Monday, July 13, 2009

Perama Greek Restaurant

88 Audley Street
Petersham NSW 2049
Ph: 02 9569 7534


How was I to know, that tonight I would be eating till my stomach popped open? Fridley & I got together a bunch of Twitterers (food bloggers & non-food bloggers) for a hearty meal at Perama in Petersham.

I was a tad bit late & got seated with the 'non-food bloggers' but also people that weren't on my twitter so that was fun introducing ourselves. I'm quite the twitter addict, sometimes I have it on all day at work .. which is so bad because I never get any work done hehe.

So tonight, because it was such a big group of us (and most of us had big flashy camera's & foodblogs), the owner @DavidTsirekas, cooked us dish after dish after dish (and supplied unlimited wines & drinks) for a measly $50 p/p!! Little did I know that we'd be fed soo much more then what he had bargained for..

When i sat down, there was already Greek salad bowls, & crunchy sesame seeded bread served with an assortment of dips. 

Greek Salad, Mixed Dips with Crusty bread (Tzatziki, Tarama, split pea, olive paste, roast eggplant

Picked mushrooms & octopus

The Greek Salad, had a huge chunk of fetta cheese sitting on top, which is unusual (usually you get small-medium sized cubes tossed throughout the salad). 

The platter of bread & dips was really nice, i tried all the dips, limiting myself with the bread (I really didn't want to get full on bread did I??), and sipped on my glass of 'Big Men In Tights' wine. I'm not usually a red wine fan, but this one was quite light, and refreshing (not too dry) so i was constantly topping up though out the night!

The pickled mushrooms were slightly too vinegar-ish for my liking, so I'd assume the same for the pickled octopus & cabbage.

Pickled artichoke & cabbage

Imambadli - stuffed roasted eggplant, Gravieria - crumbed haloumi

The crumbed & deep fried haloumi was divine (how can you go wrong with fried cheese??) So this is one dish i will DEFINITELY have to have the next time I am here :)

Sheftalies - cypriot sausages, Hand rolled Macedonian Filo Spinach Pie

Deep fried asparagus, shallots, oyster mushrooms, Zucchini & white Yam, BBQ haloumi cheese

The spinach pie was crisp & warm, the way a pastry pie should be, and i was glad i was able to eat this as it had no meat in it whatsoever. The deep fried vegetables were a bit, although the tomato based sauce I didn't have much of .. it had a slight tangy tomato taste which didn't mesh will with my tastebuds at all.

The bbq haloumi with figs, was a fresh dish, and a reminder that haloumi does NOT have to be deep fried in oil to taste nice (although i do prefer it that way hehe).

Vine Dolamathes, Stuffed filo pastries

BBq lambs liver, Chilli Black Mussels

The stuffed filo pastries looked very attractive (pastry! so good, but so so bad) & there was a special cheese filled one for the lone vegetarian a.k.a Me! I'm not a fan of the Vine Dolamathes, ever since i tried some with Richard (he loves these).

Hand cut chips w/ Ouzo Mayo, BBq octopus

Zucchini Fritters, Pork Belly Baclava

Fat deep fried potato chips, boy did my eyes light up when these babies came out. The dip, was Ouzo Mayonnaise, which was a bit too bitter for me.. I told everyone straight up that i didnt like it. Must be an acquired taste? (Ouzo is a Greek liquor flavoured with aniseed)

By this point, all the girls (including myself) were completely stuffed!! Whining of our bloating & asking 'when does it all end??'
Fried calamari, Hand rolled Filo Pumpkin Pie

Fakes Salad, Bezilia -peas cooked with tomato & herbs

Another pastry dish, this time filled with pumpkin with a thicker pastry shell, again, what can i say i'm a lover of pastries :)

There was no way i could try the peas or beans salad .. seriously this is the first time i've been overfed in a restaurant since i converted to vegetarianism!

Lamb Skaras - braised lamb with potatoes & string bean
Lamb Kleftiko - cooked in clay pot with potatoes & olives in a spiced tomato sauce & kasseri cheese

Roast Duck

Ahh.. but our stomachs, just miraculously called out when desert was being served :) Or was it our second stomach kicking in!?

Spiced pear in red wine sauce, Rhuburb rice pudding
Mandarin flavoured milk semolina custard wrapped in filo pastry

Ekmek - oven fired brioche soaked in spice sugar syrup served with clotted cream (kaymaki)
Olive baklava with olive icecream

My favourite would have to be the rhubarb rice pudding, and the olive oil icecream (i know, im thinking the same as what you're thinking!)

Richard for the spiced pear in wine syrup because of his no dairy no gluten diet. It was so nice to be catered for, so nicely, and fed so well by David. I had trouble walking out of the restaurant, for fear of knocking over chairs & tables from my buldging stomach lols.

Keep an eye our for Perama Take 2 (yes you heard me), we'll be making a come back later in the month. Why? Because we just, can.

I BIG thank you to Betty & Lorraine for helping me with menu & names :)

To see all the gorgeous pics (larger sizes) head to my flickr. I really didn't want to make it a heavy picture post, there are over 30 photo's!

Other foodie's posts (yes i think i was the last to write mine up hehe..):


Hope I didn't miss anyone xx

6 comments:

Forager said...

Nice photos! And also - thanks for organising that meet up with Fridley. Blogger faux pas for forgetting to mention you in my post! :( I blame excessive food on the brain..

@fridley said...

Love remembering that night. All of the blogs are brilliant! Just hope we can have many more nights like that.

Trisha said...

Oh man with all that food I'd probably won't be eating for the next few days... NOT! Hahaha man everything looks so nice and I know everyone else has been posting about Perama but I still get drooly (is that even a word?!) everytime I see the photos. *drooool*

Stephcookie said...

Hehe last but definitely not least :) Great photos! I can't wait to go back. Thanks so much for organising the dinner, it was awesome

Betty @ The Hungry Girl said...

awesome perama post! it was a really enjoyable and not too chunky! thanks again for your super organising powers! can't wait for take II xx

Betty @ The Hungry Girl said...

oops. i meant, it was a really enjoyable read (lol).