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Everyone’s eating bagels at Homer Rogue Taverna. Only they’re not bagels, they’re koulouri – stone-baked bread rings, spotty with sesame seeds – which pre-date bagels by several centuries.
Koulouri is simple and unspectacular. But the traditional Athenian street food has quickly become the centrepiece of this new Cronulla restaurant, inspired by a ten-day reconnaissance mission to the Greek capital by founders and brothers Harry and Mario Kapoulas last year.
The vibe
Just like the bread, Homer is homely and communal. Harry and Mario have run neighbouring café HAM since 2011 and moved into their new 100-seat diner with a loyal community of local Cronullans.
Homer is located on Surf Road, which swings down from the station towards the beach. Occupying the ground floor of a schmick white apartment building, the restaurant pours out onto a band of al fresco seats situated between cult veggie café Pilgrims Cronulla and the local outpost of Pino's Vino e Cucina.
You’ll find some curious design choices inside. Cold concrete walls proudly display water stains and exposed piping, jazzed up with a few sprays of graffiti and clusters of pinned polaroids. A towering wine fridge beams from one side of the room, while at another the open kitchen is buzzing with activity.
It feels a bit unfinished or consciously stark. But as it turns out absolutely no one is worrying about the decor. Tables are crushed together, whipping diners into something like a fervour. Waiters – including both Kapoulas brothers – zigzag with water refills and tins of Vergina lager.
The place only opened in August and friends and families are relaxed and raucous like they’ve been coming for generations
The food
The menu includes an impressive offering of bread and pickles, a selection of “small classics” and a couple of larger plates spanning rotisserie and casseroles.
There are three flatbreads to start, with toppings comprising spanakopita, prawn saganaki, and loukaniko and haloumi. They’re the size, style and simplicity of mini-pizzas, designed to smear in taramasalata, broad bean fava, or spicy feta dip tirokafteri.
Homer may be inspired by no-frills street food, but some of its plates are a thing of beauty
The Homer gyros bifteki is also a statement piece. Inspired by Athenian gyros shops, a baked beef patty arrives inside a blistered pita, slotted with pickles and lathered in housemade “Big Mac” sauce.
The “cigars rooster stifado” (which contains zero rooster) sees chicken, onions, bay leaves, cinnamon, red wine and tomato cooked down until rich, then rolled up in filo like a cigar and served on a silver ashtray. Stifado is actually a type of traditional Greek casserole, but this variation looks more like a meticulously reeled spring roll, crisp pastry cracking through to sumptuous layers of tender meat and rich sauce.
Elsewhere, the baked manouri cheese comes as a juicy wodge, sizzling from the oven. It’s shrouded with a crusty layer of white sesame seeds and kataifi and drenched in hot honey. The caramelised onion yemista is a plate of three silken onions, stuffed with pork mince, rice, eggplant, parsley and mint, and mellowed with a mound of Greek yoghurt.
The desserts pose a legitimate headache. You won’t regret the galaktoboureko milk pie, a family recipe passed down from Harry and Mario’s mother. You’ll get a sturdy cube of baked custard made of semolina, vanilla bean, milk, butter, sugar, yolks and lemon zest, layered top and bottom with sticky filo, shiny with a lemon-clove-sugar syrup.
There’s also a spiced walnut syrup cake – a karythopita – and a radiant house-made mint ice cream with ouzo-infused watermelon.
The drinks
The wine list features both Australian and Greek labels, with kokkino (red) and aspro (white) from mainland Macedonia, Peloponnese and Thessaly, and the islands of Crete, Kefalonia and Santorini.
The most popular cocktails in the house are the Plaka Spritz – a fruity combination of blackcurrant leaf amaro, prosecco and soda – and the Visitoula, which is silky like a sour, and sweet with vanilla vodka, passion fruit and champagne foam.
There are also half-sized “Martini mouthfuls” and a slate of traditional aperitifs. But folks here are nursing Greek tinnies: Mamos pilsner or Vergina lager.
Time Out tip
Homer welcomes walk-ins but also takes bookings. We recommend making a reservation, especially if you’re travelling from further afield. Diners are flocking to Cronulla for its latest star billing – so best play it safe.
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