Greek cuisine has been creeping into Australian culinary experiences and expectations since the time Italian bruschetta made it on to cafe menus as a starter in the early 90s.
But it’s Greek cuisine in the average pub that has many bemused. How did moussaka feature on the average pub menu, looking as comfortable and casual next to bangers and mash and a parma? A jug of a beer washed down with tzatziki – who would have thought?
The appearance of Greek food on pub menus stems from the foundation way Greeks like to eat their food – sharing. Greek food was made to be shared. To be shared in a situation that nurtures and feeds off conversation. Friends, family and laughter go hand in hand with dips, saganaki and calamari.
A pub is the most common of gathering places and watering holes in Australia. It is a place people meet after work for a drink, catch up with friends and go for a quick beer after Sunday’s game. And a pub is a great place to grab a cheap and easy meal, while sharing in conversation. In Australia, pubs can be found in nearly every suburb and on almost every inner city street corner, competing for clientele. And the only way to progress is to offer average pub goers a selection of boutique beers, a worldly wine list and a menu that beckons to be sampled. For many years, the only option for a snack for pub punters was wedges with sour cream and chilli sauce or a packet of chips or Nobby’s Nuts. But as our palates progress, punters are asking for more than aioli with their fries.
Because many pubs can’t cater for one cuisine in particular, many have opted to offer their clients a selection of world cuisine. So Vietnamese salads, curries and stir-fries are appearing as regulars on specials boards, just as Mediterranean specialties that were once only made available at Spanish, Italian and Greek restaurants are predominately becoming stock standard pub fare.
Paul Douglas, cook at the Marquis of Lorne in Melbourne’s Fitzroy, told Neos Kosmos that Greek cuisine offers a way for his punters to share food in the pub. “It’s different to come in and get a selection of stuff that the punters can sit around and share the food. Instead of eating one big food plate, they can have a meze plate.” The simplicity of Greek food attracts pubs to sample the wares and toy around with traditional recipes.
The simplicity that means many Greek dishes can be created in “one-pot allows the food to melt together and take on the delicious Greek flavours,” said Douglas. And because pubs generally don’t have the cooking space a restaurant would, having a one-pot meal suits the working style of a pub kitchen. “What we do at the Marquis of Lorne is adapt a lot of Greek recipes and create something new for our specials board. We take a lot of Greek flavours – as there are a lot of good vibrant flavours like oregano, lots of lemon and thyme – and use Greek cooking techniques to try new ideas.”
The Marquis of Lorne, like many pubs around Australia, is using a specials board to see if these innovative cooking ideas will take off. “You can go to how many pubs around Australia and get a parma or steak and veg. Using the specials board is a way for the cooking to be interesting for us too, it gives us a chance to keep our cooking skills fresh and exciting.
Then if something goes well, we can add it on the menu.” A salty saganaki is fast becoming the perfect accompaniment to an ice-cold pint of bitters. And if you – like a punter in the pub wanting something quick and easy to quench the appetite that bursts through with that first pint – what better way than to pick at perfectly fried kefalograveria. Sharing a meze plate is the perfect option for sharing a bottle of a crisp dry white wine on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
To the purists who say that pubs can’t re-create Greek delicacies – try them and you will be pleasantly surprised. Australians all over have embraced various cultures’ cuisines. Through cooking shows and an abundance of cookbooks and online recipes, access to traditional recipes are in abundance. And a light hand enables talented chefs to re-create the wonder of Greek cuisine.