Hellenic Republic

Location: 434 Lygon Street, Brunswick East 3057
Phone: (03) 9381 1222
Link: www.hellenicrepublic.com.au

Cuisine: Greek

Another place that's been on my wishlist for a while has been George Calombaris' Hellenic Republic. Not exactly in the CBD, the place has often been brushed aside for a restaurant within the CBD. But not this time, we ventured out beyond the CBD to satisfy a craving for pita bread, dips and traditional Greek spit roasted meats.

Tram numbers 1 or 8 will get you to the Brunswick end of Lygon Street, and stop 126 is located directly outside the restaurant, about 25 minutes tram ride from Flinders Street Station.

Immediately upon entering, the amazing aromas of spit roasted meat hit us. A waitress shows us to our seats, and offer us a plate of mixed olives whilst we wait for our third member to arrive.

warm mixed olives

Again, we knock back the set menu (or what they call 'trapezi') in favour of designing our own menu.

We can't go past the pita bread with dips, and the waitress helpfully suggests we order a half serve of each dip (there are three) so that we can try them all.

warm pita bread with dips (clockwise from top-left): melitzanosalata (roasted eggplant, miso, tahini),
taramosalata (white cod roe dip) and tzatziki (cucumber, dill, garlic, olive oil and yoghurt)

The bread is warm, soft and fluffy inside, and tastes great even without the dips. But that's not why we've ordered it. The dips are divine. The roasted eggplant dip is unlike any other eggplant dip I have ever had before. At first taste, the first thing that hits you is the sweetness and there doesn't seem to be much eggplant flavour at all, Eventually, the subtle roasted eggplant flavour comes through, before the smokiness from the miso and tahini. It's a beautifully smooth texture, with a brilliant combination of flavours that just dance on the tongue.

The tamosalata is the saltier of the dips. It's a bit of a cross between a smoked salmon dip and an anchovy paste, but with the acidic flavour of lemons to cut through the saltiness. 

Tzatziki - the classic hero of Greek dips. Amazingly fresh, the yoghurt was light, smooth and creamy, the cucumber was fresh and crunchy and the garlic and olive oil were perfectly balanced. 

Having run out of bread, we save the dips to eat with the meats.

Having had an amazing corn-on-the-cob experience at Mamasita (yes yes, I still haven't done the review), this Greek version caught my eye and my curiosity would not let me skip it.

kalamboki - sweet corn, spiced butter, smoked almonds, kefalograviera

And it was amazing. Completely different to Mamasita's, but in a good way. The corn was smoky from the chargrill and served warm topped with a beautiful spiced butter and shaved kefalograviera cheese that was just starting to melt. The corn was sweet and juicy and the cheese was subtle. Slivers of smoked almonds were then scattered on top and around to provide yet another contrasting texture. Overall, a top dish. I could eat a whole meal of just this.

tyri saganaki - kefalograviera with peppered figs

Saganaki, another Greek classic that we just couldn't go past. Although, Hellenic Republic put its own spin on this classic by pairing the fried kefalograviera with sweetened peppered figs. Whilst not the biggest fan of the figs (I found them a little too sweet for my liking), I must admit the combination of flavours worked. The sweet peppery flavours of the fig cut through some of the heaviness of the fried cheese, and also provided a contrasting texture to the dish. 

meat platter: arni sto fourno (slow roasted shoulder of lamb, garlic, oregano)
and kotopoulo psistaria (Hazeldene’s free range chicken from the spit)

When I hear of Greek meat, my expectations skyrocket. We ordered the slow roasted lamb shoulder and the spit roasted chicken. Possibly because we had already eaten so much, but also possibly because I had set such high expectations for the quality of the meat, I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the meats were beautifully soft and tender. The lamb fell apart very easily, and the chicken was moist. But I found that both meats lacked seasoning compared to other Greek meats I've had in the past. I was expecting much stronger flavours - without which, the meat was more or less ordinary (but very well roasted) meat.

This was where the leftover dips from earlier came into play. The tzatziki went amazingly well with the lamb (classic combination of lamb and tzatziki), and the lemon flavours from the taramosalata paired very well with the chicken.

sides: tiganites patates (potatoes fried in olive oil, oregano, salt)
and patzari salata (beetroot salad, cumin yoghurt, coriander)

Sides, sides, sides. We probably could have done without these - or should have picked something a little different. The potatoes were relatively ordinary - reminding me a little of the duck fat potatoes from the Aylesbury, but without the duck fat. The beetroot salad was tasty, but the cumin gave the yoghurt a slightly odd taste. Given the selection of dishes we had ordered, we might have been better off with a lighter salad.

After standing in line for half an hour to buy some loukoumathes at the Canberra Multicultural Festival a few weeks earlier, there was no way I was going to pass by these Hellenic donuts.

loukoumathes - Hellenic donuts, local honey, walnuts, cinnamon

The donuts were crispy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside, although at the end of a big meal, leaned a little to the heavy side. They were then coated with a thick honey syrup then sprinkled with walnuts and cinnamon. The honey was extremely sweet, and I made the first mistake of cutting open a donut, and dousing the inside with more honey. Big mistake. The walnuts provided a nutty relief to the honey overdose. 

Bakalava Yianniotiko

I've never been the biggest fan of baklava, but no Greek feast would be complete without it. The pastry on the top and bottom of each piece was built from several layers of filo pastry almost glued together from the honey (or was it sugar syrup?). The nuts inside were chopped finely and tightly packed together. Whilst I found the baklava too sweet, it was one of the better ones I've had before.

Greek coffee

H chose to finish her meal off with a Greek coffee. I personally could not understand why, the coffee was strong, bitter and grainy. But regardless of my opinion (and given I admittedly do not know much about coffee), H enjoyed hers.

Service was friendly and pleasant, and despite having told us on booking that we could only have the table for two hours, we were allowed to stay for longer. There was definitely a friendly warm atmosphere within the restaurant, and it was relatively loud, so it was nice that the tables were fairly well spaced out.

Overall Impression: 9/10

Kouzina - Lunchtime Mezedes

Location: Level 2, Westfield Doncaster, 619 Doncaster Road, Doncaster (also one at Southgate)
Link: www.kouzina.com.au
Cuisine: Greek

The lunchtime menu at Kouzina seems to sport more mezedes (tapas style dishes) than mains, and feeling like a variety of food, we decided to order a few to nibble on.

Mini lamb kebabs with tzatziki and onions

From the 'mezedes from the land' list, we decided on the mini lamb kebabs. I assumed (and would have preferred) that this would be kebabs of threaded with gyros (Greek spit roast lamb). I was rather disappointed when the kebabs were loaded with large chunks of lamb. The meat itself was quite well flavoured and went very nicely when smothered with tzatziki, but was a little on the overcooked side (especially given the thickness of it). The onions gave a good contrasting bite.

Mixed dips with pita bread

From top: eggplant dip, feta cheese, caviar, roasted peppers, tzatziki, olives, feta and capsicum dip

J was craving the caviar dip from our last Greek feast at Stalactites so we ordered the mixed dips as the first of our 'mezedes vegetarian'. We were very surprised at the number of dips that were on the dish - especially at the extras (roasted peppers, feta cheese and olives) that accompanied the dish. The eggplant dip was a little odd tasting, and the feta and capsicum was a little too salty (due to the feta I believe) but the caviar and tzatziki were smooth, creamy and very tasty indeed. I also particularly liked the roasted peppers which were nice and sweet.

Kalamarika - Salt and pepper calamari, ouzo aioli

From the 'mezedes from the sea' list, these were very nicely flavoured, but lacked crunch. The crumbs on the outside were a little soft and tasted like the oil hadn't been properly dripped out before they served them. The lemon and dipping sauce went very well with the salt and pepper already on the crumbs.

Spanakopita - Yufka filo pastry rolls with spinach and feta, served with walnut-pepper coulis

We needed one more dish and I saw this on the 'mezedes vegetarian' list and immediately thought 'Masterchef!' One of our best choices as it came out looking exactly like a miniature version of Alex Lloyd's version on Masterchef. Cutting into it, there was plenty of the spinach and feta inside the spiral shaped pastry. Perfectly crispy on the outside and nicely flavoured on the inside. I want some more now!

~Service and Atmosphere~

We went for lunch on a Thursday and thus it was very quiet - we nearly had the whole restaurant to ourselves. There are some very nice window seats which would look very nice at night. We had one waitress serve us for the entire meal, and she was pretty helpful when we were ordering, and was very friendly. Dishes came out as they were prepared, with most out in a reasonable time, except for the spanakopita (although that was well-worth the wait!).

~Price~

A little pricier than we were expecting to spend (each mezedes was around $8 - $12) but for the experience, it was well worth it.

Overall Impression: 9/10

Kouzina

Location: Level 2, Westfield Doncaster, 619 Doncaster Road, Doncaster
Link: www.kouzina.com.au
Cuisine: Greek

Early Bird Land Mezedes for two
Clockwise from top-left: beef and lamb keftedes, chicken souvlaki, lamb lady fingers, pork souvlaki
Center: loukaniki

This was one of the early bird specials for $30. At first glance there didn't seem to be all that much food there, but once we started eating, we realised that there was more food than we had thought there was!

Beef & lamb keftedes - char grilled Greek style meatballs, tzatziki

These were quite tasty. The meatballs were juicy on the inside, and nice and crispy on the outside. The tzatziki was fresh and tangy.

Chicken souvlaki

The chicken was a little on the dry side, although the sauce it came with was quite nice.

Lamb lady fingers - filo pastry rolls filled with lamb, raisins & feta, yoghurt-sumac sauce

The lamb lady fingers were very interesting and new to me. I quite liked the mix of the savoury lamb and feta, the sweetness of the raisins and the tang of the yoghurt. Unusual combination, but it worked.

Pork souvlaki

Like the chicken, the pork was also a little on the dry side, but the caramelised onions and the sauce that went with it was brilliant.

Loukanika - char grilled spicy Greek sausages, green olive sauce

These were very tasty too - slightly spicy and bursting with flavour on the inside. The sauce was a bit odd, but it also worked well with the sausages.

Kalamaraki

We eyed the table next to us get a serving of this in their degustation, and decided we wanted some too. It turned out not as good as it looked - the crumbs on the outside weren't anywhere near crispy and it was pretty obvious that it hadn't been drained properly of the oil from the deep fryer. Other than that, there was enough flavour.

Overall Impression: 8/10

The Vegie Bar

Location: 380 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Link: www.menulog.com.au/the_vegie_bar
Cuisine: vegetarian
Company: Eb and Alex

~Food~
The menu was quite expansive and covered a whole range of cuisines - just no meat. We got a starter called 'Duo' to share, which was essentially warmed roti bread and some wild rice with a curry dip and a lentil dip. The roti was really good but the dips were a bit bland, especially the curry one.

For main, I ordered the Gado Gado, a whole heap of vegetables and lentils with a bowl of satay sauce. Whilst the serving was large, I could have done with more of the sauce as it was a little on the bland side too. I found it a little amusing they even threw in bok-choy into the mix, as it's one of the vegetables I would never had with satay sauce [and it did taste funny].

For dessert, Alex decided we were going to eat the vegan chocolate cake with soy ice-cream. This was a completely new experience for me, as I only ever eat normal chocolate cake with normal [full cream] ice-cream. I was surprised at how good the cake was, although it was a little hard and crumbly at the sides and the base [like a cookie!] and also at how normal the ice-cream tasted too.

~Atmosphere and Service~
Very casual and also very crowded. We arrived around 6.30pm and the place was already bustling. We managed to get some seats at a communal table, where the seats were literally leather stools. Can't say it was the most comfortable seating but the mood of the place was quite relaxed. The service was minimal but we didn't have to wait long for our food or for service [despite it being so busy].

~Price~
Very cheap. Mains were around $10-$15. Our total bill was just over $45 for three of us. Quite a good deal.

~Overall Impression: 7.5/10~
Given the price, the fast service and the casual nature of the place, the place would be quite suitable for those after a quick cheap feed or those running on time constraints. The menu was intriguing enough for me to want to go back one day and try something else, hopefully with slightly stronger flavour.