Entertaining

Pastry star Anna Polyviou invites us to her family home.

I swear lemons and herbs are in everything she cooks.” Anna Polyviou is talking about her mum, Eugina, whose incredible vegetable garden in Melbourne sets the scene for this story. “Mum’s always had a garden, but it’s become so much bigger,” says Anna. “I was away for a whole year because of Covid, and when I came back, there was a whole nursery here! Mum grows 50 different types of produce – vegies, fruit, herbs. She’s got chickens, too. I’ve never seen her so happy. Without this garden, I think she would have found the Melbourne lockdown much harder. But she’s calm and she’s joyful. It’s really special.”

The garden in the Polyviou home sits at the centre of family life. “We grew up here. We’ll have our coffee out in the garden in the morning, and then pick produce for the day. It’s a bonding thing, being out in the fresh air and the sunshine.”

Back in the kitchen, Eugina’s recipes, like spanakopita, pastitsio and galaktoboureko, are always a hit. “I love cooking with her, she teaches me all the old-school ways of doing things,” Anna says. “She learned how to cook from her mum, who was amazing. And now she’s on social media, learning all these different things. Every time I see her she has a new recipe or a new method to try. But the old-school things are my favourite.”

Head to the delicious. social channels for a behind the scenes look at our shoot with Anna and her mum.