Estia Restaurant - Review

I admire few cultures less than ours here in the South of Australia. The climate alone is more congenial to socialising. Only a few worldly locations seem more enticing when you consider their native cuisine. Greece always appears when I write any sort of list of favourites, I don’t have to think it merely etches itself onto my foolscap. Recently I have sought after newer Greek venues to see if they have what it takes to test the real performers in Adelaide, the answer is no. Real performers are not so boisterous or bloated that they forget their place, but they’re industrious in their accumulation of golden stars, loyal clientele and success! Estia Restaurant has achieved a little niche on Henley square just adjacent to a hotel with so much spoilt testosterone it shall go unnamed. I am sure Estia has seen its fair share of bulging arms beneath obscenely small shirts yet they maintain a steady course for their ultimate goal of customer service and flavourful Greek Food. We booked well in advance and warned that there could be a toddler and the odd pram involved. No problem – yet when we arrived we were at the front door. That’s a small problem. Straight off the bat it is a standard order of dips and bread – of course, get to know your Greek restaurant by their dips and pita. (Dips $12.5 Pita $1.50/serve) Sparkling Ale will start you right for the afternoon especially on such a spectacular spring day. I know I never should do such a thing but I order without looking at the menu, knowing each of my favourites is set in stone on this menu. Loukaniko, grilled sausage ($14), and Pickled Octopus ($17.5) are my first predictions. Once again I would happily judge a lazy Saturday Greek restaurant on these dishes, and would be intrigued if they did not. There was a relatively small bowl of Prawn Saganaki for $17.5 which was quickly overlooked when I noticed the grilled meat had arrived. A large stainless oval platter with miniature Greek salad and a bed of brown rice or buck wheat set the scene for some superbly tender BBQ Lamb ($16.9) and even better BBQ Quail ($15) quarters. The little creatures had certainly not suffered in vain, I was revelling in such terrific morsels of meat I failed to tuck into any Patates ($9) and just got some Greek Salad (small $7). But neither mattered I was still enjoying the bird and bleating lamb, it almost momentarily distracted me from the toddler cracking his head repeatedly without a wince on low flying furniture. Hilarious! There was one small hitch, a Moussaka ($16.9) with meat which is another Greco catering test. Our very particular dining partner made very sure there would be no review of it so it shall remain a mystery, but the fact this individual is not willing to share this dish on any occasion must be a compliment to the dish, or else my name isn’t George-Yeah!?
Socialising is what the Greeks do best... gees, they created the whole concept of sitting around eating, drinking and generally having a good old time. And now in ’09 they charge others for the experience, did they create that one too? When Greek food is good it seems effortless, food rolls out the kitchen, the staff are well honed and you wonder why you would ever need to eat anything else. Estia achieved this on a sunny September lunch service, they are clearly a real performer without being distracted by the testosterone ‘guns’.

Giles