Gold Coast dining: Hellenika to serve its full restaurant menu upstairs

A popular Gold Coast eatery opened its rooftop bar nearly a year ago. But it’s about to undergo a major shake up.

Owner Simon Gloftis with a fresh Greek salad at Bar Hellenika, Nobby Beach. Photo by Richard Gosling

IF there’s one thing one of the city’s most respected restaurateurs has learned from his years in the game, it’s that you listen to your locals.

After close to a year of fielding almost daily requests for restaurant food to be available upstairs at Hellenika’s popular rooftop bar, Simon Gloftis is delivering.

“We’ve had the same locals supporting us for 10 years now and I can’t tell you how often they’ve asked for the lamb, the moussaka, the whole fish at the bar,” Simon says.

Simon Gloftis at Hellenika. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

“I was always turning them down then eventually I thought, why not? Let’s just do it.”

It will take a bit of rejigging and add another 170 seats to the restaurant’s capacity but Simon felt he couldn’t keep knocking people back.

“It’s a locals’ restaurant,” he says. “They’ve been such great supporters and you’ve got to give them what they want.

“Yes, it’ll be a bit harder but we’ve been doing this for a while now. We know how to manage it.”

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A classic Greek salad from the Hellenika. Photo: Richard Gosling

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The extra seats, to be added to the back of the rooftop area, will have the added benefit of alleviating Simon’s guilt in having to turn people away, particularly at weekends when Hellenika is regularly fully booked.

The upstairs rooftop, with its retractable roof for weatherproofing, will be a more casual dining space — “not as stuffy as downstairs”, Simon says — and he’s keen to stress walk-ins are still welcome at the front of the bar area for a drink and a snack.

“Nothing will change too much,” Simon says. “I think that’s the key to why Hellenika is popular.

Hellenika owner Simon Gloftis is committed to sourcing the finest quality seafood. Picture Glenn Hampson

“Apart from the fish that we get flown in daily so it’s the freshest and best available, you can come back to Hellenika in a year and still find the same dishes that you enjoyed last time.”

“We’ll just be able to cater for more people and it’ll be a good thing not to have to turn people away on our busy nights.”

The full restaurant menu will be served at Bar Hellinika rooftop from today with bookings available.

Hellenika, 2235 Gold Coast Highway, Nobby Beach is open downstairs Wednesday to Sunday for dinner and Sunday lunch. Bar Hellenika is open Wednesday to Sunday from 12pm (restaurant menu will not be served for Wednesday and Thursday lunch).