“We can’t just go and serve a moussaka,” Justin adds. Greek music pumps through the venue, and Yiayia paces the courtyard, followed by a plume of smoke… Or is that a vape? (Interiors are by Perth and Sydney-based designer Adyn Kelly.)Īn appetising charcoal aroma floats out onto the street while the kitchen is in the final stages of menu testing, and boxes of wine and delicate glasses are starting to move from box to shelf. Where once there was a worksite, now there is… Well, on this day, still a worksite, but one with stunning stone tiles and an enticingly curvaceous, cool to the touch, polished render bar. It was another five months before we had a chance to sit down with Caitlin and Justin amongst the hustle and bustle of the restaurant’s finishing touches. In this game, one of the things we’re incredibly familiar with is the opening delay – and Yiamas has sadly been no exception. And obviously a big range of ouzo and tsipouro!” “We’ll have a mix of new age wines and old world wines, a lot of salty Georgian and Lebanese wines as well, something different there. Taking influences from Cypriot and Lebanese food as well.” “It’s going to be kind of like an ancient world mixed with a bit of modern, so a lot of meats on the spit, small meze plates. We hire people for a reason, to do a job, and we hire them on their skill set so we let them do that.” “We just look for creativity and let them do what they want, give them freedom – we don’t micromanage, it’s not our style. “We’ve been lucky with our key staff, we try and keep a good environment for them, retain them, keep them happy,” Phil Arnold, one of Community Coffee Co’s three owners (alongside Michael Roach and Laurence Greenfield) tells us over a coffee back in October, the noise of the coffee roaster humming in the background. banner, the team is also behind the excellent Swanbourne wine bar Vinotto – helmed by Justin Scarvaci in the kitchen and Caitlin Johnston front of house. Grilled over charcoal, kept simple with just one meat – it was one of those “if you know, you know” propositions that could change a bleak lunchtime into something worth writing home about.Īs well as the three cafes under the Community Coffee Co. It was at their original Subiaco location that their cult-favourite Friday souvlaki started.

Highbrow vapors