Greensborough
www.eosgreektavern.com.au
The family went to Eos for a postponed Mother's Day dinner on a recommendation from my brother's colleague.
We ordered the deluxe banquet for two ($40 pp) and the chicken special ($29). We're small eaters so this was more than plenty for 4 - we even had to get a doggie bag.
The grilled chicken thighs with polenta with a mushroom sauce was pretty awesome. The family dug into it so quickly I forgot to take a photo of it. What I've got above (second last photo) is the remnants of what I had on my plate! The thighs were beautifully done. The flavourings were simple allowing the chicken to stand on its own. It was tender, juicy, and went well with the polenta (which is a favourite side of mine). There was also a side salad of tomato, bocconcini and basil. The appearance of a classic Italian combination was a bit jarring in a traditional Greek restaurant but I guess it must be some fusion thing. Anyway, they went well together.
The deluxe banquet consisted of:
Cold entrees: mixed dips (tzatziki, possibly taramasalata and possibly babaganoush), dolmades, olives, pickled vegetables and homemade bread.
Hot entree: Saganaki cheese
Hot platter: consists of gyro, keftethes, chicken souvlaki, loukaniko, prawns, mussels, calamari and atlantic salmon accompanied with rice pilaf, lemon baked potatoes and Greek salad.
Sweets: Assorted Greek sweets including galaktoboureko, baklava and Turkish delight.
The bread was absolutely beautiful and was the highlight of the meal. At the end of the meal the chef came out to chat with the remaining diners and he said that the bread was handmade every day - no machines as the taste was different. Since then my dad has been bugging me to try making some bread at home. I don't think that's going to happen any time soon :P
The saganaki cheese is a fried cheese which is awesome by definition.
The hot platter was huge. For me, it was a bit blah, especially when compared to the utter delishusness of the chicken thighs. The platter was just too meaty for my mum and I, especially since we are not found of gyro lamb as it tastes too strong for us (we call it "sou" in Cantonese). I did like enjoy the rice pilaf though.
The banquet also included a salad which was a bit ordinary. The bulk of it was iceberg lettuce which is boring, and I found the dressing too sour. However, the fetta cheese was wonderful - light and fluffy.
The service was great. The waitresses were very attentive, and the chef coming out at the end was a nice touch. It made us feel like they really cared about whether we enjoyed the meal.
Conclusion: We really enjoyed the meal. We'd probably go back, but I wouldn't get the banquet, and I'd probably try out the other specials. And definitely get the bread again.
Stars: 3.5 out of 5.
