Republica is a restaurant/bar on St Kilda beach next to the St Kilda Sea Baths and it offers wonderful views since it is situated right on the beach. Republica has a large open dining space with a courtyard, bar and function spaces available. The atmosphere at Republica is generally  chilled and laid back, it’s a great place to unwind over drinks and multicultural modern/Australian cuisine. Republica has live bands on weekends, daily specials as well as their happy hour from 5pm onwards. We came specifically on Monday to get their $8 pizza deals.

 Here is a snapshot of the indoor seating at Republica, they weren’t that busy when we came since it was a Monday night, probably due to the terrible winter weather. The decor was quite simplistic and modern, nothing over the top. There was a warm fireplace in the corner and tea light candles placed on every table, which added to the warm ambience of the restaurant. The entire back wall is lined with assorted wine bottles and a sheer linen curtain can be draped across to create a private function room. 

For our entre we decided to get some toasted turkish bread drizzled over with olive oil. Serving size was reasonable since it was just an entre, the texture of the dough was light inside and crispy on the outside, it smelled fresh and started to really make us hungry.

One of the three gourmet pizzas we ordered was the Tiger Prawn pizza. Served on a thin base with thin crust, the succulent tiger prawns were accompanied with peas, small pieces of fennel, sumac spice, chilli and lemon. Not to forget, the strong aged cheese added that extra flavour needed to tie together this delicious combination. Good thing the pizzas came fast because we were becoming impatient from our hunger. There weren’t many people around on this freezing winter monday night so it was nice and quiet.

Another gourmet pizza we tried was the 12Hour Lamb pizza. First bite of this pizza, you will notice how juicy and tender the lamb was, the other ingredients such as tomato and beetroot paste, black olives, dashes of salsa verde and dollops of slightly sour goat’s curd pretty much just enhanced the flavour of the bite sized lamb pieces. Again, a winning combination that is a must try.

The Special pizza for the night had soft, thinly sliced potatoes, special aged fetta cheese that was a blend of both cow and goat’s milk, rosemary and pieces of chorizo sausages. All the different flavours on the pizza really stood out. The flavour of the rosemary was distinct and aromatic,  the fetta cheese had a smooth consistency that literally melted and turned into liquid in your mouth and the chorizo pieces packed a spiced element into every mouthful. The pizza itself was extremely cheesy. It was a little too salty due to the chorizo and the fetta cheese but otherwise there were no complaints.

All in all great value for money, food was really appetizing, not too sure about the rest of the menu but the pizzas were great, if we’re back in St Kilda on a Monday night there will be no hesitation to come back. Too bad we didn’t come in the afternoon to catch the great views overlooking St Kilda beach.

View Larger Map