Weekend Lunch at Alpha Restaurant

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Having a leisurely Sunday lunch is one of my favourite pastimes. It's even better when the food is communal, generous and tasty. This is exactly the case at Alpha , where the menu is designed to be shared, the servings are substantial and the dishes are full of flavour. Take a look at my previous dinner adventures at Alpha here .

The food at Alpha is modern Greek, and this is also reflected in the decor of the restaurant with a minimalistic theme, boasting mostly whites, greys and woods.



We start of steaming hot pita bread ($2 per person) that's been char-grilled and sprinkled with a good helping of dried oregano. We order the Tirokafteri ($11), which is a delightful sheep's milk fetta, chilli and red pepper dip. There's some serious flavour in this dip, and it's perfect with the pillowy pita bread.


The Spanakopita is far larger than we had anticipated. In fact, most of the dishes at Alpha are. There's a sense of generosity and consideration in chef Peter Conistis' cooking. The savoury spinach pie arrives in a large, hot pan fresh out of the oven. Baked to golden brown perfection, it gets a lot of sideways glances from other patrons when the waitstaff bring it to our table.


The filo pastry is flaky and buttery, but the hero of this pie is the filling. The spinach, leek and fetta filling has a generous helping of dill in it, which I absolutely love. And for $20 this massive spanakopita is excellent value.


The Horiatiki salad consists of a beautiful medley of heirloom and oxheart tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, olives, red onion and a big chunk of fetta ($14 or $18 according to size). Highlighting some wonderful fresh produce, this salad is the perfect accompaniment for the baby snapper and quail we've ordered.


Charred and smoky, the mastic spiced quail comes with a vibrant watermelon and fetta salad ($27). Pomegranate seeds and sprigs of mint complete the salad. I'm a huge fan of marrying sweet, juicy watermelon and feta cubes. When those pomegranate seeds pop in your mouth, the textures and flavours come together perfectly. In retrospect, the amount of fetta we consumed at this lunch is almost criminal, but it's delicious regardless.


The baby snapper cooked over bay leaves with oregano dressing ($35) is aromatic and bursting with herb flavours. It's a whole baby snapper, so watch out for the bones. We're clutching our gorged stomachs at this point, but we're determined to share one dessert to round off our meal.


The loukoumi delight ice cream slice is served with plump raspberries and strawberries, chopped pistachios and a filo cigar ($14). Even though it's a loukoumi delight dessert (like a Turkish delight), the flavours that are more prevalent in the ice cream slice are raspberries and strawberries. For berry and ice cream lovers, this is a no-brainer dessert. It's a light and refreshing end to a satisfying Greek meal.


I've had the pleasure of dining at Alpha twice now, and every single dish was enjoyable. There's also a $55 set menu available if you have four or more people on your table. And even better, when you add matching wines it's $95. I'll undoubtedly be back to try this.

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