Baraki Upo Mezethes
(cnr Russell & Lonsdale Sts)
+613 9663 1002
When a menu offers the following advice “ask for lots of our own made peasant bread and feel free to make a mess”, well, I know I’m in the right place. Baraki Upo Mezethes is a funky little bar/restaurant located in the Greek precinct of the Melbourne CBD. It offers one a calm respite from busy streets that is not unlike walking into a church (…and don’t scoff at the analogy - a wall of saintly deities will bless you as saunter on by).
Meze (singular) or Mezethes (plural) are similar in theory to tapas; small plates of food designed to share whilst being convivial (drinking and being merry) with your mates and loved ones. So don’t expect big plate meals - there aren’t any! At present there is a $25.00 special - three mezethes and a small jug of retsina, which is a Greek white wine infused with pine resin (hmm…interesting).
The table setting is quirky and welcoming. Individual serviettes adorn each plate, and a table runner of baker’s paper allows one to “make the mess” they were referring to on the menu. Speaking of which, you are presented with a menu on a clipboard, and told to tick the items you want with a big blue pencil. Quirky. I guess it is a good way of ensuring one’s pronunciation of Greek words does not cause undue embarrassment or incorrect ordering 
The peasant bread that accompanies all meze is just magnificent. Baked on the premises using a low salt yeast dough, it reminded me of the bread the old Greek lady down the road used to bake for our family; and the old girl was as Greek as they come. I figure their recipe has got to be pretty authentic. Your hunk of bread comes with a dish of peppery olive oil for dipping. Just a warning - even though it may taste amazingly good, remember to keep some room for the meze and whatever sauce they come in for your dipping pleasure later!
So on to the mezethes…
Smoked trout with braised leeks and prunes was a wonderful combination of smoky, savoury and salty flavours paired with the sweetness of plump prunes. I must admit that I didn’t see any braised leeks, perhaps being replaced with braised carrots instead (which were good anyway!). There was also some sort of grain / couscous, which added a nice bit of texture. My only criticism was that the dish was rather heavy on the prunes - a sure fire guarantee to have you running for the can a couple of hours later
The pastourma with beetroot, halva and pistachio dressing was an interesting choice. The pastourma on its own is quite robust; it is a cured beef fillet rubbed with fenugreek and spices. Yet when paired with the sweet halva, tart beetroot or pistachio pesto - it transforms into an earthy savoury beefy taste sensation. I don’t think I’ve had anything quite like it before. Very scrumptious.
Unfortunately I didn’t take photos of the other dishes - I guess my stomach got the better of me. So you’ll just have to follow the words here…
Okra in tomato with skordalia was just that - a small plate of skordalia, which is a garlic and olive oil potato mash, topped with about six ladies fingers poached in a sweet tomato sauce. A generous glug of olive oil to garnish added something to dip your peasant bread into afterwards.
The baked kataifi prawns with tomato and clotted cream were just magnificent. Kataifi is a shredded wheat phyllo pastry, which is mostly associated with dessert type dishes. In this case, shelled king prawns were wrapped and baked in crispy kataifi, their little tails poking up offering a convenient handle on which to take hold. A clotted cream infused concasse of cooked tomato and onion was spooned on top - the cream making the dish taste eerily like a dessert (in an extremely pleasant way of course).
The pork and beef wrapped in silverbeet was the homely homage to a dolmades meatball. Spiced mince was hand-moulded into little rounds, wrapped in silverbeet leaves and cooked in a rich tomato sauce. This dish offered another excuse to ask for more peasant bread - the sauce was reduced to the consistency of a stew - testament to a nice long slow cook.
My favourite dish (and the last to come out) was the Cypriot haloumi with red apple sorbet. A mound of superbly sweet red apple (or to be more precise, a chilled red apple mush with little bits of skin and everything!) was adorned with three thick slices of grilled salty haloumi. The trick to consuming this dish is to eat it quickly before the haloumi cools and becomes teeth squeaky. Either way, the superb marriage of salty and sweet is pure bliss.
Service at BUM (haha..just realised that acronym!) can be kind of scratchy and breezy around the lunch rush, so if you are after a quick feed, go elsewhere. BUM is about kicking back and sharing food, wine and conversation. So just relax, make a mess on the table and bloody well enjoy it.
Written by mellie on
October 30th, 2006 | Tags: bars, Greek, restaurants | Category: Uncategorized
| 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
| Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL
November 8th, 2006 at 5:14 am
two nosy questions- what are the prices like at BUM and Ginger boy?
R
November 8th, 2006 at 9:08 am
Hi R - no, you’re not being nosy at all
Value for money can make or break a dining experience as far as I’m concerned, so your question is not silly.
BUM prices are pretty good - the cost of meze range from $6 to $9 per plate. Two dishes would serve as a decent feed, especially if you get as addicted to the peasant bread as I am! And don’t forget the $25 three meze and retsina (wine) deal - it is great value, and you will be seriously stuffed afterwards. EG and I couldn’t even finish our dishes.
Gingerboy prices are expensive. Entrees range from $13.50 to $16.50. Mains will cost you around the $30 mark. Dessert tasting plate was a whopping $34. Wine by the glass will set you back a minimum $8. A small (and I mean small) bowl of steamed rice was $6.50 (ahem). But to put it into context for you, EG and I shared three entrees, one main, stirfry veg, rice, dessert platter, a glass of wine each and coffee - and it cost us $134.50. Uh huh, not cheap. Worth it? Well I certainly had some memorable tastes (that laksa brulee for starters!). But this is certainly not a restaurant I’d want to dine at often - I’d be broke!
November 8th, 2006 at 11:50 am
Hey Mellie, (deleted law post, stuffed up the link)
Sorry about the wait. Been really busy with exams.
I love your blog. Its got some great stuff, great review on gingerboy, been thinking about going there!!
I posted my death list… things to eat before I die.
I’ll be on more regularly now that stuff is slowing down. Looking forward to much much food.
All the Best,
J
November 8th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
Thanks for that Josh! I honestly lamented your absence as I really love reading your blog. And oh my god, your list is brilliant! El Bulli is one of my must do’s as well. But I’ll comment further on your site
Welcome back fellow food blogger!
November 9th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
thanks for the info. from the sounds of gingerboy it seems like it’s worth every cent and sometimes we all need those special dining experiences
i must try them both.
i had to tell you that i finally made it to taste of korchi today and they had your review (blog one complete with your pic!) up on the wall at the entrance. it was just as if they’d clipped out a review from the age cheap eats or good food guide!
you’ve officially made your mark as a food blogger.
~R
November 10th, 2006 at 3:28 am
Hey there Anon ~R!
Well I haven’t been back to Korchi since I did the review - but isn’t that a hoot? I’ll have to sneak in now and have a look
And what did you think of Korchi?
November 13th, 2006 at 9:39 am
Hi! Until a month ago I worked nearby and walked past that corner almost everyday… can’t believe I missed it. What a great find!
November 13th, 2006 at 10:33 am
Hi Belinda - uh huh, like you I walked past it every day for about two months. I often thought to myself though “Hmm…must try that out one day”. Alas, I’m very glad I did as it is rather delicious!
November 3rd, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Nice venue, reasonably good service, shame about everything else.
I’m not quite sure if this restaurant qualifies at Greek unless you consider standard pub fare such as Lasagne, Hamburger and Porterhouse Steak as the best things to ever come out of Greece.
As with most things in life, people tend to be prompted into writing a review such as this when things are really good or really awful. We picked this restaurant based on reviews on the Internet and I can honestly say it was one of the worst restaurants we’ve been to in Melbourne.
To be fair there are some Greek starters and Mezze dishes on offer. But the portion sizes are tiny and you would have to spend a fortune to get anywhere near full.
Luckily you can fill up on the enormous hunk of bread with olive oil that they bring you at the start of the meal.
We particularly enjoyed the trio of dips: a small saucer of yoghurt, some of that nice rocket and cashew dip you can buy from Coles and an unidentified orange dip. With less than a tablespoon of each dip there was plenty to go round. All accompanied with 8 more huge hunks of bread. I did ask the waiter about the unidentified orange dip. I’ve not seen that one in Coles. He didn’t know what it was as they ‘had just changed the menu and he was still familiarising himself with it’. He offered to find out. Maybe he did but alas he did not come back to enlighten our table.
By this stage we were all too full of bread to be tempted by the mains on offer. We did try a selection of Mezze dishes ($25 for three) and to be fair they were pretty tasty but as warned by the waitress pretty damn small. We particularly enjoyed cutting the aubergine into five pieces because by now the whole situation seemed quite comical.
I had brought some candles for them to stick into a dessert for the birthday we were celebrating. The waitress informed me that unfortunately they don’t do desserts. I was quite shocked to which she replied ‘I know, I couldn’t believe it either when I started working here’.
I asked if they could put the candles in a hunk of bread of instead. I liked the irony of it. The waitress came back to tell me they were going to get a cake ‘from somewhere’. And they did. So that was nice of them. We each enjoyed a mouthful of cake and the birthday boy even got 2 strawberries.
I’ve not eaten in many Greek restaurants in Melbourne. Maybe they are all like this. In any case I wouldn’t recommend this one to my worst enemy. Well, maybe I would to my worst enemy but certainly not to anyone I like.