Whole fish, by the day
Our fish board changes with the catch. Branzino, orata, red mullet, sardines. Bought whole, salt-grilled or fried, filleted at the table.
Aegean Coastal · TorontoGreek cooking
Greek cooking
from the coast.
Whole fish bought daily, olive oil pressed in the Peloponnese, a wine list drawn from the islands. Considered cooking, Aegean rhythm.
Καλώς ήρθατε
A small Aegean village, on Ossington.
Helia is a coastal Greek restaurant. We grill whole fish over coals, press our own taramasalata each morning, and run a small wine list of island producers most Toronto kitchens have never poured. The room is built to be lingered in. The menu shifts with what arrives.
Three things we care about
The whole table starts at the coast.
A restaurant is the sum of small choices made far upstream. Helia's choices are made at the boat, the grove, and the herb garden, long before the plate reaches the table.
Olive oil, single grove
Pressed in the Peloponnese from one family's grove. The oil arrives in Toronto twice a year, peppered, alive, and unfiltered.
Aegean rhythm
We cook the way the islands cook. Long lunches, slow grills, herbs cut the morning of, and a wine list that drinks like the coast.
Signatures
Three plates we are known for.
Whole grilled branzino
Salt-grilled over coals, finished with lemon and oregano. Filleted at the table.
Octopus, charred
Slow-poached, finished on the grill. Red-wine vinegar, capers, oregano. Plated alongside cubes of barrel-aged feta.
The Coast
Read the sourcing storyA restaurant built from the boat up.
We chose a single grove in the Peloponnese for our oil. We chose two boats off the Atlantic and a third in the Aegean for our fish. We chose feta from a small dairy in Mytilene because the woman who runs it makes feta the way her grandmother did. The menu follows the choices.
Reservations
Reserve a tableA table by the open kitchen.
Tuesday through Sunday, dinner only. Walk-ins are welcome at the bar. Tables of six or more, please reserve.
Private events
Plan an eventGreek Easter, name days, weddings.
Helia has hosted some of Toronto's best Greek tables. Whole-lamb roasts, house menus, and rooms reserved for the whole family.