Branzino, orata, sardines, red mullet, octopus, prawns.
Branzino is running well. Sardines arrived Tuesday.
The Coast
Where the menu actually comes from.
A Greek restaurant in Toronto can pretend the Aegean is closer than it is. Helia does not. Instead, we built a small set of relationships with people who fish, press oil, and make cheese. The menu follows those relationships. It changes when they say it changes.
The boats
Two boats, three days, and a phone call before sunrise.
Our fish comes from two Atlantic boats off the Maritimes and a small operation in the Aegean that ships twice a week. The order is set by phone, after the catch is in. If the call says no octopus today, octopus comes off the menu today.
- Atlantic Maritimes. Branzino, sea bream, sardines, monkfish, mackerel.
- Aegean partner. Red mullet, octopus, calamari, anchovies, the seasonal specials.
- Local Ontario. Lake whitefish and pickerel for the off-season weeks. We use them as they were meant to be eaten.
The catch
What is in, what is out, what is coming.
A living calendar, kept by the kitchen team and updated weekly. Ask your server. They know.
Mackerel, anchovies, calamari, swordfish, sea bream.
Anchovies were the run of the spring. We pickled what we could not eat.
Sole, dorade, monkfish, langoustine.
Sole season builds slowly. Monkfish if the Atlantic boats find them.
The kitchen
A whole fish needs almost nothing.
The kitchen handles every fish whole. Scaled, gutted, salt-rubbed, and cooked over coals or under flame. Filleted at the table, dressed with lemon and oregano, finished with our oil. The work is in the sourcing. The kitchen tries hard not to get in the way.
Olive oil
One grove. One family. Twice a year.
Helia's oil is pressed by a single family in the Peloponnese, on a hillside their grandfather planted. The oil arrives in Toronto in March and October, peppered, alive, and unfiltered. We use it on everything. We keep the empty tins.
Bottle service is available. Ask if you want to take a half-litre home for the week.
