Yiasou George has had a slight facelift and rebrand, and will relaunch as House of George next month.
Mediterranean restaurant Yiasou George is undergoing a revamp.
The East Terrace eatery has inducted ex-Good Gilbert chef Savannah Saxton into the business and will go by House of George when it reopens on Friday, 2 June.
This new moniker will allow the restaurant, and its new head chef, to play with a broader palette, rather than sticking with a heavily Greek-influenced menu.
It will instead be a broader representation of Mediterranean cuisine.
“[Yiasou] George was primarily Greek in its offering,” Sav tells CityMag.
“We’ll be focussing on more… seasonality than cuisine. But there will be influences from the greater Mediterranean.”
These seasonal influences will take inspiration from “further down South [of Europe]”, incorporating dishes and flavours from Spain, Turkey, Lebanon and Morocco.
Won’t need to paint over this sign
Although House of George will be less Greek than its predecessor, Sav will keep a little bit of the old George. There’ll be some Yiasou staples on the menu, with some tweaks.
“We will still have the wood-fired pita with a selection of dips, just done in a little bit of a different way,” they say.
“We’ll still have a little homage to George’s lamb shoulder, just done in a way that suits our new kitchens.
“It’ll be more of like a rolled-up roast with some lamb sausage inside cooked over the rotisserie.
“Still a really delicious lamb with those kind of Greek flavours that it’s always had, just adapted.”
So long, old friend
George 2.0 will incorporate seasonality, sustainability and ethically sourced food – all passions for Sav, which they wanted to make part of the restaurant concept.
To produce the ever-changing season menu, Sav has worked closely with Murray Bridge produce wholesaler K&R to access “the best of what’s growing currently”.
“We’ve just kind of cut into those winter brassicas at the moment,” Sav says.
“We’ll see Brussels sprouts and celeriac in this first initial menu, but when they come out of season, they’ll come off menu, and we’ll replace it with something a bit more appropriate as the seasons change.
“The second it’s not available to harvest anymore… that’s [when] it comes off the menu and we pick something else that’s… at its prime.”
Taking over an existing restaurant can be a fraught process, but Sav says maintaining quality offerings and a strong focus on service will hopefully keep fans of the original George.
“I hope that [customers] will be excited for something that’s a little new on the East End,” Sav says.
“I know between our great front-of-house, excellent chefs and our awesome beverage offering, [it] will be able to keep people coming back to us.”
Part-owner of House of George and operations manager of the Big Easy Group, Jack Booker, says customer service and keeping hospo fun is what made the initial Yiasou George a success, and this will continue with George 2.0.
“We’ll still be doing ouzo shots!” Jack says. “I like to call it fun dining, not fine dining as such.
“Service is an experience that has always been paramount for all of our venues… but we’ll still be doing that kind of knowledgeable, educated but really relaxed, comfortable, fun service style.”
Some new House of George paintings, though no extra disco balls spotted
Dining at Yiasou was meant to feel like a party, and this will count doubly for House of George. Jack says the venue has “gone harder down on the disco vibes, [meaning] more disco balls [and] added lighting” in this new era.
The House of George renovations also include an exposed kitchen and charcoal grill with a rotisserie, to give the food a “lick of fire”, Jack says.
Sav has come with a plethora of ideas when they were brought into the Big Easy Group, and Jack is excited to see what they can do with the East End treasure.
“We’re so pumped to have them on board. Sav’s a legend [and] it’s going to be really cool,” Jack says.
“We have a great pool of talent within our group, so it’s great to see people going through and picking up the next step for themselves and their careers.
“It obviously brings us a lot of joy to help people do that as well.”
House of George is located at the corner of East Terrace and Vardon Avenue and will open Wednesday to Sunday from 5:30pm ’til late.
It’s slated to reopen on Friday, 2 June.
Connect with the business on Instagram.
Fiery House of George renos