The Good Filo could easily be described as the “Great Filo”, the “Amazing Filo” or just precede Filo with any positive adjective and the naming would be appropriate. This newly opened café/ bakery on Rocky Point Road in Ramsgate, selling Greek pastries and home cooked food is a great addition to the café scene.
Owner Aki Daikos has been in the industry for many years and this new venture was to bring Greek pastry delights to Sydney. Paying tribute to Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city, their food is reflective of this city. In an area that is home to a large Greek population, to get their wave of approval is a telling sign. The café was pumping when we visited, with customers lining up to eat in, and takeaway.
An open shop frontage with a number of tables, a Greek mural and a service counter to admire the “Zaharoplastio” (or patisserie goods), “Spitika” (home cooked foods) and “Zimi”(deli foods). There were so many amazing goodies, it was hard to decide what to order. We got a number of savoury and sweet dishes to share.
We began with a few drinks, trying the famous “freddo”, a Greek version of an iced coffee, they serve many different varieties. I knew I wanted a shake and Aki suggested the Baklava, and I am so glad he did. This is one of my favourite drinks of 2018. A milkshake filled with bits of baklava had the perfect level of sweetness and I’ll certainly revisit for another one (or two of these).
The Greek pastries at Good Filo are ridiculously good, the pastry perfected is crisp and flaky. A must order is the traditional spanikopitaka or Greek savoury spinach pie, filled with spinach, feta cheese, scallions and egg. This was a large serving and would be great to share, although you could devour it yourselves quite easily, it is very moreish.
It was breakfast, so we couldn’t go past the egg and bacon boats or Peynerli, this is dough topped with egg, cheese and bacon, as well as what I described as the “Greek sausage roll”, the “Loukanopita” is their take on the traditional Aussie Sausage Roll! With a kransky tucked inside that dreamy pastry.
We order the bougasta – a pastry filled with semolina custard, some chocolate profiteroles, loukoumis brioche donuts as the beginning to our array of sweets.
The traditional Ekmek katafi is truly food of they gods, this dessert with a base of syrupy angel hair type pastry, topped with creamy custard, fresh cream and almonds, was a winner on the day.
The Trigona Panoramatos, although not easy to pronounce, was certainly easy eat. A crispy golden buttery filo pastry triangle soaked in syrup and filled with a creamy custard. Named after the place that overlooks Thessaloniki, we can imagine what it would be like to eat these in their hometown.
From lunch time, Greek home cooked meals are available, like moussaka and pastitsio. We’ll have to revisit to try these. If you’re a fan of Greek pastries, you must plan a visit to Good Filo. There’s more than just galaktoboureko and spanakopita (although they’re pretty good too). The galaktoboureko croissant, as well as the Tsoureki also look insane.
Not only good food, the famous Greek hospitality is also evident and you definitely will not leave hungry. Staff, including Aki warmly welcome diners and offer suggestions to order.
A huge thank you, to where_do_I_eat_pete for the invite and introducing us to this great new establishment.
336—342 Rocky Point Road, Ramsgate