On Saturday we celebrated mum's birthday by having a family lunch at Hellenic Republic. We chose George Calombaris East Brunswick taverna because we all love Greek food and because this particular restaurant is extremely child friendly. We have eaten there several times before and love it, but my parents and brother and sister in-law haven't. Dad who prefers home cooked meals as opposed to 'fancy restaurants' with small portions was concerned from the outset that there wouldn't be enough food. And my sister in-law is a vegetarian and often finds Greek restaurants a bit of a challenge.

Thankfully dad's fears of leaving the table still wanting were completely unsubstantiated. So much so that he insisted on tipping our waitress (something he never does) as he was so impressed with the quality and amount of food and the overall service. My sister in-law was impressed with the creativity of the vegetarian dishes. The Imam Baldi and the Kefalograviera saganaki served warm with peppered figs were an absolute hit.

We decided on the Trapezi Alpha menu as there were six adults and four children eating at our table. And can I say, there was more than enough food, and that is saying something coming from a family of such big eaters. For starters we feasted on olives, warm pita bread, Kefalograviera saganaki, cured meats, stuffed vine leaves with yogurt, pickled octopus and tyropita. We then had seafood off the grill and a village salad, followed by lamb and chicken off the spit with hand cut potatoes cooked in olive oil and oregano.

All four children ranging from 17 months to 8 years old devoured the lamb and chicken from the spit. Child and adult alike were putting away those hand cut chips at an amazing speed that we had to order a couple more bowls so to avoid a family riot. We all thought we'd be having Baklava and Loukoumades for dessert, but after working our way through the menu we could barely manage the seasonal fruit platter at the end of our meal.