Free Lunch #2: Greek Orthodox Church

The hot lunches provided by the Greek Orthodox Church (GOC for short) entice a cooler crowd than the Krishnas. Whereas the Krishnas have to settle for students with pushbikes, the GOC have a dude out the front with a genuine Ferrari supporter’s cap that he’s glued fragments of jewelry and electronic scrap to. He’s also written some of his favourite sayings in luminous green pen all over his pin stripe jacket in extremely neat handwriting. How do they attract these birds of paradise? There’s probably no single answer, but if there was one, it would be this: the GOC serves meat.

Inside a bustle of Greek matrons and a genuine priest with a beard and floor-length black cassock ladle out hot lunches from two giant pots in a way that manages to be no-nonsense and considerate. One diner wearing a giant woollen beanie and carrying a large bouquet of yellow flowers mumbles incomprehensibly to a bust of Saint Peter, and is rewarded with a plate of food. There are long canteen tables sparsely garnished with old gents who look too exhausted to chew, a few photos of Crete on the wall, and an unserviceable fridge from Big Al Constantinidis. It’s much like a church of any denomination.

The GOC provides a fixed menu, which today consists of a very rustic beef ragu (a huge plate of watery pasta with gammy lumps of tender beef in a fine tomato sauce). This is home cooking scaled up with simple, fresh flavours like proper olive oil – I’ve paid good hard cash for significantly worse meals, and much smaller portions. After half an hour of assiduous work, I managed to pretty much finish my serve. I looked up proudly, only to have an elderly man with gold molars lean over the table and generously scrape his left over hunks of gristle onto my plate. Greater love hath no man.

378 King Street Newtown 2042. (02 9519 7868) Daily: 12noon–1pm Weekdays (closed Thursdays). Free

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