by Michelle Dyer

I sat down with George, his wife Irene and their son Tim, over coffee and conversation about George’s time at the Hotel Canberra and discovered not only a love and passion for food, but a deep connection to people, places and most of all family.

George Moustakas has a love of food that traverses borders. It’s a love he brought with him from his home on the island of Kimilos where, at the ripe age of 12 his culinary career began. And it’s one he has ensured flows through the veins of his family, through their hands and onto the plates of many thousands of diners.

One can only imagine that an idyllic childhood surrounded by the Aegean Sea played a part in leading George to the kitchens of cruise ships, then onto Australia, where he landed at Diethnes in Sydney, one of the original Greek restaurants on the dining scene. The year was 1961 and George was just 15 years old.

In 1966, George travelled south to Canberra, taking on a role as a cook at the Rex Hotel on Northbourne Avenue. A year later, he’d found his place as 2^nd Chef at the Hotel Canberra (now Hyatt Hotel Canberra – A Park Hyatt Hotel), where he stayed until 1969.

Speaking about the style of food in 1960’s Australia, George recalls a focus on elaborate buffets (Anglo-French in style), parties and functions for many people – many of them Parliamentarians. On one occasion he had the enviable task of rigging lights – relying more on his background in electrics, rather than his skills as a chef - on the inside of an aeroplane ‘sculpture’ made entirely of butter, presumably to the delight of guests buttering their rolls that evening!

Amongst the long list of Parliamentarians encountered by George during his career, he found himself serving none other than Labor candidate Gough Whitlam on the historic election night in December, 1972. Whether or not George knew that Gough famously dropped out of Greek classes while studying at the University of Sydney, declaring the lectures to be “dry as dust”, is arguably neither here nor there…but tableside that evening, George accidentally dropped a piping hot meatball onto Whitlam’s hand; at that stage in proceedings, Whitlam was glued to surrounding television screens, distractedly watching for the day’s results. Apologising and enquiring after his guest’s wellbeing, George was met with a resolute stare: “Don’t you worry – today is a day I can take a LOT more than that!”

Years later, George found himself reminiscing about Gough Whitlam over steaks at the Hellenic Club, which George and his wife Irene ran for many years. Impersonating the way Whitlam preferred to eat his T-bone, by standing it on one end and slicing it vertically, George told the table about the meatball incident and of course, Whitlam’s eventual rise to power that evening. The very next morning, the nation awoke to the news of the former Prime Minister’s death at the age of 98.

It was during his time at Hotel Canberra that George met Irene, via a cousin of hers. They married in1968 and together built a family and a home centered around the beating heart of the kitchen. This is where George taught his son Tim to cook from a tiny age, so it’s no surprise that Tim is also a revered chef in the Canberra hospitality community and is in discussions with the Canberra Southern Cross Club Woden about his latest venture, Asteri. Asteri means ‘star’ in Greek and is also the village in the Peloponnese region of Greece where Irene was born.

According to Tim, after more than 60 years in the kitchen, Dad is still most definitely THE cookbook. George taught him that you “eat first with your eyes and then you enjoy the quality and the whole of what is in the plate.” Mum’s eye for quality is never far away either, once famously yelling at Tim over Zoom as he was preparing takeaway meals during Covid, “That’s too much cinnamon!”

Undoubtedly through his own commitment to quality, George grows all of his own fruit and vegetables and keeps his own chickens. On the morning we met, he’d made a fresh breakfast omelette for Irene, using the last three tomatoes of the season. We spoke extensively about growing your own fresh food and he left me with some sage advice: Don’t get ducks!

The Moustakas’ relationship with food is indeed a family affair; the way their faces light up in unison over the topic leaves no questions about DNA. Their framework of family extends to their customers and those who work and have worked in their kitchens and restaurants; it’s quite simply a love of people expressed through food.

It’s through his intrinsic love of people that George has traced a beautiful life in Canberra, first in restaurants and hotels, then through his own wine business. The relationships built through the sharing and enjoyment of food and wine have without a doubt made George and his family’s lives all the more flavoursome.

There’s probably only one thing left to say about George: let’s eat!

Discover more intriguing stories about the people that have shaped history within these walls, including that of pianist Stuart Warner, who's been tickling the ivories at Hyatt Hotel Canberra since 1989.

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