Eat. @ Hellenic Republic

434 Lygon St, Brunswick East ph : (03) 9381 1222

Breakfast 9-11:30am on Saturday and Sundays

We've recently been trying out places that we previously didn't think of as kid-friendly eateries, and Hellenic Republic has certainly proven that our idea hasn't been too hare-brained!  We rang ahead to check whether kids are welcome, and we chose to have breakfast (essentially brunch) which is available on the weekend, and overall, it has been one of our favourite eating-out experience so far since I've been blogging.

The kids were super excited that we were going to "Georgie's restaurant" since they are Masterchef fans.  We thought Hellenic Republic would be the most child-friendly out of George Calombaris's group of restaurants that include The Press Club, Maha, PM24 and The Belvedere Club (soon to be joined by St Katherine's, his new venture with Shane Delia).  The restaurant setting is rustic and casual, and we were very impressed with how efficient, friendly and helpful the staff were with us and the kids.





Our drinks arrived soon after we put in the order.  The cappucino and mocha were both good, strong coffees to kick start the morning. 

Cappucino

Mocha

The solomos - smoked salmon, broken egg, tsoreki croutons, was a divine and different breakfast item.  The smoked salmon was beautifully smoked, complimented by the rustic soft broken egg, and the slightly sweet croutons were a fantastic contrast to the smokey flavours.

Solomos

The Grilled Dench Toast, which we had with Kapnisto Arni - smoked lamb, roasted tomato, fried egg , is also a fine breakfast dish with a lovely Greek twist provided by the  lamb.  My favourite part though was the tartness of the roasted tomato, which tasted fresh, AND refreshing, to offset the heaviness of the smoked lamb.

A side of Loukaniko Horiatiki - village style sausage was meaty and rustic, and made sure we were very very full!

To finish off we had some Loukamathes (afterall, they kept talking about them on Masterchef!)  The kids really wanted to try them, again proving that yes, advertising definitely works!  These Greek doughnuts are crispy and coated with honey and walnuts on the outside, and soft and doughy on the inside.  Hubby is a fan of the Turkish Delight-filled ones from Maha, and maybe because of that, these ones felt just a tad heavy, since we almost expected to taste something as we bit into the centre!

Eat.Play.Shop. Reccomends : The Solomos

Give it a Miss : Don't!  It's well worth a visit for a slightly different brekkie/brunch.  The double doors one after the other at the entrance may be slightly challenging for the pram. 

Toilets : Yes.  Very clean and the hand soap is divine!  Change table available in the disabled toilets.

Highchairs : Yes