This elegant dining room in Perth’s east brings new ideas to the Greek and hotel dining room discussions
Farra Perth
Greek$$
I don’t know about you, but “the rise of Greek hotel restaurants” wasn’t on my 2026 Perth food trends bingo card. But as we approach the halfway point of the year, local eateries find themselves in the awkward situation of not one, not two, but three dining rooms competing for their drachmas.
The first product of our Hellenic Snack Pack is Greek by George Calombaris: a pack of four
The pop-up opening at the casino next week sounds like more of a thing to me.
It’s more of a marketing exercise than an attempt to promote local Greek food culture.
The second restaurant is Yefsi, the cafe in the Greek restaurant of the Limnios family.
The Northbridge hotel inspired Attica. Yefsi seems to be not only a restaurant worthy of the brand for Attika, but also a restaurant that works and consistently draws crowds after dark.
Which brings us to the third lucky contestant and his Greek hotel restaurant
Diners’ biggest draw: Farra Perth, ground floor restaurant
anchoring of the three-month-old Hyde Hotel.
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On paper, Greek food and the tanned, table-hopping vibe of Los Angeles-born brand Hyde read like an odd couple. But in practice? Finding yourself cocooned in this Instagrammer’s paradise of linen, soft furnishings and pastel tones, while sliding strands of doughy flatbread through snowdrifts of sturdy tzatziki, will make you wonder why more Perth hotels don’t bake flatbreads to order. (Or they hang their own yogurt when making sauces. Or they put limniona, savatiano, and other native Greek grapes on their wine lists.)
One reason: Not every hotel has Aaron Moore in its pans. Moore may not have been born in Greece, but it was on the Greek islands that the Belfast-born teenager got his start in hospitality. Having come to Farra through the years he spent honing his craft at Bread in Common and Coogee Common, he and his sous chef, Jack Henderson, have the skills and insider knowledge to reimagine Greek dishes for today’s diners.
Seafood sounds like a major strength. Grilled arrowhead squid stuffed with risotto
Flavored with sujuk (a dried sausage made by smallgoods wizard Paul Marinovich of Adrian’s Continental Smallgoods), it’s as gorgeous to eat as it is to look at. A slice of marjoram, made with taro instead of potatoes, is a clever accessory for octopus cooked to tenderness: chewy and crunchy in all the right places.
The prognosis for turf is as promising as it is for surfing. Alongside large-format grilled meats (pork tomahawks, a hefty shoulder of lamb designed to feed a crowd), small plates featuring phyllo pastries featuring air-dried beef and fermented peppers and cheese sauce (a nice riff on the Greek pie pastirmopita) reiterate the fact that size doesn’t matter. The price tag of your materials is also not valid.
From earlier this year: a barely-cooked boneless Albany sardine fillet—essentially raw except for a brief fire when they leave the kitchen—paired with a vibrant tomato salad, reminding us that, given a little TLC, forage fish are just as capable of blowing minds as any other seafood.
Slathered in bright green zucchini and basil sauce, pan-fried mizithra meatballs—aka ricotta gnocchi—remind us that Greek cuisine is about more than heroic amounts of meat.
Like every hotel restaurant, Farra makes concessions and caters to guests’ needs.
Travelers: think steak, oysters and good chips. But similarly, management
He is also afraid to throw traditional hotel restaurant wisdom to the wind.
Loukaniko and htipiti are among the less common and difficult to pronounce dishes.
offer. (Fortunately, the engaging staff happily translates names and explains dishes, so
Smartphones can stay where they belong in our pockets and bags.)
The restaurant is also a burger-free zone. If you really want to, stop by the lobby bar, which serves breakfast in the mornings as well as a delicious lunch on weekdays.
But if a souvlaki with chips and a $26 drink isn’t reason enough to head to Perth’s East End, desserts should do the trick, too. The co-production between Moore and cast member Jane Metero (up-and-coming talent, mark my words) includes the stunning Olive Alaska among the sweet stuff. Picture a regular Bombe Alaska, just with a delicious gray olive ice cream core and cherry chunks throughout, all arranged on a bird’s nest-like base made of golden kataifi pastry.
Did Moore and Metero need to be so meticulous about dessert? Probably not.
But like the rest of the Farra team, they have no interest in letting themselves be defined by or left behind by the “hotel dining room” label.
Farra is a great restaurant, a full stop. The fact that it’s in a hotel reinforces its appeal, as well as the growing maturity of the CBD dining scene.
Down
Atmosphere: A confident modern Greek restaurant and kitchen team to watch very, very closely
Dishes to use: Kalamari yenista ($28), pastrimopita ($26), Olive Alaska ($20)
Beverages: a beautiful display of contemporary wine styles, as well as some of the Hellenic appellations and styles. At the bar, the Greek accent is slightly less pronounced.
Cost: Approximately $200 for two people, excluding drinks
Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and independently paid. A restaurant cannot pay for a review or inclusion on a list. Good Food Guide.
Max Veenhuyzen is a journalist and photographer who has been writing about food, drink and travel in national and international publications for over 20 years. He reviews restaurants for the Good Food Guide.
