Alpha’s wood-fired lamb shoulder earns a must-order recommendation

The Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Food review recommends Alpha’s wood-fired lamb shoulder as a must-order at the Greek restaurant in Sydney. The review describes Alpha as a long-standing restaurant with a lofty dining room, serving slow-cooked lamb shoulder alongside chicken and pork souvlaki and potatoes seasoned with rosemary salt.

The lamb shoulder is the review’s central recommendation. It describes the meat as fall-apart tender and says the restaurant cooks it slowly. The review also characterises Alpha’s cooking as heartfelt and touched by fire, while noting that the restaurant continues to make pita. Other dishes receive more mixed or specific assessments.

The review says Alpha braises its octopus until yielding and then chars it, adding a smoky flavour. It describes the wagyu souvlaki as filled with lamb mince and paired with herby buckwheat tabbouleh, and calls the dish a textural highlight. The review is less enthusiastic about the spanakopita, saying spinach dominates the pastry.

It gives the loukoumades a positive assessment, describing them as golden and sticky, paired with chocolate pagoto. The review presents them as a strong finish to the meal and mentions ouzo alongside that recommendation. The restaurant is described against a backdrop of newer Greek restaurants opening in Sydney.

The review says Alpha has experienced ownership changes but is not trying to compete with the newer venues, instead continuing its established approach to Greek food. It does not provide further detail about those ownership changes. The review appears under the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Food coverage.

The outlet says its restaurant reviews are booked anonymously and paid for independently, and that restaurants cannot pay for a review or for inclusion in the Good Food Guide. These stated review practices describe how Good Food handles its reviews and guide listings.