Amalthea Greek Bistro in Adel is an independent Greek-owned family restaurant founded late 2016 by General Manager Ioannis Popatzikakis (John) and Eva Chatzopoulou. They are joined by John’s sister, Georgia Papatzikaki, and their amazing chef, Constantinos Tsapanidis. All four share a passion for food and a drive to make Amalthea the best Greek restaurant in Leeds. One of the bistro’s unique selling points is its emphasis on authentic Greek cuisine and only Greek cuisine, as opposed to Mediterranean food in general. In John’s own words, “We bring the highest quality ingredients, imported from award-winning suppliers in Greece, to Leeds. Our approach is Greek authentic with a modern twist. Most of our dishes are completely traditional, but we add a surprise flavour here and there.” For example, whereas most people would know the taste of moussaka but the sauce is prepared differently at Amalthea, using tomato sauce with the addition of a particular wine from a specific region in Greece. Authentic, tasty and unique. More than a Great Taste Experience Amalthea wants to provide more than a great taste experience. They see themselves as ambassadors of Greece, there to promote the culture and to recreate the real Greece for their customers. Guests are treated to relaxing Greek music and invited to talk to the the staff, in Greek if they want to try, who will be more than willing to tell them all the greatest places to visit. They want us to relax and enter in their world where we will be completely looked after. As for the food itself, they are surgical in their approach, only buying in the best produce and all-natural foods from often award winning producers from all over Greece. This is a great place to go any time of day. In the morning, they serve speciality Greek coffees, gourmet sweets, sandwiches filled with a range of delights such as chill and lime pork sausage, and other snacks. In the afternoon, they offer a menu of traditional Greek delicacies that they prepare in their own special way, thoroughly respecting the old ways with some modern flavours to enhance the experience. In the evening you can expect all the classics such as stuffed peppers, chicken souvlaki and beef stifado, and of course a wonderful range of dips and appetisers such as olives, houmous, tzatziki and stuffed vine leaves to start you off. Meet The Owners, Costantinos and Eva We believe that both Constantinos and Eva should be included in the interview as they are both responsible for the menus and recipes. They are the ‘Amalthea Kitchen team’. As a result, both respond to the questions. Q: Where are you originally from? C: I am from Kavala which is located in North Greece. E. I am from Alexandroupolis, which is also in the North. Q: When did you first become interested in cooking C: Since, I remember myself really. I started by helping my grandmother when she was cooking for the whole family every day. Both my parents worked and as a result I used to spend a lot of time with her. E: My story is the same. I used to spend a lot of time with my grandmother who was cooking every day all day long. As a result, ‘cooking’ was my favourite pastime as a child. Q: Who was your biggest inspiration E & C. We would both say our grandmothers, Yaya Marika (Constantinos’s grandmother) and Yaya Elisavet (Eva’s grandmother) who made cooking seem so easy and a way of expressing your love & affection towards your friends and family. Therefore, it goes without question that you must always use the finest ingredients as it is the key to every successful recipe. ‘Always use the finest ingredients’ our grandmothers would say and they indeed used to spend more time to search and try the ingredients than cooking. We often do the same until we find exactly what we want. Q: What changes have you seen, if any, in the way the restaurant world has changed. ie have people’s tastes changed, do people expect more nowadays etc.. C: I think customers now are more informed on ethnic cuisines. This is very good as they can appreciate authenticity. Probably they travel more or even internet allow them to search information on the cuisine of every country or even both. I am very happy when customers come to the kitchen to congratulate us and we discuss about what they ate in their last holidays in Greece, how the dish was cooked etc. My feeling is that people want high quality food & service because they have a good knowledge of the particular cuisine. So, regardless of the ethnicity of the cuisine you offer you have to be honest to your customers and know your cuisine pretty well. E: I will agree with Contantinos. I would simply add that people nowadays know more things about the importance of using fine ingredients even if this inevitably influences the price of the final dish. They know about the health benefits of certain vegetables, oils, herbs and spices. This is the reason they appreciate the fact that we bring ‘key’ ingredients from Greece and that we choose to use meat, eggs, milk from independent, small farmers instead of the very commercial ones you find in big chains. As a result, you can find many restaurants choosing free range eggs, organic or ‘free from’ ingredients when possible, avoiding ingredients with preservatives. We are really happy when we see more and more restaurants choosing real ingredients for producing real food which is not only more nutritional but also more tasty. Customers appreciate such choices and support these restaurants. Q: What has been your biggest success to date? C & E: Obviously for both of us managing to open our own restaurant in the UK which was also received very positively by the customers is our biggest success. Q: What’s the must try dish on your menu? C: I keep saying that moussaka is a must try as most customers come to congratulate me for this dish. It’s probably because I cook it in the traditional Greek way. I am not sure though why it’s so popular. It could be the wine we use for the sauce that makes it different. Still trying to understand. You can never tell with these things. We often think that a dish will be successful but it turns out another one is more popular. I personally love our beef stifado with the handmade goat milk pasta but it’s our second most popular-quite close to the moussaka though. E: For our vegetarian friends I would recommend melitzanokeftedes (aubergine balls) with Kefalotiri cheese. It’s something new for the British customers but a very popular dish in Greece. It’s a relatively new addition to our menu and those who’ve tried it swear by it! Especially the vegetarians. Q: What would be your tip for up and coming chefs? C: That they have to really love their job if they want to succeed as it is a very difficult job. Other than that, they have to specialize in one field and learn it very very well. This field could be baking or the cuisine of a specific country-whatever they really love doing. E: Even though I am a recipe developer mainly, I would say to anyone who wants to work in professional kitchen in any role, that they have to research a lot, read a lot and practice even more. Things change rapidly nowadays and you can never be sufficiently informed. Q: What are the 3 main components to running a successful restaurant? E & C: Really good food, exceptional service and respect for your customers. Q: What do you hope people think when they’ve dined with you? C: First of all I hope they really pleased with the final result-from the food to the atmosphere and service. I hope they can see the effort and passion we put into everything we do because we really love what we do and we highly respect our customers and work. E: We hope they feel they’ve had a lovely meal in a Greek house cooked with love from a Greek family because this is what we do. We are a Greek family and our restaurant is our second home-if not the first- as we spend there the biggest part of our days. Q: Finally, If you could summarise, what do you believe good cooking is all about? C: Caring about others, wanting to offer them the most delicious & healthy meal. You can learn cooking techniques and new recipes or new cooking trends but if you do not want to offer something of high quality to others I do not really believe that you will ever manage to cook something ‘extraordinary’. I can really understand when a dish is prepared with love and care. If you love what you do and respect your customers you will choose the best ingredients and I will be able to smell and taste that. E: In my point of view good cooking is all about research and practice. And as you have to spend a lot of time doing both things you have to love what you do and be really interested in it