Kitchen Confidential: Get yourself to Simon Gloftis’ new Greek

IT’S the Greek restaurant that’s made a name for itself on the Gold Coast. Now its new Brisbane sibling will bring an even bigger menu.

Simon Gloftis will open his second Hellenika restaurant in James St, Fortitude Valley, next month. Picture: Ric Frearson/AAP

SIMON Gloftis will double down on his winning formula of classic Greek food and fine wine when he opens his second Hellenika restaurant at The Calile Hotel on James St next month.

“The menu is going to be a carbon copy of the Gold Coast but with a few variations due to the availability of seafood,” Gloftis said, estimating diners would be shown to their seats from the first week of October.

“Hellenika is nearly nine years old now, and we know what works and what doesn’t.”

Where the Brisbane menu differs will be at lunch, with lighter dishes served alongside its main menu, and at breakfast, which is not available at the Nobby Beach restaurant.

“It will be a really classic breakfast with a little bit of a Greek leaning, like a lovely rice pudding — you won’t see kale and quinoa here!” the restaurateur said.

Brisbane will also benefit from Hellenika’s nationally recognised wine list of 500 wines — more than 50 from Greece alone.

“I want the wine list to be accessible. Every wine on there is chosen for a reason and it’s not to win awards.”

The sibling restaurant’s interiors will differ with New Farm decked out in “a lot of marble, a lot of travertine (tiles) and some lovely natural timber furniture”.

“Let’s make the food and the service exactly the same but let’s give people two completely different experiences,” he said.

Hellenika Brisbane will seat 150 on the main floor with cabanas and bar spaces increasing capacity to 250.

Heading up the kitchen will be Hellenika’s founding head chef Bryan Kelly, recently returned from London, with wife Tessa Kelly, also a former Hellenika staffer, who will take over the reins as restaurant manager.

IPSWICH ICON RETURNS

A TRIO of brothers are set to breathe new life into an Ipswich dining institution that has lain dormant for over 20 years.

Nick, Alistair and Chris Stevenson have ushered in the tradies and will unveil a new-look Bakehouse Steakhouse in mid-November.

It’s a natural progression for the siblings, who grew up in Ipswich and between them run Gilly’s Smallgoods at Clontarf and Collins Wholesale Meats at Lowood.

Refurbishment has begun on the 143-year-old Darling St building, which formerly housed Haley’s Bakery.

“It’s a contemporary take on a traditional steakhouse, which is usually dark and very masculine, but we wanted to go fun and fresh; light and bright,” said Nick, who will be restaurant manager.

The 100-seater will also feature a courtyard area with seating for another 50.

The Stevensons plan to employ and train locals as front and back of house staff but have cast the net wider for a head chef.

“We had someone locked in but that didn’t work out,” Nick said.

Meat will be sourced through their own supply chains as well as from beef producers Stanbroke.

Ursula Watts hard at work at the new Cubby Bakehouse. Picture: Glenn Hampson

TRIPLE TREAT

IT’S taken a year longer than anticipated, but bakery dynamos Ursula and Ben Wattsare almost ready to fire up the ovens at their third venture, Cubby Bakehouse.

Come mid-October, the aroma of freshly baked bread should finally waft through the northern NSW town of Chinderah.

A sibling to Paddock Bakery at Miami and Bam Bam Bakehouse at Mermaid Beach, Cubby has been beset by development delays.

“It’s funny, it doesn’t get any easier third time round,” Ursula said.

“We had to do a major power upgrade which cost us $100,000 and obviously (that’s) something we’ve never had to navigate before.”

The site sits on the Tweed River in a building that housed Chinderah’s original bakery 100 years ago.

“With Paddock our sourdough was our nucleus, at Bam Bam it was our croissant and this time round with Cubby, it's the baguette,” she said.

“We’ve got French equipment and Ben’s been trained by the master baker in France but essentially we’ve never made baguettes before so it’ll be a project of pure passion.”

The menu is still being finalised with Ursula hinting some sweet offerings will be markedly different from those at the Gold Coast joints.

They have again partnered with Sydney coffee distributors Single O to serve its Reservoir blend.

The Jacaranda Gin Festival will be just the tonic.

JACARANDA AND JUNIPER

ASK any student and they’ll tell you the purple blooms of jacaranda trees are a portent of final exams and assignments.

They’re now also the sign a huge gin festival is on its way.

The inaugural Jacaranda Gin Festival blossoms along the King St precinct at Bowen Hills on October 20.

A final drinks list is still being tweaked, but more than 20 Australian and international distillers have already hopped on board.

King St retailers and the nearby Welcome to Bowen Hills food truck hub will serve up eats, while gin experts will dish up demonstrations, discussions and masterclasses on the main stage from midday until 10pm.