Last Friday night B and I were headed to see Wicked and needed an early meal before the show. We don’t often have dinner in the CBD, so it was a good chance to try out somewhere that had been on my list for a while – Gazi!
Gazi describes themselves as serving ‘messy Greek street food’, with as much of a focus on the drinks list as the food. The menu is broken down into a whole range of sections including dips, souvas, grills, salads and sweets, with quite a large selection of vegetarian dishes, which is always nice to see! We were lucky to get a seat straight away and started with a mulled cider which was served with sliced fruit and lots of spices ($10). I’m a big fan of mulled wine as it reminds me of the Christmas I spent in Germany a few years back, so this was right up my alley! B enjoyed it too, although I think it was slightly too heavy on the spices for his tastes.
Then it was on to the food! The menu is designed for sharing which is always a plus for me, and the waitress was helpful in guiding us with how much to order, and what we might like. The first dish to arrive was the Queensland Blue Pumpkin from the Hellenic Dirty Food section of the menu ($12.50) which was served with goats curd and chestnuts. The pumpkin was perfectly cooked, buttery soft to cut through and the sweetness of the pumpkin was balanced by the goats curd which was spread underneath. The addition of the greens and crunchy chestnuts was spot on as well, so it’s safe to say we really loved this dish. It didn’t last long at the table!
Next up was the Roast Beetroot with pearl barley, peanut hummus and toursi red onion ($11.50). I really liked the presentation of the red onion as the thin pieces, and they provided a nice textural change to the soft, sweet roast beetroots. This was another really delicious dish, although it probably didn’t quite grab us as much as everything else we ate, which is more a reflection on the other food being extra-delicious, rather than this being bad at all!
We then got a Kolokythokeftedes souva each ($9.50 each) which consisted of zucchini and peas, goats curd, chips, coriander, mint and onion. I’m a big fan of the pita bread they use here (having tried it at Jimmy Grants a few times!), it’s soft and pillowy and really adds to the deliciousness of the souvas. This was possibly even better than the vegetarian souva at Jimmy Grants, I really liked the zucchini and pea fritters and the flavours were all spot on. Plus you can’t go wrong with chips in your souva! This put in a strong case to be our favourite dish of the night!
Our finally savoury dish came highly recommended from our waitress, the Corn from the Wood Fire Grill section of the menu. It was a half cob with Aleppo mayo, seeds and kefalograviera ($3.50 a serve) and we got a serve each. It most definitely didn’t disappoint, the corn was lightly charred and there was plenty of mayo and cheese which gave it a huge burst of flavour and perfectly balanced the sweet, juicy corn. I really, really loved this dish and I’m very glad we listened to the waitress. It may have been just a simple corn dish, but I think it was frontrunner for dish of the night for both of us!
Even though we definitely didn’t need any additional food, we decided to go all out and share a serve of the Loukomathes ($10.50) which came with honey, nutella and crushed hazelnuts. Having loved the greek doughnuts at Jimmy’s we had high expectations for these, and they didn’t let us down. The addition of the nutella sauce made them even more rich and decadent, and I’m very glad we shared a serve as they were pretty sweet, but very tasty. A very nice way to end our meal!
Overall we had a really delicious meal, with great service to boot. You know it’s been a good dinner when it’s hard to choose a favourite dish purely because they were all so good! There’s plenty more vegetarian salads and sides to try so I think a return visit will be needed, and more of the corn will most definitely be ordered!
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I Spy Plum Pie is Liz, an early 30s kiwi-born, Melbourne raised girl who is passionate about the environment and sustainability, food, exploring and learning new things. Join me on my journey to a happy, sustainable life!
cheri
June 14, 2014 at 12:42 pm (10 years ago)HI Liz, great review, I heard wicked was incredible, wondering what you thought?
cheri recently posted…Strawberry Avocado Spinach Salad
I Spy Plum Pie (admin)
June 14, 2014 at 2:43 pm (10 years ago)You have heard correctly, it was definitely incredible! We loved it and I would see it again in a flash!