I was looking up stops between Apollo Bay and Geelong. I considered having lunch in Lorne but having stayed there a few times in the past few years there wasn't anywhere that particularly interested me. One of the regular names appearing was A La Grecque, a one chef hat Greek place with excellent reviews and one of the few must stops in the area. The other option is Brae, but given the detour and the intention of enjoying the coastal route, I'll have to save that for another time.
Ever since the incredible Greece trip back in 2010, the only Greek places I've eaten at are Gazi and Hellenic Republic. There's been a few souvlaki stops too but the only one worth mentioning is Jimmy Grants. It felt like a great opportunity to break free from the Calombaris stronghold on Greek cuisine in my life.
I felt lucky to be able to book Sunday lunch on the day itself. There's a carpark for the restaurant although it seems most people (including myself) don't realise until walking into the restaurant and park on the street next to it.
- Grilled kephalograviera, chargrilled peach, almonds, pekmezi $18 - I remember asking the chef in Greece what this incredible cheese in a salad was and it's been my choice ever since. Forget about halloumi, kefalograviera is much better and this was an outstanding version served. Perfectly crisp with chewy squeaky heavily salty cheese with contrast from warm peaches, nuts and mint (I would have liked more of those given the amount of cheese). It was served on a piping hot plate meaning the cheese didn't go cold and hard;
- Roast spatchcock, hilopitas, garlic, chilli, basil, olives $34 - a beautifully cooked and seasoned bird served with pasta. Good flavour and texture;
- Slow roasted goat shoulder, red onion, parsley, radish, caper, za'atar $36 - it was a toss-up between the goat or pork shoulder. I'm more partial to goat on menus since I simply see it less often (and mostly in curries). For some reason I expected more of a roast with gravy. This was tasty, relatively tender and simple meat with salty za'atar and fresh salad. The lemon really helped break the salt and brought each element to balance;
- Roasted cauliflower, golden raisins, coriander, pinenuts $11 - an excellent combination of cauliflower, sweet raisins, a salty dressing and lots of pinenuts.
The food and cooking is outstanding. I would have liked to know what meat and seafood were local but the young waiter didn't know (other than assuming everything was Australian). There's so many other interesting dishes. I probably wouldn't order the goat again next time, and if ordering for 2 would opt for kefalograviera, the scallops with black pudding, flatbread with lamb, the pork shoulder and save a bit of space for dessert.