Queensland’s most delicious restaurants

Our team of reviewers travelled the length and breadth of Queensland to find places that excite, warm the heart and where diners will walk away feeling comforted, content and, most importantly, well fed. But how many have you visited?

Hellenika owner Simon Gloftis (with octopus) along with staff members Jack Calcraft and Tessa Kelly and fire breather Bryce Watts celebrate their victory. Picture: Nigel Hallett

HIS first job was at 16 cooking corn on the cob at ­Brisbane’s Rocklea markets, now Simon Gloftis owns the most delicious restaurant in Queensland.

The 38-year-old’s new vibrant and authentic Greek eatery Hellenika at The Calile in Fortitude Valley has today taken out the annual delicious.100 – a ranking of Queensland’s 100 most flavour-packed eateries inside U on Sunday.

Despite only opening last month, the restaurant has been inundated with customers desperate for a taste of Mr Gloftis’ simple but outstanding Greek food, using nothing but the finest of ingredients.

“I have this thing with my restaurants, I don’t mind if someone doesn’t like the restaurant or they think they had bad service, or whatever it might have been, but you cannot tell me the produce is better anywhere else in Australia – that’s my thing,” he says.

“If someone says they’ve got better king george whiting, they don’t. I use the same seafood suppliers that all the best restaurants in Australia use and I fly it up every day out of Melbourne and South Australia.

“Those sorts of things, some of my customers know, some appreciate, some will never know, but I know and my chefs know and my team know, so we know, no matter what you think of the restaurant, on the plate at any one time it’s the best produce you can get in Australia.

“That’s the Hellenika mantra.”

Simon Gloftis owns the most delicious restaurant in Queensland. Picture: Peter Wallis

And it’s a mantra which has put him at the top of his game.

Joining Hellenika on the list this year are everything from casual pizza joints and cheap and cheerful Chinese where dishes average less than $20 to the lavish fine diner with all the frills and thrills of silver service.

Unlike other best restaurant lists, the delicious.100 does not focus on chef technique alone or the finest of fit-outs.

Our team of reviewers travelled the length and breadth of Queensland to find places that excite, warm the heart and where diners will walk away feeling comforted, content and, most importantly, well fed.

So no matter what you’re craving, the delicious.100 has something for everyone.

SEE QUEENSLAND’S DELICIOUS. 100