Tzaki restaurant review 2024

This Yarraville eatery seats 15 people inside, has 11 items on the menu and nothing costs more than $24 a plate. It’s also everything we could ask for in a restaurant right now.

Tzaki is affordable, innovative yet authentic eating. Picture: Jana Longhorst

I didn’t know how to take it at first.

It’s warm custardy texture, swift mandolin glide of lime rind … then a whack of salt.

Pwoar. Is that feta in my baked cheesecake? The undeniable dairy funk, as clear as coriander in your cereal.

I wasn’t expecting this in, well, dessert. But what a flavour jab.

It’s one of the clever ‘gotcha’ moments that’ll have you thinking about chef Alexi Xinis’s new Greek tapas bar, Tzaki, long after you’ve left.

It feels like Melbourne has been waiting for yonks to see what the George Calombaris protégé would do next after his Hellenic Republic days.

Recently he’s bounced around suburban kitchens, consulted and launched lockdown delivery favourite Almost Like Yiayias (I still swoon over those flatbread pillows with cloudy white taramasalata).

Last month he reunited with fellow Hellenic alumni chef Shehan Setunga (Tulum) to open a chatty 15-seater restaurant in Yarraville Village, inside the old Fig and Walnut cafe.

Here the duo flex authentic Greek eats with a twist using a custom-built, barrel-vault wood oven as their only flame source.

Most seats are at the bar, letting punters play spy inside one of the city’s teeniest kitchen operations.

Chubby octopus hunks drizzled in olive oil and sea salt. Picture: Jana Longhorst

You could slam down an ouzo here, one of the five cocktails on show or an ice-cold Greek lager. Maybe you’ll swish a glass of native alexakis kotsifali (a Cretan red that tastes like pinot noir) over a few small plates and be done with it. Or you could climb the mountain and order almost all 11 dishes on the menu like we did.

Don’t worry, it changes weekly so you won’t get bored and is dictated by the fresh and best of the market haul — though some dishes won’t budge.

Namely Xinis’s flatbread ($10), plastered this week with a wad of tyrokafteri; roasted red pepper dip made into butter ($5 extra). Other weeks I’ve spied taramasalata and feta butter, while this week’s dip is warm fava, made from yellow split peas, pickled onions and capers.

Another stayer is the trahanas ($22), a dish made from an Ancient Greek grain usually found in soups. Wearing a risotto guise, it’s stirred into a comforting mix of burnt butter, roasted fennel and chopped vine leaf making it impossible to stop at one bite.

Other gotcha moments involve seriously impressive produce: chubby octopus ($19) chunks hotfoot it in the oven until blistery and charred without shrivelling into nothingness.

The meat’s still perky and flavour-rich, taking only a lick of olive oil and sea salt to come alive. Another favourite was the pan-sizzled Greek saganaki; ($12) smoky, custard soft adorned in a peppery sweet fig sauce.

Tzaki has 11 items on its menu, which change weekly. Picture: Jana Longhorst

While the chickpeas al la Diporto ($22) are inspired by a similar dish served at Athens restaurant Diporto. The boys use the thicker-skinned, larger kabuli chickpeas, allowing for a more viscose stew, served with a shaker of white pepper to dust at your leisure.

A recent research trip is also responsible for the karydopimisu ($16) mash-up of a traditional Metsovo walnut cake (karydopita) and Italian coffee dessert tiramisu.

People are still going out for dinner, but they’re not following the traditional entree, main and dessert trope. They’re instead visiting places like this, where they can build a meal from small plates.

Food costs no more than $24 a pop here, so will suit many household eating out budgets nicely. As for the drinks and vibe — Tzaki is on the money with that too.

Nothing cost more than $24 a plate at Tzaki on our visit. Picture: Jana Longhorst