At first glance, Hellenika may seem an unusual addition to our Book Club. The restaurant came first. The book simply tells the story behind it, gathering the recipes, memories and philosophy that have shaped Hellenika over the last sixteen years.
After years of being asked to write a cookbook, Simon Gloftis had always resisted. It was not until a long-time guest offered to manage the process that the idea began to feel possible. What followed was more than a collection of recipes. The Hellenika cookbook brings together the dishes, memories and principles that have defined the restaurant over sixteen years. In documenting the food, it also captures the stories and people behind it. For Gloftis, committing Hellenika to the page meant sharing everything. In opening the restaurant’s recipes to readers, he also reveals the people, places and experiences behind them.
“It’s not just about giving away the recipes. It’s about sharing the stories and being a little bit vulnerable about what Hellenika has been for the last 16 years, how it started, where we’ve come from and how we’ve grown.”
The book’s story begins well before Hellenika. Some recipes return Gloftis to his childhood, to a small table in his grandparents’ garage and the second kitchen where much of the family’s cooking took place. Others hold the history of the restaurant itself. The baked lamb shoulder is one such dish, tested hundreds of times before the original Hellenika opened and cooked slowly for seven or eight hours. Its place on the menu has endured, carrying with it the patience, persistence and generosity present from the beginning.
“It’s really a labour of love. It’s a real representation of how much love and heart goes into Hellenika, every day, since day one.”
Throughout the book, there is a straightforward philosophy. Greek cooking begins with produce, leaving little room to disguise what is on the plate. The aim is not to continually reinvent a dish, but to find the most natural way of presenting it exactly as it should be. While the recipes carry the identity of the restaurant, many began as home dishes and return naturally to the domestic kitchen. Away from the pace of service, they can be cooked at leisure, left to rest and brought to the table when people are ready to gather.
“Greek food isn’t meant to be pretentious or complicated. It’s about bringing people together around a big table with food in the middle, helping themselves, talking, laughing, sharing.”
More than a record of the restaurant, the cookbook invites Hellenika into new homes. Gloftis hopes it becomes the kind of book people reach for often, whether cooking for a celebration, a family meal or simply an excuse to gather. In this way, the book offers something larger than instructions for the kitchen. It is an invitation to share in the warmth, abundance and connection that have been part of Hellenika from the beginning.
You’ll find a copy waiting in the Library or purchase your own to enjoy at home from M.O.S.T.
