My big, Greek Sunday lunch at Alpha Restaurant, CBD

I’ve only been to Greece once and it was a few years ago now. And as you can see from this photo it was a classy affair.

Note: We didn’t actually buy these purple diamante encrusted cowboy hats or thought they looked good in any way, shape or form.

But white cowboy hats aside, I fell in love with the country, the people, its food and the views.

Me in Santorini circa 2007.

Alpha Restaurant is an impressive and huge restaurant in the CBD which I’m told is very popular with the business lunch crowd on weekdays. I don’t work in the city, so I miss out on all the “power lunch” festivities but fortunately they have just started doing a Greek Sunday lunch. This is definitely right down my alley.

The big restaurant – it gets full though!

We opted for Yiayia’s Table which gave us a good taste of the wide variety of food on the menu. It’s $55 a head which is actually good value for money considering you won’t need to eat dinner and possibly breakfast the next day. If you want to go all out, get the matching wines for only $40 more.

Yiayia’s table – yiayia means grandmother in Greek.

And so we begin…

Gahhhhh, Greek starters are the best. I love olives, pita bread, taramasalata (cod roe dip) and eggplant dip so this was flavour country for me. The taramasalata is made in house and is insanely good and not at all fishy. It went perfectly on the slightly warm pita bread. If I could eat this combo every day I would be a happy lady. I tried so hard not to go all in on the starters because I knew there was much, much more to go.

Taramasalata and melitzanosalata dips.

A bit of wine with Sunday lunch, why not?

Out came the entrees - falafels, haloumi, twice cooked octopus and spanakopita (spinach and feta pie in a flaky pastry). We had the classic moussaka thrown in there too which is Peter Conistis’ 1993 dish that is made with eggplant and unusually scallops which works so very, very well. This isn’t on the Yiayia’s Table menu, but if you’re feeling like you can squeeze more in definitely get the moussaka.

Sesame leaf dolmades.

Chickpea falafels with coriander yoghurt.

Haloumi saganaki with ouzo, lemon and oregano.

Eggplant moussaka with seared scallops.

By this point I was borderline stupid full, but the star of the show was yet to make an appearance – the Greek spiced slow cooked lamb shoulder arrived in all its meaty glory. Thank god I still had room (barely)! It was fall off the bone soft and full of flavour. I wish I could have eaten more or taken some home for the best work lunches. This was accompanied by a Greek salad which was fresh and a great side to the heavy meat.

Horiatiki salad with a huge slab of fetta.

Greek spiced slow roasted lamb with roast potatoes and tzatziki.

And just when you thought there couldn’t possibly be any more, out came the loukoumades - little Greek donuts with spiced honey syrup (from Greece) and candied walnut ice cream. Wow, I had passed the point of borderline stupid full and was well into insanely-full-I need-to-sleep territory.

Loukoumades – little Greek donuts with spiced honey syrup and candied walnut ice cream.

On weekdays their little shop next door is open selling coffee and Greek goods.

Alpha is a beautiful restaurant with really solid Greek food. It’s a place you can take your friends for a long Sunday lunch (think ladies who lunch kind of vibe) or even take your family. I’ll definitely be going again and won’t be eating breakfast and most likely dinner the night before to prep my stomach for the huge Greek feast.

Καλή όρεξη! (Enjoy your meal!)

Alpha Resturant’s details

Address: 238 Castlereagh Street, Sydney NSW 2000
Phone: (02) 9098 1111
Opening hours:
Monday to Friday: Breakfast 7.30am to 10.30am, lunch and dinner until 10pm
Saturday: 12pm till 10pm
Sunday: 12pm till 9pm
Website

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