Five Types of Pita (Including Spanakopita) Star at New Yarraville Cafe Wembley

Greek cafes and milk bars are an important part of Melbourne’s early culinary history – one just as vital as Italian espresso bars. Without their contribution, the present-day cafe scene would be a lot poorer. Yet Greek cafes are today limited to a few big players – Vanilla Lounge and Nikos in Oakleigh, Koutouki and Laikon in Richmond and Olive Oil & Butter in Kingsville.

New Yarraville entrant Wembley adds some depth to the line-up. The cafe pays tribute to owners Chris and Michael Sdregas’s Greek heritage and their connection to Yarraville, where they attended Greek school and spent years with their grandparents, who lived nearby.

“When [our] grandparents moved here, this was such a Greek-heavy area,” Michael says. “It’s phased out now, but I feel like there’s that second generation coming through.”

The Greek influence is most obvious at the pita bar – which refers not to the bread pocket, but to the flaky filo-based savoury pastries found throughout Greece. Their five varieties are made in-house and include the classic spinach and cheese; lamb and oregano with tzatziki; pumpkin and feta; and a three-cheese version with hot honey for drizzling.

There’s also a sweet spanakopita with vanilla custard, cinnamon and honey. These, and other Greek sweets like orange cake, baklava and bougatsa, are made daily by the Sdregas’s 84-year-old grandmother, Fatini Sdregas. 

“She just never stopped working,” Chris says. Fatini even continued baking from home while recovering from a knee reconstruction. The non-Greek items are sourced from Publique at Preston Market. 

A larger dine-in menu takes a Mediterranean-leaning approach to daytime dining. “It’s more about taking cafe classics and putting our Greek heritage spin on it,” Michael says. 

Smashed avo swaps sourdough for koulouri, a ring-shaped, sesame-crusted Greek bread; chargrilled chicken comes with tzatziki and pita; and rizogalo (rice pudding) is finished with cinnamon cream, compressed nashi pear and candied walnut crumb.

A small retail space stocks coffee, merch and a family friend’s olive oil, which is also whipped into salted cold foam and served atop Code Black cold brew. It’s one of three signature coffees, alongside a cold brew topped with mastic cold foam and a latte made with cinnamon and Greek thyme-infused honey. Because the site was formerly a bakery, Backhaus Bakery bread is also available on weekends. 

The 40-seat cafe will also begin opening evenings once its liquor licence comes through, with Friday and Saturday nights planned alongside rotating pop-ups and Greek-inspired dinners.

Wembley
10 Wembley Avenue, Yarraville
‍0411 300 832

Hours
Mon to Fri 6.30am–4pm
Sat & Sun 7.30am–3pm

wembleycoffeefood.com.au

Update, September 28: an earlier version of this article conflated pita and spanakopita, a specific type of pita.