Last year, Sydney rode the Greek wave. We welcomed Greek joints of all sorts, in suburbs all over. One was Homer, the slightly gritty Athenian taverna in Cronulla from brothers Harry and Mario Kapoulas, which has only gained popularity in the 15 months we’ve known it. In 2026, if you step back and take a wide view of the year that was, the trend that emerges in our hospitality scene is casual follow-ups from familiar restaurants. Ester’s Pig Mary and Sixpenny’s Bar Lira, Aalia’s wine room and 40 Res’s Little River, plus Sit from Baba’s Place. Now it’s Volta, from the Homer team.
The ouzeri and wine bar opens tomorrow, Friday November 13, in the concrete-wrapped space next door to Homer. Before you pick plates from the tight little menu, and before you hit go on one of 12 or so bottles of ouzo, you’re met with an industrial-chic fit-out with a real jumble of vintage and retro pieces. “I was trying to change it up a bit,” says Harry. “I did it all myself this time round, I didn’t use a designer. I feel like I got that right – it’s always hard when you start putting colours together, and styles of furniture … I knew what we wanted, and it wasn’t a huge space. I wanted to keep it quite simple.”
Black leather Guido Faleschini armchairs – sourced from Melbourne’s The History – sit comfy in one corner, while a pair of Eames bikini chairs are nearby. The centrepiece is the nearly four-metre glass table, designed by Harry and custom-built for Volta. “There are so many cool things out there, you’ve just got to go and look for them,” Harry says. “I was looking for ’80s, ’90s vibes – things that are hard-wearing and practical in a hospitality sense.”
Beyond the concrete walls, accessible wine fridges and open bar stretching the length of one wall, it’s anything but a copy of Homer. The short, snacky menu changes each night. “We want to be really dynamic with what we’re doing there … all things that are really nice to eat with ouzo.”
Little deli plates are piled with dried olives, cucumber and feta; another dish marries thinly shaved lountza with kefalotyri, a hard Greek cheese, and the sweetness of rockmelon. A whiff of taramasalata arrives next to a pile of thick hand-cut fried potatoes that fall somewhere between a wedge and a chip. “I went to Greece this year in the summer and they were doing that shape everywhere,” Harry says. “It’s a nice shape to scoop up taramasalata with.”
Mussels are served in their shells, heavy with saganaki sauce, with crunched-up pangrattato fresh out of Homer’s woodfire oven. Cheesy individual tiropita pastries could be on when you visit, or maybe piping hot croquettes with a pastitsio-inspired centre. Riffs on Homer’s single-serve yiros will surely appear, and each week delivers a surprise dish – even if you order it, you won’t know what it is till it hits your table – to keep things fun.
Greek spirits are the heroes, though none more than the ouzo. Cocktail-wise, the play on Hard Solo is a “cracker of a drink”, mixing lemon Epsa (a Greek soft drink) with sparkling retsina (a Greek wine known for its herbaceousness, courtesy of key ingredient pine resin). A 40-part wine list is 50 per cent Greek drops, with 10 by the glass. While there will be menu overlaps between the two venues, the cocktail list and ouzo deep-dive is all for Volta.
Volta
4/3 Surf Lane, Cronulla
Hours:
Thu 5pm–late
Fri to Sun midday–late
@volta.cronulla
voltawineandouzeri.com.au
Dining and Cooking