Lefkas Taverna

Every time I go to a Greek restaurant it brings back memories of the amazing food we ate in Greece. Our most memorable meals took place during our stay on the island of Paros (see the picture below) - beautiful salads with fresh feta, cucumber & olives, and a great selection of simply cooked fresh seafood. I got particularly hooked on the delicious grilled cuttlefish. When you've got great, fresh produce, why mess with it?


Which leads me to Lefkas Taverna at West End. Lefkas is a place that I had wanted to visit for years. We went there on a Friday night and the place was pretty much full. There were tables outside on the footpath, tables inside and a private room enjoyed by a big group having a fun night.

Our table was just inside the door. The room wasn't air conditioned, so it was a bit warm, but ok. Menus were brought out pretty quickly by a friendly waitress. The menu runs the gamut of traditional Greek food - mezes, seafood, grills and a good vegetarian section.

For starters we ordered some dolmathes ($5.90), eggplant dip ($7.90), homous ($7.90) and grilled haloumi cheese ($6.90). This selection turned out to be a great way to start the night. The two dips were served with a good amount of pita bread, which had been cut into manageable pieces. Out of the two dips, I thought the eggplant was better, but only by a nose. The homous had plenty of garlic in it, and was obviously fresh.

The dolmathes (vine leaves stuffed with rice) had been covered with a generous drizzle of tzatziki (cucumber & yoghurt dip), and the combination was terrific. There was so much tatziki that it basically became a third dip for the table. As far as I'm concerned, you can never have too many Greek dips on the table. I enjoyed the dolmathes, without finding them outstanding.

The final entree was the haloumi. There were good thick slices of haloumi, served with some lettuce and lemon. The haloumi was excellent, and had been perfectly cooked without drying out the cheese. The squeaky sound of haloumi against my teeth just has to be one of the best food experiences anywhere in the world.

We didn't manage to finish all the dips, but we got close. In the gap between entrees and our mains we couldn't help to be amazed by the amount of takeaways flying out the door. Not only the volume, but the enormous servings as well. If you live near West End, next time you can't be bothered cooking, head along to Lefkas and try out their great range of yiros and souvlakis.

After a comfortable break, our mains arrived. Again we had a good selection from the pretty large menu. I ordered a plate of pork yiros ($17.90). This turned out to be a plate which on one side was a huge pile of shaved pork pieces, and the other side was a green salad. The pork also came with a good serving of tzatziki. Although it really was a mammoth pile of meat, it was so delicious that I just couldn't stop eating. I especially enjoyed the crunchier bits of pork, that had seen more of the grill.


Other meals on the table were lamb souvlaki (skewered lamb with rice or Greek salad - $17.90), spanakopita (spinach & feta pastry with salad - $16.90) and stuffed capsicum ($13.90). Again, each of the meals were very generous portions. I didn't try any, but the spanakopita looked delicious. So did the stuffed capsicum (we'd ordered the vegetarian version). It was presented as a whole red capsicum, with a little lid cut in the top of it. The capsicum was stuffed with rice, dill, garlic, onions and shallots. The rice had been cooked beautifully, and made for a lovely, aromatic stuffing for the bright red capsicum.


As all the meals were pretty reasonably priced, we also ordered a small Greek salad for the table ($9.90). That turned out to be completely unnecessary, given the amount of food that came out. As unnecessary as it was, it was a winner. Tangy olives, crunchy cucumber and tart, crumbly feta is exactly what I want to be eating in a salad on a warm Brisbane night.

Given the big servings, none of us even contemplated dessert, as good as they sounded.

I'd have to say that the food at Lefkas Taverna is the best Greek food I've eaten in Brisbane. It was all fresh & tasty and came out in huge portions. Not only was the food good, but prices are extremely reasonable.

Service during the night was very friendly. Actually, I hardly noticed the service at all, which is always a good sign of a restaurant which is smoothly run.

As I mentioned earlier, there are loads of take away options as well. The prices on the take aways are ridiculously cheap. There are also pre-made dips and desserts in the fridge in the main room in case you want to take any of this lovely food home with you.

Finally, Lefkas is byo. There's a bottle shop next door, so you'll have no excuse to go thirsty as you munch on a selection of your Greek favourites.

What does all this mean? Excellent, tasty, fresh Greek food at low prices. If only there were more restaurants like this in Brisbane.

food bling ratings
Food - Great
Service - Great
Ambience - Casual, fairly basic suburban restaurant interior
Vegetarian - Great
Wine - BYO
Value for Money - Top Shelf

Lefkas Taverna

170 Hardgrave Road

West End 4101

P - 07 3844 1163

Paniyiri Reminder

Just a quick reminder that Paniyiri, the great festival of Greek food, wine, dance, olive eating competitions etc is on this weekend. Here's my earlier post with all the details. It should be a great day if this sunny weather holds up.

Paniyiri
Saturday 4 July 2009 & Sunday 5 July 2009
Musgrave Park and The Greek Club
Edmondstone Street
South Brisbane 4101
W - http://www.paniyiri.com/

Paniyiri Postponed

Due to the crazy amounts of rain we've been having this week, unfortunately Paniyiri has been postponed until 4 & 5 July 2009. Hopefully the sun will have come out by July!

In the meantime, we'll have to wait a little longer for all that delicious Greek food, but it sure beats sloshing around in the mud.

Paniyiri
Saturday 4 July 2009 & Sunday 5 July 2009
Musgrave Park and The Greek Club
Edmondstone Street
South Brisbane 4101
W - http://www.paniyiri.com/

Paniyiri

Well its Paniyiri time again - this weekend actually. If you've never tried any Greek food, wine, ouzo or beer and you're sitting around twiddling your thumbs on the weekend, then get on the next bus to South Brisbane and go to Paniyiri.

Paniyiri is one of my favourite food events in Brisbane. It's always such a great day. You get in, wander around the food stands, grazing on delicious tastes of grilled octopus, galaktoboureko (a custard filled filo pastry that I would happily break my gluten free diet for), souvlaki, haloumi and dolmades. While you're downing the beautiful Greek food, pick up a Mythos beer or four and in no time you'll be having a fantastic afternoon.

As you can probably tell, I'm a big fan. Every year I go, it reminds me of the amazing generosity of the people in Greece, and the terrific food we gobbled down almost everywhere. If the food doesn't do it for you, there are usually all kinds of entertainment (music, dancing, olive eating competitions), rides and even fireworks.

Tickets this year are $7, but kids are free. You can read my post on last year's festivities here. I even got a photo with a couple of the Queensland Roar players last year, so it was a great day all round. This is one Brisbane food event you shouldn't miss.

Paniyiri
Saturday 23 May 2009 & Sunday 24 May 2009
Musgrave Park and The Greek Club
Edmondstone Street
South Brisbane 4101
W - http://www.paniyiri.com/

The Lounge Bistro

I don't get to Nundah very often, but I'd read a few articles about The Lounge Bistro and had been meaning to give it a try for a while.

The Lounge Bistro serves Greek food. I have such good memories of the food I ate in Greece, that I always look forward to going to a new Greek restaurant. The decor at The Lounge Bistro is pretty basic, and it has a homey kind of feel, with unmatched chairs and tables. We arrived at about 8pm on a Saturday night and it looked like the busiest part of the evening was over.

The menu is long, with plenty of options. Entrees (mezethes) range from dolmades (rice wrapped in vine leaves), melitzanosalata (eggplant dip), maridaki tiganito (pan-fried whitebait) and calamari. I ordered the octapodi skaras (char-grilled baby octopus) which was served with a green salad and garnished with julienned beetroot and carrot. The green salad had mint and parsley in it, which really added to the flavours of the dish. The octopus tasted great - it had been just cooked, and was tender, rather than chewy. It was a generous serving too.

We also had the saganaki (deep fried cheese) for entree. The menu didn't say what cheese it actually was, but it wasn't haloumi. Again it was a good sized serving, and came with a green salad. The cheese had a really salty flavour, but went well with the garlic based sauce. It would be a great match with a beer or two.

Until this stage of the night the service had been great. But when we were about half way through our entrees, we looked up to see a waitress bringing over our main courses. She realised on the way to the table that we were still eating our entrees and turned around. Unfortunately the kitchen was only a few metres from where we were sitting, and the two meals then just sat on the kitchen counter without any heat on them until they were brought back to the table about 5 minutes later.

Not surprisingly, when our main courses did make it to the table, they weren't very hot. That's always disappointing, especially when its the middle of winter and the restaurant isn't air conditioned. We dug into our mains anyway. So much for a break between courses.

I decided to go for gyros for main course - marinated lamb cooked on a spit served on a flat bread with green salad. This was an enormous plate of food. Half the plate was the lamb and the other half was pretty much the same salad that accompanied my entree. The whole plate was covered with tzatziki that had loads of garlic in it. The lamb was very good - most of the pieces had an excellent crunchy crust, which really added to the flavour and texture of the dish. As hard as I tried, I couldn't finish off the plate.

We also had one of the vegetarian options for mains - tomatoes stuffed with feta, breadcrumbs, oregano and mint. There were two tomatoes, which were served with two different sauces - one a rich, thick sauce on the bottom of the plate, and the garlicky tzatziki poured over the top. The tomatoes were served with some cold sweet potato chips on the top (which I found a bit odd - maybe they were hot when it was cooked) and some deep fried shallots. There was no shortage of garnish, believe me. Again it was an enormous serving, which we couldn't finish off.

Other main courses on offer include moussaka (layers of eggplant, potato, meat and bechamel sauce), pastitsio (macaroni with minced beef & fresh tomatoes finished with a bechamel sauce), fish of the day, a Greek beef stew, kotopoulo souvlaki (marinated chicken fillets on skewers) and a couple of king prawn dishes, which sounded very tempting.

I had been looking forward to enjoying a bottle of Greek wine with dinner, but I was told that they had none of their dry red wine left, which was a shame. I find it so hard to find any Greek wine in Brisbane restaurants. We ordered a half litre carafe of their house wine instead, which was pretty good value at $15. All of the wine on the compact list is well priced, or you can BYO if you prefer.

We had no room for dessert, but sweet options include some delicious looking galaktoboureko (custard filled pastry slice) and baklava, together with non-Greek options like Turkish delight cheesecake and a white chocolate mud cake. If you need a proper Greek coffee to finish off the meal, you can get one here for $6.

Overall I was a little disappointed with the food we had on our visit. Trying to serve us our main course while we were still eating entrees didn't help. I saw exactly the same thing happen to another table that sat down just after us. I think the meals were a bit over-garnished too, which detracted from the main flavours of what we had actually ordered. If our meals hadn't have been so rushed, and the meals were more focused on the core ingredients of each dish, it would have been a more enjoyable night out.

Although the timing of our meals wasn't the best, the waitresses that looked after us during the night were very friendly, helped out with our questions from the menu and made us feel very welcome to the restaurant. The bill came to $83 including our wine, so prices are very reasonable.

If you're planning on visiting The Lounge Bistro, I suggest that you only order dips or just a few nibbles for starters. The main courses really are huge, so you won't need to go crazy with your entrees.

What does all this mean? Tasty Greek food served in very generous portions, but service was a bit patchy.

food bling ratings
Food - OK
Service - Poor
Ambience - Indoor and outdoor seating, with a casual home-style feel
Value for Money - Great
Wine - A compact, well priced selection or BYO
Vegetarian - Good

The Lounge Bistro
Shop 1, 1252 Sandgate Road
Nundah 4012
P - 07 3266 6144

Euro 2008 - Greece

Although Greece are still technically the champions of Europe (at least for another week or so), unfortunately the game against Spain tomorrow will be their last in Euro 2008. Greece haven't managed to pick up a point in their first two games, so they won't be repeating their amazing run from Euro 2004 this time around.

But don't despair, there are plenty of places to enjoy Greed food around Brisbane. My best memory of Greek food is when we were on the island of Paros. You could just walk down to the local deli, where they sold the best feta I've ever had. Putting together a simple Greek salad of good Greek feta, olives, cucumber and tomato, with dried herbs and loads of olive oil became a delicious daily routine.

A few of my friends reckon that Lefka's Taverna is the best Greek restaurant in Brisbane. I still haven't been there, but I'm keen to try it out. Lefka's serve up traditional yiros, souvlaki, lamb, calamari and octopus in pretty casual surroundings. Lefka's is BYO, and there's a bottle shop next door, in case you run out of your favourite beer/wine/ouzo during the night.

Another popular spot in West End is Kafe Meze. I noticed when we were in West End on the weekend that it's just moved about 100 metres down the road, into the spot where Cristo's used to be. At Kafe Meze you can start off the night with dolmades, haloumi, keftedes (meatballs) or Atherno (whitebait). Mains include a range of souvlaki (lamb, chicken, fish, prawn, pork or vegetarian), together with Greek plates containing octopus, souvlaki or calamari all served with a Greek salad and chips. Again Kafe Meze is BYO.

I've read some great reviews for The Lounge Bistro at Nundah, if you're on the Northside, and I can't do a post about Greek food without mentioning The Greek Club at South Brisbane. The Greek Club put on Paniyiri every year (which I love) and it's a great place to try out Greek wine, which is really hard to find in Brisbane. If you need a night of Greek dancing to work off a big meal, then The Greek Club is the place to shake your booty. Finally, if its Greek olive oil or deli items you're after, head to the famous Samios Foods at Woolloongabba.

Lefka's Taverna

170 Hardgrave Road

West End 4101

P - 07 3844 1163

Kafe Meze

Shop 7, 220 Melbourne Street

West End 4101

P - 07 3844 1720

The Lounge Bistro

Shop 1, 1252 Sandgate Road

Nundah 4012

P - 07 3266 6144

The Greek Club & Convention Centre

29-31 Edmondstone Street

South Brisbane 4101

P - 07 3844 1166

W - http://www.thegreekclub.com.au/

Samios Foods

36 Annerley Road

Woolloongabba 4102

P - 07 3391 2169

Paniyiri

I went along to Paniyiri today. It was absolutely perfect weather for wandering around, snacking on delicious Greek food and downing a few glasses of Greek wine/beer/ouzo.


There seemed to be loads of people there today with the same idea as me. I'm always amazed at just how much food they cook at Paniyiri. It must be a massive exercise.

Anyway I had a serve of the grilled octopus (great), halloumi (moreish as usual) and a couple of scoops of ice cream (which isn't that authentic, but it was a warm day). Between our friends we also munched through a souvlaki, calamari and some Greek yoghurt.


I watched a couple of heats of the olive eating competition. Eating 13 olives in a minute doesn't sound that tough, but try doing it with your hands behind your back.


Anyway it was good to see so many people supporting this great festival. Hopefully it will keep getting better every year. If you missed it, make sure you get along next year.

Paniyiri

There seem to be so many food-related events happening over the next few months that it's hard to keep up with them all.

The next one to plonk into your diary is Paniyiri. Paniyiri is one of my favourite Brisbane festivals, and I always try to get along every year. Its a great way to spend a lunch or afternoon - munching on some great Greek food, with some kind of music or dancing going on in the background. I think the other reason I love going along is because it reminds me of the fantastic time we had in Greece, especially the amazing food and friendly, welcoming people.

If you haven't been before, make sure you get along this year. Buy yourself some Greek wine or beer, and then graze on dolmades, grilled octopus, calamari, haloumi, souvlaki and loukoumades. Last year there were even a few sideshow alley type rides, for those with iron stomachs.

The Greek Club's website hasn't been updated yet with the information for this year's Paniyiri, but hopefully that will happen soon. In the meantime, there's a few details here, on ourbrisbane.com.

Paniyiri
17 & 18 May 2008
Musgrave Park & The Greek Club
Edmondstone Street
South Brisbane 4101

The Press Club

"Food is family, family is life, life is everything". That's George Calombaris' outlook on things, and it sounds on the money to me.

Every now and again we escape Brisbane and get to graze at some great places. We organised our last trip to Melbourne around dinner at The Press Club, where George Calombaris' food has been receiving rave reviews.

The first thing we noticed was how busy the room was. It was 8pm on a Sunday night and the place was packed. It was a wide selection of diners - young people, families, children, you name it. Always a good sign.

The other thing that really stood out was the service. Throughout the meal, the service was friendly, professional, knowledgeable and only there when you needed it. When we made our booking we were asked if we had any special dietary requests. I'm a coeliac but don't usually make too much of a fuss about gluten free food at restaurants as good as this one. However I was absolutely amazed when our waitress brought the bread out at the start of the night, only to tell me that the gluten free bread was being warmed and would be out in a minute. It's never happened to me before, and will stick in my mind for a long time. Little touches like that can transform a good night into a great one.

Happily munching on my crumbly gluten free bread while dipping it in some great olive oil (which is a good experience) we then had to make a few choices off the menu.

There are plenty of options when it comes to food at The Press Club. The menu is split up into orektika (small dishes - $19.90 to $24.90), kyria (large dishes - $34 to $39), synotheftika (side dishes - $9 - including the obligatory lemon potatoes), glyka (sweets - $17.90 to $21) and cheese ($11 to $24). If you'd rather leave what you're eating in the hands of the chef, then there is also the kerasma or tasting option, ranging from $65 for 4 courses to $82 for 6 courses. You'd have to be pretty fussy not to find something that takes your fancy here.

Time to order. First of all, I have to apologise that some of the items we had are not currently on the menu, so if I don't get the description right, please forgive me.

I started off with a crab and watermelon "sandwich" ($21.90). I can't recall if it was described as a sandwich on the menu, but that's what it looked like. Beautiful slices of pink crunchy watermelon took the place of bread, with tasty, delicate crab as the filling. This was one of the best, and most innovative, starters that I have had for a long time. It really was a fantastic way to kick off the night.

My dining partner had the beetroot salad ($17.90) as a starter. This was served as chunks of beetroot, with a spiced pistachio tower, soft feta and micro herbs. Again, this salad got rave reviews. Beautiful flavours, which complemented each other perfectly. Things were looking good.

On to mains. I didn't find anything on the main menu which jumped off the page as much as the crab and watermelon sandwich. After much debating, I went for the yoghurt braised neck of lamb with olive oil pomme puree ($36). Although it was tasty, it lacked the wow factor of my starter. Perhaps I should have gone with the "hot off the press" lamb spit with white bean skordalia, lemon potatoes and marouli salad ($37). To criticise the lamb neck in any way would be wrong, it was beautifully tender, it just lacked that extra special quality that I had been hoping for. We also had the raviolo of peppered fig ($18.90), a vegetarian dish, which was excellent.

We certainly weren't leaving a Greek restaurant without having some sweets. There are some great ones to choose from. We thought about going for the selection of dessert mezedes, but decided against it. Instead we ordered the "breakfast at Santorini" ($17.90) which tasted as good as it sounds. Great, tangy, flavours with lemon curd and yoghurt sorbet. I had the Chios mastic panacotta ($17.90) served with marinated strawberries. I've never had mastic before, but this was a great way to end the night. Whatever you do, make sure you leave room for sweets, as there are some fantastic (and unusual) options at the Press Club.

Another great thing about the Press Club is the Greek wine on offer. I enjoyed some great wine in Greece, but it seems to be very hard to find a decent selection of Greek wine in Brisbane. The wine list here is really impressive and has been put together after a lot of time and thought.

During the night we had glasses of the Kir-yianni ‘Petra’ roditis (white) 2006 from Naoussa ($12), Gaia agiorgitiko (red) 2005 ($12.50), Kir-Yianni ‘Paranga’ xinomauvro, merlot, shiraz blend 2005 ($11.50) and the fabulous dessert wines from Samos, ranging in vintages from 2000 to 2005. I've never had a Greek dessert wine before, but these were the perfect way to end the evening. I was draining my glass for every last drip. By the way, our dessert wines were served in cool Riedel "O" series glasses. I was impressed.

If you're not a fan of Greek wine, there are lots of other options. In fact the drinks menu runs for 27 pages and includes Greek beers (Alpha, Mythos and Vergina), a good selection of Ouzo, cocktails and plenty more.

It's hard not to enjoy a night at the Press Club. Beautiful flavours, brilliant service and a terrific wine list round out a great place to spend the evening. Not only that, but it all comes in a relaxed, fun surroundings. Make sure you give it a try next time you are in Melbourne. Be warned though, it's popular, and you'll need to book.

What does all this mean? Excellent modern Greek food, brilliant service and a wine list that will keep you drinking all night.

food bling ratings
Food - Great
Service - Top Shelf
Ambience - Modern, relaxed surroundings
Value for Money - Good
Wine - Top Shelf
Vegetarian - Good
Gluten Free - Good

The Press Club
72 Flinders Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
P - 03 9677 9677
E - admin@thepressclub.com.au
W - http://www.thepressclub.com.au/