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At Astoria, house-baked sourdough – a plate-sized round loaf, scattered with black and white sesame seeds, warm and fragrant, nutty with a touch of rye flour – is cut into wedges for tearing and dipping into requisite dips like fluffy, creamy taramasalata made with white cod roe and whipped with mashed potato rather than the usual breadcrumbs. There’s also a dip of roasted eggplant chopped into a relaxed mess that’s tangy with lemon, bitey with garlic and laced with smoke.

You’ll also find snacks like calamari, saganaki and spanakopita inside the 129-year-old South Yarra terrace, plus cheffier versions of owner Nik Pouloupatis (ex-Cutler and Co, Attica and Grossi Florentino)’s mum’s recipes.

Tiropita (cheese pie) is filled with a creamy mixture that includes feta for bite, ricotta for smoothness and kefalograviera for melt, scrolled into a golden-baked pillow and drizzled with thyme-infused honey. You can hear the crackle of the filo pastry from the other side of the room. Stifado is a stew made here with octopus, softened with shallots, brightened with vinegar, and heady with cinnamon and star anise in a tomato-tinged gravy.

A hefty vegetarian moussaka towers on the plate before slumping into a perfect pile of bechamel, tomato and eggplant, while zucchini fritters – known as kolokithokeftedes – are crunchy on the outside and soft and gooey on the inside thanks to potato and panko crumbs. Youvetsi, a slow-cooked dish of tomato and kritharaki (orzo), might come with fall-apart lamb shoulder one week and meltingly tender osso buco the next.

For dessert, portokalopita is an orange syrup cake that uses torn filo in place of flour. You’ll never detect it, but it’s fun to explore the mystery, bite after sticky, citrusy bite. The drinks list draws from Greece, with xinomavro (a nebbiolo-like red wine) and agiorgitiko (a red from the Peloponnese region) plus ouzo mojitos and sours made with mastiha, a piney liqueur made from resin – perfect for sipping on the two-tiered terrace in summer.