Mod Greek, Turkish and Middle Eastern @ St. Katherine's, Victoria (Australia)

On our second night in Melbourne, only a few hours after our lunch feast on Malaysian food, we feasted on Greek food with some friends of mine. Two of them are girlfriends who went to primary school together with me back in Perth - which I just realised was almost 20 years ago! Incidentally, both of my friends married a couple of guys I went to university with, so that night's gathering was a bit of a reunion party! My friends are long-time Melbourne residents, and they recommended St. Katherine's in the eastern suburbs not too far away from central Melbourne. This is one of the restaurants opened up by the highly acclaimed George Calombaris, and it serves modern Greek, Turkish and Middle Eastern food. Dinner was a casual affair, and the dishes are meant to be shared. Service was pretty good, and we were well-informed on which dishes were safe for our allergic son to enjoy. We had a lot of food on the table that night that it felt like we'd ordered everything on the menu!

KFC - Katherine's fried chicken with BBQ sauce and Japanese mayonnaise. A favourite amongst the boys, including the 3-year-old:

Bastilla with pumpkin, cinnamon, Maltese pork sausage and almonds. It didn't look like the traditional bastilla, but it was thoroughly enjoyable:

Lebanese Lamb Sausage, with lemon, hummus and thyme:

One of the pides (Turkish pizza) with Maltese pork sausage, onion rings, tomato, kasar and mustard mayo. Yum!

The only vegetarian dish: Leaves - with hazelnuts, dehydrated shankleesh, sunflower seeds and pomegranate. Ironically, in spite of the dish's name, it wasn't very leafy (aside from some torn herbs). It was delicious, and I really enjoyed the nutty flavour and the crunchy texture:

Another pide with torn basturma, mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes and basil. Another yummy one:

Cinnamon Rubbed Pork Belly with roast peanut sauce. Delicious crackling:

"Off the rotisserie" - slow-roasted lamb and chicken were on that day's menu. Very tasty, but at this point I was starting to feel very full!

Grilled Quail with cumin, smoked eggplant, tahini and pumpkin seeds:

I was stuffed at this point, but everyone else's tummies still had room for dessert.

Peanut Butter Parfait with chocolate sorbet, baklava crumbs and orange blossom foam. The soft creamy parfait was nicely contrasted with the crunchy coating. The chocolate sorbet was chocolatey but not too rich. I wasn't sure what to do with the foam:

One of my friends ordered the Walnut Cake with figs, yoghurt jelly and lemon sorbet, which I did not try, but I loved the presentation so I couldn't resist taking a shot:

We enjoyed good food and great company with old friends. St. Kat's is a pretty popular restaurant, and I am inclined to say that reservations are recommended.

St. Katherine's
26 Cotham Road
Kew VIC 3101
Australia
Tel. +61 3 9207 7477