Anthony Thalassinos

Hi. How are you? It's a pleasure meet you. I'll take you around. We are in redevelopment at the moment.

Wow. Already?

It didn't occur to us that it would be this busy, which is fantastic. We originally thought that this would suffice, this has been the kitchen and we operate both eateries from here, those being the casual Kitchen and upstairs, where I'll take you now. After week one, George and I sat down and we were like, we need "ix weeks in total.

That's so impressive. Wow.

Originally it was, with the other owner, Phil, a chicken shop as well as a frozen yoghurt place at the back. I don't know who approached who about the idea. And George apparently said, I think I've got the chef I want there, so let's see what he says. And he approached me and that was really nice of him. I was in the process of moving permanently to the Peninsula. So it was a big phone call to make to the partner saying, Hey, hold onto our stuff because it looks like I'm coming back to the suburbs.

I hadn't realized, obviously, you know, I looked through Instagram and I've realized now that you were at Hotel Sorrento having just spoken to Nick at Audreys. Its a big drive down there.

I have a house in Rosebud. Nick's a good mate now. I love the things he's doing there. Its funny because I'm from the northwest Suburbs and I migrated there. He's from the southeast suburbs. He migrated there. We never really knew each other until we were both there. It's good.

I feel as though as though the Instagram page for the Hellenic House Project is so full of joy. It feels like a family.

It's totally that. George and his wife Nat and his kids, they're all involved. They get amongst it, they're all a part of it. Phil, all the guys involved, the kitchen team. It's a celebration, I feel of our past and present and what we want to put towards our future, as cliched as that sounds, that's what we want. We joke around saying it's like a TV show we grew up with, we've got that funny family kind of sitcom going on here and we're proud of that. We're not trying to steer away from that. I don't really look at reviews, but sometimes when I've seen reviews, the beauty is that it's not, oh, the food's amazing, the atmosphere is amazing, it's not the service. People are saying, I love coming in and seeing George and his team smiling and having a laugh and having banter together. For me that's massive because you want that camaraderie where you are enjoying each other's company. As history shows, a lot of chefs spend more time with their team than their families. So it has to become your own kind of team. And I love that we've got that, so it's exactly that.

I hope that eventually people will move past the stories from the past. I was thinking when you were saying that, is that, something that George had to do, to show how family-oriented it is here because of what's happened with staff in the past, but I also want to say, I think everyone deserves a new chapter and move forward from that.

I think we are trying to move forward. Not to delve into it too much, but a lot of the people contributing to this restaurant are from his past. So it says a lot about the person that they create that. Weve had a lot of his past workers come and help us to make this family atmosphere. Its a testament to how George used to run his old places because they've wanted to come back. They've wanted to come help, they've wanted to be there alongside and work alongside him, including myself. I think shows exactly the kind of person George is as a chef, as a boss, and as a man.

By all accounts, you have really excellent food, it's a beautiful setting, but what do you think it is that has made it blow up to such a popular place in three months?

I think there are a few things that contribute to that. I think Melbourne's longing for good, honest Greek food. Melbourne is very blessed with some incredible cuisines that have been at the forefront of dining. We have such a melting pot of cultures. I'll say George put Greek food on a pedestal that we need to reach and for a while it hasn't been that, I feel personally. Going back to the question about our opening, I think for Melburnians who have been longing for good Greek food, we've finally satisfied that. And also another thing is exactly what you said. People have come in, we've had repeat customers. They have enjoyed that family orientated kind of restaurant. I think that's what people want nowadays. Im not saying that it's for everyone, but the white tablecloths and the penguin suits that I grew up with, and that I still love occasionally, they are slowly starting to go down. People want more of a homely atmosphere. They want to come and feel as though they're in someone's lounge room and they're chatting over Sunday lunch or something like that.

I'm a big fan of Nigella Lawson and she's obviously a big fan of the Hellenic House Project because I just saw an Instagram post where she was remembering the Greek yoghurt soft serve with the syrup on it that had here.

The Metaxa syrup and the sea salt and olive oil.

I thought, wow, she's wherever she is now and fantasizing about that. It must be pretty good.

She was a great sport. She came in very humble and approachable. She loved all the food. She ordered pretty much the whole menu, which is fantastic. The only thing she complained about was the lighting for her photos. That's why she came back a second time, which was great to see. Being family orientated isn't just with the chefs, it's also the suppliers and the produce, like the olive oil. Our local girls from Golden Groves, they do their olive oil for us. The architecture Kavellaris Urban Design. Everyone contributes. Andrew's Choice does our cold meats. Everyone in their small way contributes to our family and I think that speaks volumes and why Nigella loved all the little things. She didn't pinpoint the massive things that people talk about, like the lamb shoulder, she talked about the chips. Its the small things and it's all those small things that are due to the team that you build and the family or atmosphere that you build as well.

Still speaking about family, I've been looking through your Instagram and you obviously have such an amazing relationship with your father. And I really love the way you talk about him and the respect and admiration you clearly have for him, but it also sounds like he had a big role to play in your love of food and potentially getting into restaurants.

Massive. My entire family are massive foodies. My father by profession is a dental prosthetist, so very specific. My brothers are in the same field. So for me to be the other way, was a bit different. But they were all very encouraging. Especially my dad George. I was in a bit of a rut. I had just graduated in media studies. I was looking to do journalism at La Trobe Uni, and I really didn't find a gateway. My side hustle was always hospitality. I was either in a pizza shop, or a coffee shop, I was doing something with hospitality. My dad just sat me down and he said, if you really love this and you're good at it, have a real crack, do an apprenticeship, do it properly. And since then, this has happened. He has always pushed me to be the best I can. He's like a best mate, not just a father. He's a good lad. He used to put me into the Melbourne dining scene. He used to treat me as I've said, hed say, this is a hatted restaurant, you'll love this place. So it was big for me for one of the first restaurants I've really led for us to achieve it. It was massive.

As well as your dad, I feel as though there have been some really strong mentors in some amazing places, which says a lot about you as well, that you got into those places and into the teams you were with. It sounds like you're a really respectful and appreciative person. All your posts are very enthusiastic about the other people that you're working with and the restaurants that you're working in, like Montalto and Park Street Pasta.

I think thing that I really look towards is personalities. I worked with Matt Wilkinson and Diana Desensi, not on a whim, but they asked me to help out with a wine dinner? Straight away in the kitchen, I really took to Diana and Matt because it was the same personality, the same banter as I had. Gus, who's fantastic at Park Street, we had the exact same ethos as well, which was brilliant. Mario Di Natale at Grossi. All those chefs that I've had a connection with isn't just due to food, it's also due to personality, how their humour is, and the things they're into. I think if you have a good person or someone that has a great personality, I think you can teach them and work with them and do anything. If you've got someone who's a bit toxic, no matter how talented they are, you really only go so far with them.

And is that something that you take into your leadership as well?

You want to build a team that has a common ground. I remember you'd hear about the horror stories of kitchens and the revolving door of chefs going in and out, in and out. And I thought, I do not want that. I don't want someone to come in and be here for a few months and think, this isn't for me. I want to build a team where, you're promoting from within. They want to learn from within. They are striving for something more from within. And I want to be that chef who people want to work for. I don't want it to be a short tenure place, because, what's the point of that? You get the best out of people when they're at their happiest and that's what you need as a leader.

And that's so true. As a diner, I'm always hoping that is the situation in the kitchen because I think it's reflected in the food as well. Its a better situation for everyone if everyone is happy.

Exactly right.

Tell me more about the food. I've been seeing all these great reviews and photos and so on. When you say home style, is that food you grew up with?

Definitely. It is a take on stuff we've grown up with. George and I have brainstormed stuff that we've wanted to try that we wouldn't stereotypically see in a restaurant. You know, stuff like Stifado, which is a braised beef or a braised oxtail we use at the moment. Horta, which are just braised greens, we never thought we'd see Horta on a menu. Our take on Hilopites, which is pasta, which is usually short and square, but you can get some long ones. It's very much a mix with nostalgia as well as showing people a different side of Greek that we never ever thought we would ever see on a menu. People think Greeks are always eating lamb, that's all they eat. It's not necessarily the case. If you go to Greece, it's mainly pescatarian, vegetarian kind of menus. We want to take that and take also the Greek Australian way of doing things. Lakerda is something that my dad eats, which is a bonito in brine that he has asked to put on the menu. So we're trying to look at that. Youvarlakia is a meatball soup. There's stuff that people that have only known Greeks to have lamb and tzatziki, we want to try and break that mould and do stuff that we've seen from our grandmothers.

Great. And I saw, is it Yia yia's tiramisu. That looked really amazing too.

That was a bit of a nod to my time at Grossi and Park Street and I thought, how can I, with a bit of tongue in cheek, turn this into something Greek? What did Yia yia always have in her pantry room? She always had ouzo, she always had melomakarona, the biscuit, she always had Ion chocolate and Greek coffee obviously. They are all the elements that contribute, you need a soft biscuit that absorbs the coffee, you need a liqueur of some sort. I had a play around and everyone loves it, which was fantastic.

And it looked good too. Do you bring it out to the table in the big bowl?

Sam Gordon does all our beautiful plates you can see on the table by hand, that we went and helped with, they're gorgeous but also our serving plates are funny enough from our grandmother's pantries. Weve got those old really eighties style plates and it's been really exciting to go and get all those antiques and show them in a different way. We plate our dolmades on plates that we've got from our own pantries, the tiramisu is in one of those crystal bowls that you would only get in your grandmother's good room. You can't touch them. Its great that we've utilized everything that we've got in our own backyard.

Are you putting together the menu or do you do that in consultation?

It's a bit of both. George will sit down and I'll sit down and we have the beauty of changing the menu every day if we want to. Its dependent on what the best produce is and what we feel like doing. Well sit down GC and I, and George will tell me about his idea. Then I have my own idea. Then we muck around and see if it's good. There is a lot of brainstorming and a lot of people contribute, which is great. You want to promote creativity within your culture.

You seem very enthusiastic about about cooking and chef life, which is so great, is that what keeps you in there? Is it the creativity side? Is it the thrill of service? Is it the hospitality aspect? What do you love about being a chef?

I think it's a mixture of everything. I absolutely think, being a young kid growing up and loving just to be social, even though cheffng can be a little bit isolated sometimes, but having that camaraderie with the team, and the industry. A friend of mine, John said to me perfectly, we went and ate at Serai with Ross and it was John's birthday and Ross invited us to one of the tables and John said to me, it's beautiful that in your industry everyone shows so much respect, admiration, that if they recognize you, they might send you something small. He said, you don't see that in a lot of industries. I love that. I love the fact that it's not just your team in a chef life, it's that if you are in the industry, it's well respected by everyone, I would do the exact same for someone who is in the industry and I saw them come into my restaurant. I know they go through the exact same hardships as I do. So I would want to do something small to make their experience a little bit more special. I like the fact that the whole industry is respectful to one or another. I love that idea. I absolutely love service. I love it when the pressure's on. I feel like pressure's one of the best things, the best gifts that you can have. You know, you shouldn't run away from it, you should take it on, because the outcome at the end of it is something really, really amazing. It is an industry that I love so much because it was meant for me in a way. I feel like its my match. I don't see myself doing anything else. A lot of people say, what would you do other than cooking? And I cannot put my finger on it. I think it's my best match and I love everything about it. I wouldn't change it for the life of me.

That's such a great answer. I love it. And I loved hearing about the community as well because I think maybe it wasn't always the case that people were respecting each other. There's always competition between venues, but I think it's better when there's a thriving industry and lots of venues are doing really well and encouraging each other.

I think we're all in this same game together. Were all in the same game together and friendly rivalries are great. I'm blessed with a lot of friends in the industry, but seeing how far they've come isn't, oh, how dare they be that great, it's not bitter at all. I'm rapt. One of my friends that I went to school with is Rosheen Kaul at Etta Dining. She is amazing. You like, she got a James Beard award. That's incredible. That shouldn't deter me or anyone else, that should be encouraging. Look where a person that was sitting alongside me at a desk at William Angliss, look how far they've come. That's brilliant. Give a pat on the back if someone's achieved something.

And do you think about food 24/7?

I'm going to say no, but a lot of people are going to disagree. A lot of my mates actually say, you've got 20 minutes to talk about work and then that's it, we're talking about something else. The only thing that gets me away from thinking about food is Carlton Football Club, unfortunately. And obviously my partner and my family, being my god kids, my nieces, my father, my mother. All my family. That's probably the only time I'm not really thinking about food, which is quite sad to think about now. I'll say 80% of the time I'm thinking about food and what to do with it and where to go from there. I think a lot of people would disagree with that answer. A lot of people will say it's 95% I'm thinking about work. It is what it is.

And with all the experience that you've had in the different places you've worked, what would be your advice to a young person who was thinking about becoming a chef?

I would say to someone young and I would say to don't be afraid to get lost in the industry. What I mean by that is I think a lot of people think that you need a lot of structure and there's going to be a light at the end of the tunnel and it's going to be A, B, C, D and then eventually I'll get there. Everyone's path is different, so don't be afraid to get a little bit lost and then re-find yourself. I always thought that with the background I have, I would end up in an Italian trattoria, I would be doing Italian cuisine. There was a bit of a grey area for me and that grey area, I would say to someone dont be afraid of it, because it will eventually point you in the right direction of what your calling is.

I was always the one to run away from my Greek heritage. I was always the one to adopt a different type of personality to be something else in the industry. So I was a bit lost and now that this has fallen in my lap, it's been the best thing for me, to rediscover my heritage, to rediscover my love for great cooking, to rediscover my love for, cooking things that I grew up with. So I would say to someone that wants to be a chef, dive into it a hundred per cent.If you are thinking about doing it, get into it as I did. I did something totally different. I was at Uni doing journalism and now I'm a chef. Don't be afraid when you feel a bit lost, it's good. And then it will get you to the right direction.

The Hellenic House Project, 515 Highett Road, Highett