Dining at this secret restaurant is like eating in a young and fun Greek aunty’s home

It’s easy to boast about the statistics of Melbourne’s Greek population, but the true gifts accompanying those statistics are harder to explain. For instance: no matter your background, if you live in this city you probably know something of what it’s like to have a Greek mum.

For me, this knowledge originally came from the Greek mum who lived next door when I was growing up in Northcote and offered us lemons over the back fence, along with home-made wine from the grapes her husband grew. Later, I learnt from Greek restaurants in Coburg and Fitzroy, from the parents of friends, from the women who sold my family feta cheese at the markets.

At Patris, a new Greek restaurant in Brunswick, my understanding of belonging in a Greek family has taken on a new dynamic. What if your Greek mum or aunty or sister was young and fun, with an eye for art and plants and vintage furniture? What if she mixed cocktails at a large butcher block in the middle of the room while you perused her collection of books – about food and humanity and nature – on the stuffed bookshelves? Patris answers these questions.

In this fantasy, the aunt or sister in question is Stella Michael, who opened Patris with husband Johnny Hassan in March. The restaurant is named for the SS Patris, the ship that transported Michael’s mother, along with thousands of other Greek migrants, from Europe to Australia between the 1950s and 1970s.

The place feels like a wonderful secret, partly due to its somewhat hidden location on Barkly Street, just far enough from the bustle of Lygon Street to make you wonder if you’ve got the right address, and partly thanks to the fact that it feels more like a stylish family living and dining room than it does a traditional restaurant.

If you aren’t lucky enough to have a literal Greek mum or sister or aunty, now you have a place where you’ll be treated as if you do.

Overlaying all of this is Michael’s exuberant warmth – customers are “my loves”, the olive oil comes from the family farm in Greece, and the food is very much what you’d expect to be served in the home of a Greek cook who is trying to nourish you, body and soul.

Of course there are dips, tarama and labne, though the mild, creamy tarama comes with crispy sweet potato, and the labne with cucumber, plum and passionfruit. The grilled halloumi, appropriately squeaky on the teeth, is accompanied by figs poached in commandaria, a port-like Cypriot wine.

You could make a full meal of the hearty vegetable dishes, mostly stewed and comforting but all with a zap of freshness. Until recently, there was a beguiling okra with caramelised onion and sumac; a new winter menu swaps it out for cabbage rolls stuffed with broccoli, pumpkin, seeds and cauliflower in a tomato emulsion.

The big dishes to share are classics: lamb shoulder, whole snapper, roast chook. But, as with the vegetables, there’s usually an element that brings something fresh to the equation. I hesitate to say “modernise” because all the techniques and sauces here are drawn from ancient knowledge and tradition. But there’s a creativity to drizzling the perfectly tender lamb shoulder with a vivacious zhoug, the Yemini sauce made with parsley, coriander and a touch of chilli heat. Add a side of lemon potatoes, and you have a feast fit for a Greek king.

I became fully enamoured recently with the eliopita, an olive and leek pie with a flaky Filo-like wrapping. It recently came off the dinner menu and transitioned to be a staple of the new Sunday brunch service, which features this alongside other stuffed pita situations. It’s a simple offering, meant for casual weekend snacking, which fits right in with the ethos of Patris: come hang out, take your time and bask in the relaxing glow of our space and hospitality.

The wine list is evolving, and it’s fairly brief and without much variation in styles, but again, dining at Patris is so much like eating in someone’s home I have trouble faulting them for a short list meant to go with the food.

If there’s a downside to all of this informality it’s the occasional cooking slip-up: an undercooked meatball on one visit, the slight grit of a leek that hadn’t been obsessively cleaned on another. These are clearly people who are learning as they go, leading with love and finding their way. I’d forgive a lot worse for the chance to spend time in this room with these hosts.

Melbourne is so lucky to be in the midst of an evolution in our Greek dining scene. In some ways, Patris is unassuming among the flashier, more ambitious or more modern offerings we’ve seen over the past year or two. But in other ways, it represents the way that members of the second and third generation Greek diaspora actually cook and eat.

If you aren’t lucky enough to have a literal Greek mum or sister or aunty, now you have a place where you’ll be treated as if you do. If you’re anything like me, you’ll feel immensely grateful for that gift.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.