The Greek House Restaurant on Point Chevalier Road serves a Mediterranean menu that reaches well beyond its Greek name, carried by strong Middle Eastern influences. The kitchen belongs to siblings Amjad and Asma Al Said — of Palestinian and Jordanian descent, raised in Malaysia — who opened the restaurant in the spot formerly occupied by Afghan restaurant Samadi, together with Amjad's friend Imran Al Dablan. Running their own restaurant had always been their dream.
Inside, the room is a vibrant mix of blue, green and turquoise: patterned floor tiles, plush high-backed teal chairs, blue walls and gold lamps. The barbecue is the kitchen's pride and joy — the shish tawook chicken is marinated in garlic, yoghurt and Middle Eastern spices until moist and tender, and even the saffron rice is finished in the smoker. Around it sits a full meze spread of house-made dips, kubba, salads, souvlaki wraps in fresh pita, smoked ribs, seafood and kunafeh for dessert.
Beyond dine-in, The Greek House offers takeaway and delivery, a party hall for events of up to 100 guests, and catering for events of over 500 guests. The team has also acquired the space next door and is extending to create a larger dining room.
The name on the door promises Greece, and The Greek House does deliver — there's moussaka, Greek salad, spanakopita and souvlaki-style wraps in fresh homemade pita. But spend a few minutes with the menu at this Point Chevalier Road restaurant and you'll notice it travels further: kubba and shakshuka, mandi and kabsah, lamb kebabs and smoked ribs. The food, as the team puts it, is more far-reaching than the name suggests.
That breadth is personal. The restaurant is run by brother and sister Amjad and Asma Al Said — of Palestinian and Jordanian descent, raised in Malaysia — alongside Amjad's friend Imran Al Dablan. Running their own place had been a long-held dream, and the chance came when the spot in the Point Chevalier arcade formerly occupied by Afghan restaurant Samadi became available. They took the leap, and the neighbourhood gained a dining room of patterned floor tiles, plush high-backed teal chairs, blue walls and gold lamps — a deliberately vibrant space in blues, greens and turquoise. The room has proven so popular that the trio has since acquired the space next door and is pushing out to create a larger one.
Ask what to order and the answer starts at the charcoal. The barbeque section is, by their own telling, the kitchen's pride and joy. The shish tawook chicken is marinated for a good long while in garlic, yoghurt and Middle Eastern spices, and it arrives moist and tender off the grill. Around it sit minced lamb and chicken kebabs, Beta's marinated chicken cubes, the eye fillet cubes of Alpha, arayes — crunchy grilled bread stuffed with spiced minced lamb — and lamb cutlets, with the Mix BBQ gathering lamb kebab, shish tawook, lamb cube and lamb rack on one plate for the undecided.
Even the sides get the full treatment. Order the rice and you'll be served a fluffy, saffron-kissed dish with hints of butter, onion and spice, finished with almonds and parsley — and sent through the smoker for an extra flavour dimension.
If smoke is your thing, the Smoke section takes it further. The Olympus beef ribs, smoked overnight for 12 to 16 hours, come in quarter, half and whole sizes with BBQ sauce, honey and garlic sauce; The Acropoliis is a whole lamb shoulder slow cooked overnight for two to share; and Family Platters sized for four, six or eight combine slow cooked lamb and marinated mandi chicken over Quzi and Mandi rice, with an Aegean platter to start.
The menu is organised into cold appetisers — dips, salads with halloumi or calamari, falafel — then hot appetisers, souvlaki wraps, barbeque, smoke and seafood. The classic opening move is the meze platter: a mosaic of smooth house-made hummus, tzatziki, chunky baba ganoush, dolma and a punchy fattouche salad, served with bread. The Aegean Platter works the same territory with hummus, mutabal, baba ghanoush, dolma and a choice of salad.
The Light Main Course is where the family's own heritage shows through: fried kubba in four versions — rice, burghul, potato Halab and beetroot — alongside spanakopita, moussaka eggplant and shakshuka with fresh pita. Seafood runs from whole tarakihi, grilled or fried, to crispy kalamari, shrimp cigars wrapped in filo pastry and a prawn crumble salad, while the Greek Style Dishes braise lamb shank and chicken over orzo and burghul.
Leave room at the end for kunafeh: shredded pastry baked with Akawee cheese until golden, soaked in rosewater syrup and topped with crushed pistachios, in portions that scale from a solo sweet to a full-table finish.
The Greek House works as a dine-in restaurant, a takeaway and delivery kitchen, an events venue and a caterer. The party hall accommodates up to 100 guests for birthdays, weddings and corporate gatherings, and the team caters for events of more than 500 guests.
You'll find it at 11 Point Chevalier Road, in the Point Chevalier arcade. Doors open from 4pm Monday and Wednesday to Thursday, from midday on Friday, and from 11am on Saturdays and Sundays; the kitchen rests on Tuesdays. Reservations can be made online or by phone, and the menu is available for online ordering if you'd rather eat at home. For a first visit, the well-worn path is a good one: a meze platter for the table, something — anything — from the charcoal, and kunafeh to finish.