork had a funny taste too.
📍Mythos Gyros Bar, 15 Eaton Mall, Oakleigh VIC 3166, Australia
https://www.mythosgyrosbar.com.au/
Kalimera Souvlaki Art
Although Kalimera just so happened to be closed for refurbishments the entire time I was in Australia, locals sing its praises, and I’ll have to go back. If anyone wants to write about it before then, just send an email to alex@souvlakination.com with the subject ‘PITCH: Kalimera, Oakleigh’.
📍Kalimera Souvlaki Art, 43 Chester St, Oakleigh VIC 3166, Australia
https://kalimerasouvlakiart.com.au/
Still need to check it out
As promised, here are the places I didn’t manage to go this time round, which I’ll need to go to before I can give you a realistic picture as to the quality. Or perhaps someone on the ground who’s still reading can help us out…
Eleni’s Kitchen + Bar, Yarraville
Bar Sophia, Glen Iris
Jonathon’s Cafe, Kew
The Pontian Club, Collingwood
Pitstop Pita, Bulleen
Ela Mana Souvlaki, Thomson
Hellenic House Project, Highett
Astoria Bar ke Grill, South Yarra
Golden Fleece Hotel, South Melbourne
You think I missed something? Want to help me fill in the gaps?
Let me know alex@souvlakination.com