Ever since his first visit to Greece, aged 16, Aki Daikos was hooked. The Melbourne-born Greek Australian calls Sydney his physical home today, but his family’s home town of Thessaloniki is his spiritual one.
“It’s my favourite city in the world,” Daikos says. “I take my family there annually – we’re there pretty much every summer, showing my daughters what it’s all about.”
The port town of is one of Europe’s oldest cities (and Greece’s second largest), home to some of the country’s greatest artists, poets, musicians – and sweets. Located north of Athens on a bustling harbour with a sprawling waterfront, its streets are dotted with monuments, cocktail bars and mezedopolia (Greek tapas bars) but also a swathe of bakeries and patisseries, believed to be a legacy of a former ottoman with a sweet tooth. Take bougatsa; the breakfast pie of semolina custard encased in layers of filo pastry is a Thessaloniki delicacy.
“I found something was missing in Australia,” Aki explains. “I live in Sydney and thought to myself, as a consumer in the morning, I’d love to wake up and feel like I’m in Greece.”
He opened in the South Sydney suburb of Ramsgate with co-owner and third generation Greek baker, Kiriakos Metaxotos. Equal parts bakery, patisserie and eatery, expect to find all your Greek favourites here - crafted from Metaxotos’s age-old family recipes - with Greek music and film clips playing out in the background. Seven pies are on rotation in the oven including spanakopita and kaseropita (Greek goat's cheese), but the crown jewel is arguably the hot, flakey Thessaloniki bougatsa. Come 11am, pastitsio, yemista (rice-stuffed roasted tomatoes) and moussaka fly out of the kitchen.
The cake counter is an all-syrupy affair with the more traditional galaktoboureko and ekmek kataïfi sitting alongside the likes of the croissantaboureko, which as the name suggests (look away, purists!) sees semolina custard sandwiched between croissant pastry. There’s a bit of that sort of thing happening here; they’ve even taken the tsoureki - that braided sweet bread that emerges at Easter - and given it multiple makeovers, including one with crushed Oreos.
“There wasn’t any better time,” Aki says, "with so many Greeks migrating to Australia with the crisis there, to create somewhere where they could feel like they were back home.”
A rotating oven of hot pies inclused the famous Thessaloniki bougatsa. Source: The Good Filo
The Greek tsoureki is given a makeover, like this chocolate version. Source: The Good Filo
Naturally, you’re expected to do as they would in Greece and down a coffee with your sweet – hot or cold; Nescafé Frappe and freddo cappuccino are both at home at The Good Filo.
336/342 Rocky Point Rd, Ramsgate NSW
