I Can’t Stop Thinking About: The Spanakorizo at Homer, Cronulla’s Epic New Greek Spot

This week we’re adding Homer to The Hot List, the definitive guide to Sydney’s most essential food and drink experiences.

I’ve recently been eating a lewd quantity of crudo, a wad of Murray Cod, a stout amount of trout and one particularly sharp plate of carp. Fish has just really reeled me in lately – hook, line and sinker.

But I’ve been looking to break out of this fishy phase, and swim against the current a bit. A couple of weeks ago at Homer Rogue Taverna, Cronulla’s epic new Greek restaurant, I deliberately focused on the terrestrial dishes on the menu. Like the rooster stifado cigars, which playfully arrive in an ashtray, or the loukaniko and halloumi-topped sausage flatbreads. Both were excellent, no notes. But I couldn’t help but indulge in a maritime good time. Thanks to the gentle – but emphatic – encouragement of Homer’s friendly staff, I ordered the spanakorizo. I’m so glad I did. And I haven’t been the only one.

“Honestly, it’s been a huge hit,” says Harry Kapoulas, who co-owns Homer with his brother Mario. (The pair is also behind longstanding nearby cafe Ham, a Cronulla favourite.) “People are loving everything, but the one thing that’s been sticking in their minds is this spanakorizo dish – I reckon about 70 per cent of tables order it.”

It’s a pretty odd breakout star for a menu filled with bolder, more photogenic dishes. Spanakorizo is more used to being a supporting character than the lead. The herby, garlicky and lemony side dish translates to “spinach rice.” And that’s literally all it is. Cold, hot, lukewarm – it works at any temp, in any context. It fills you up, gives you your greens, and it’s affordable. Which is why it’s a tableside fixture of many a Greek family meal.

When Harry, Mario and the rest of Homer’s small opening team were on a 10-day research trip to Athens, they came across Akra – a modern Greek restaurant interpolating the idea of a classic Athenian taverna. Just like what the brothers wanted to do back in Cronulla. Akra was also doing spanakorizo, but plating it up as a main, crowned with a thick fillet of fish.

“And I just went oh my god, this is unbelievable,” Harry says. “When I saw it with that fish on top, I just thought what a great dish that is, so it came from Akra – and me eating it all my life.”

Like so many Greek dishes, this spanakorizo isn’t about diversity of ingredients or complexity of technique – just a handful of things in delicious consonance with one another. Lemon, olive oil, garlic – best friends for life. The fish varies: sometimes it’s snapper, but it was trevally when I had it.

Sometimes the best dish at a restaurant is something you’d only eat once in a while. Sometimes it’s something you could eat every day. That’s the spanakorizo at Homer. It’s completely bewitched me. I want it all the time. Looks like I’m not off the hook for my fish phase just yet. I’m going to have to get used to driving to Cronulla.

The Hot List is proudly sponsored by Square.