Now Open: Vasili’s Table, an Ikarian-Inspired Taverna Serving Site-Grown Veggies and Ouzo Gelato

When a space on West Beach Road became available, Vasili Petropoulos jumped at it. It was the perfect place to execute a vision he’d had “in the pipeline for 10 years”, the chef tells Broadsheet. The goal? To create something that’s the culmination of all the best parts of his Greek heritage, including the island ethos of his mum’s birthplace, Ikaria, and the “mainland style” of his father’s hometown Kalamata. The result is Vasili’s Table.

As he speaks to Broadsheet, Petropoulos’s young daughters run around the car park-turned-garden (Ayla collecting eggs, Lily chasing pigeons), just as he used to do at his yiayia and pappou’s home as a youngster.

Vasili’s Table is the “seventh or eighth” restaurant Petropoulos has opened (“no one is counting,” he says), in just about as many cities, including Tokyo, London and Honolulu. He brings 25 years of experience to the table, including as executive chef for the late Bill Granger ’s global restaurant group, Bills. His latest venture in West Beach follows Billy’s Table in Croydon, which has tinges of Greek influence as opposed to the full saturation of it at Vasili’s Table. (Vasili is the Greek form of “Bill”.)

Petropoulos spent months transforming the space into a taverna. He stripped it back to highlight the timber frames, mid-century architecture and breeze-block feature wall. He built a stage for live music and put 15 tonnes of organic soil in the adjacent car park to grow fruit and veg, raise 10 chooks and house beehives. Now, it’s like something straight out of the Aegean Islands – and straight out of the childhood memory bank of Greek Australians.

“I’d been looking for a location for the farm-to-table concept,” Petropoulos says. “Growing up, my parents grew everything in our backyard and we ate whatever was in season.”

Much of the menu “is almost changed daily,” he says. “I just got a call that fresh sardines from Port Lincoln are coming in the morning, so that’s what's on the menu tomorrow.”

It’s quickly become the go-to spot for some of the best charcoal chicken in town. In true Ikarian style, vegetables play a big role; Ikaria is a blue zone with staples including snake bean stew (fasolakia), boiled greens (horta) and fava.

Outside of meat and seafood, everything on the menu is produced in-house from pasta, pita (to mop up taramosalata or eggplant and zucchini dip), honey, olive oil, pork sausages (loukaniko), pickled vegetables, and ouzo- and mastiha-flavoured gelato.

As for drinks, there’s a changing list of South Australian wines, whiskies, “a few cheeky house-made spirits” including mastiha, and cocktails inspired by Petropoulos’s parents. There’s the Ikaria Sour made with blue vodka and fresh blueberries, and the Aegean Spritz, a limoncello twist on the classic Aperol. Petropoulos’s suggestion – one we’ll very happily get behind – is to start your long, rolling meal with a cocktail (or two), and end it with a serve of ouzo gelato or baklava ice-cream.

Vasili’s Table is open daily with live music on Friday and Saturday nights, and Sunday afternoons.

“It’s a true family affair,” he says. “I’m a family man. This is a family-style restaurant and that’s what I enjoy.” Already the venue has hosted engagement parties, birthdays, baptism celebrations and countless family catch-ups. “Just last weekend we had an 80th birthday with plate-smashing and dancing. It was beautiful!”

Vasili’s Table
5 West Beach Road, West Beach
(08) 7001 7444

Hours:
Wed to Fri 9am–3pm, 5pm–10 pm
Sat & Sun 8.30am–3pm, 5pm–10 pm

www.vasilistable.com.au
@vasilistable