Nikita's Greek Restaurant

LOCATION
Near the intersection of Greenhill and Unley Roads.

PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIA
The aromas of tender oven-baked baby goat, sizzling in its juices and sprinkled with fresh herbs will have your tummy rumbling louder than Zeus, the Greek God of thunder. Nikita’s loyal customers feel he is the God of Greek cuisine in Adelaide – and nowadays, the grandfather.

Now in his seventies, Nikita Manousakis has been feeding us his honest and flavoursome fare since emigrating from Rhodes forty years ago. His proudly family-owned business has moved numerous times and now rests in Unley. Son Tony, famed for his traditional Greek cakes, chuckles “wherever we go, our community tracks us down. We’ve seen people come in as kids, and now we’re feeding their kids!” The family at Nikita’s are insistent on serving their dishes at thier best. “You may wait a while for your dishes,” says Tony “but that’s because we cook everything in that moment, I assure you! We don’t want to rush you, or our food.” He’s a man to believe, and his wife Tatyana, an interior designer, is responsible for the décor’s tasteful mix of trend and tranquillity.

Corporate diners are encouraged to stay long after they seel the deal, while friends, families and foodies relax before enjoying a feast of fantastic food, and with Nikita’s menu, its not hard to do. After rounding up that goat, leave room at your table for the likes of juicy grilled lamb chops, sausages aromatic with tomato and capsicum, or sizzling steak with onions and moreish fetta. Village-style dishes include snapper cutlets sauced with garlic and lemon, and horiatiko moraitiko - diced beef and lamb folded into pastry with cheese. Pan-fried veal livers are robust with flavours and served with a piquant vinegar sauce, making an ideal side. Seafood is mandatory. Perfecty plump skewered prawns, butter-soft calamari, whole fried barramundi and smoky, char-grilled octopi will have your senses in raptures. Finally, Tony’s Greek cakes and baklava end the evening in heavenly sweet flavours.

Nikita’s Greek Restaurant serves a feast worthy of a godly appetite. Dishes of bountiful, fresh ingredients infused with herbs leave wide smiles on all faces reading ‘Nikita, thankyou!’

Roz Taylor