Star of Greece

First off, other than the name suggests, the Star of Greece is not a Greek restaurant – but named after a ship, The Star of Greece, that floundered at the normally very calm waters off Port Willunga in 1888.

The restaurant sitting on top of the cliffs offers amazing views over the coastline and enjoying a glass of your favourite drink on the deck, with a few nibbles from the kitchen and admiring the sunsets would be reason enough to pay a visit – but the food is not to be missed.

The simple, almost beach shack-like building and non-pretentious interior does remind me very much of restaurant visits in Italy or Croatia, a memory that is further triggered with dishes like prawns grilled over charcoal …

As always, we did arrive early to have that pre-dinner drink on the deck, admiring the beaches and cliffs of Port Willunga, reminding us in what a beautiful part of the world we live, with vineyards, hills and gorges on our doorstep and stunning beaches within a 20 min drive from Karawatha Cottages.

The restaurant on the Saturday evening we dined last was fully booked, but with plenty of friendly staff on hand it didn’t feel busy at all and we were well looked after, first outside for that must have pre-dinner drink to enjoy the views and we were then guided inside as soon as our table was ready.

Both, entrees and mains have a focus on local fresh seafood, but there are plenty of meat and vegetarian options available. All dishes are clearly inspired by Mediterranean cuisine, although at least one dish is what seems to be the nowadays obligatory Asian fusion option.

And whilst we usually enjoy the unusual combinations and the spices, from all the dishes we have enjoyed that night, it was only the latter (Kangaroo Island Szechuan pepper squid with kimchi, cucumber & green mango salad) that lacked a little in flavour; all others, from entrees to deserts have been truly enjoyable and justified why we do continue to recommend the Star of Greece as one of our preferred restaurants for dinner to our guest at Karawatha Cottages.

Should you miss out on getting a table in the restaurant - there is always the Port Willy Kiosk, attached to the Star of Greece, offering typical take-away food daily from 08:00 to 17:00