Astoria Bar Kè Grill

Overview

For a city with such a huge Greek population, Melbourne has a woefully small Greek restaurant scene — especially when you look around and see so many Italian, Chinese, French and Japanese diners across the city.

But thankfully, Melbourne just scored a new Greek restaurant down in South Yarra thanks to hospo veteran Nik Pouloupatis (Grossi Florentino, Attica, Vue de Monde). He's worked in the industry for a good 35 years, but is only now striking out on his own by opening Astoria Bar Kè Grill in the former Shadowboxer venue on Toorak Road.

If you're familiar with Shadowboxer, you'll see that the space's design has not changed much. The Victorian terrace house got a good lick of paint and new furniture, and that's about it. Most importantly, the front terrace remains, which is best for chill sip-and-snack sessions or long lunches in the sun.

And what will you be feasting on? Here, classic Greek fare gets a contemporary twist — without straying too far from tradition. You'll tuck into familiar small dishes like house-made spanakopita, zucchini fritters with tzatziki, pan-seared saganaki, prawns with oven-baked tomatoes and feta, and pickled Freemantle octopus.

Then you've got the mains, which are really easy to share. Get around a seared snapper with asparagus, mussels and avgolemono, the youvetsi (a lamb stew with kritharaki), and a vegetarian Moussaka.

Greek and Aussie wines and beers are up for grabs as well, plus all your usual cocktails and mocktails.

There aren't too many surprises here — just good Greek eats in a laidback setting. You don't need more than that.