You know how sometimes you’re confronted with a menu and there’s so much going on you actually feel overwhelmed? (Maybe that’s just us; we get pretty excited by food.)

The awesome thing about Brunswick East’s Hellenic Republic is that you can either face the lengthy menu yourself, or go with the Trapezi menu – which means the chefs pick a bunch of the best and freshest dishes of the day.

Hellenic Republic is a casual, but impressive place and is all about great produce: “Our food philosophy is simple – fantastic, fresh produce to prepare traditional recipes in a clean, contemporary style.” That means your saganaki is served with sweet peppered figs. Yum.

It’s noisy and busy and while that might be a turn-off for some, it somehow just feels really exhilarating and Greek to us!

Hellenic Republic is at 434 Lygon Street, Melbourne.