In winter last year, Eleftheria “Thierry” Amanatidis experienced a small business owner’s worst nightmare. In the early hours of the morning on June 28, a fire ripped through Eleni’s Kitchen and Bar, the Yarraville restaurant she co-owns with her sister Anatoli.
“You don’t wake up one morning thinking your restaurant’s going to be on fire. Coming here and seeing it in front of me, it was just such a surreal feeling,” says Amanatidis.
“It was an arson attack. It was devastating.”
The fire forced the sisters to close the restaurant for four and a half months to rebuild and repair.
“We’re lucky that we got to it soon enough so that the firefighters could save what they did. It was still a lot of damage, but it could have been a lot worse,” says Amanatidis.
Prior to the fire, 28-year-old Amanatidis had been running Eleni’s and their neighbouring sandwich delicatessen Jimmy’s Deli with the help of her sister, alongside her custom cake order business Cakes by Thierry. As with many in the hospitality industry, she struggled to find time for anything else. Despite the dire circumstances, the forced break gave her the opportunity to sit down and devise the recipes for a cookbook – “something that I’ve wanted to do for years”.
Amanatidis’ family has a significant, multi-generational history in Yarraville’s food scene. When her grandparents first arrived in Australia from Greece in the 1960s, they settled in the suburb and soon opened a Greek taverna (just behind the current location of Eleni’s Kitchen and Bar) that acted as a social club for the Greek community. Her uncle also had a delicatessen and two pizza shops – one of which featured in the film The Wog Boy – and her grandfather had a butcher shop.
“My sister and I thought about how we could bring that legacy back and give everyone a chance to experience all that food and culture that we were raised with,” says Amanatidis.
This led to Eleni’s, which the siblings opened seven years ago and named after their family matriarch. Five years later they opened continental delicatessen Jimmy’s Deli in the space next door.
Amanatidis says Eleni’s is “as traditional as it comes with Greek food”. Their focus is straightforward: high-quality produce, traditional cooking methods, and an authentic offering, alongside considered plating and daily specials.
The young restaurateur’s food memoir Ela na Fáme! – meaning come and eat – launches 17 April. It includes recipes from Eleni’s menu that have been passed down through her family, alongside personal stories about her mother and grandmothers’ influence on her approach to food.
“This book is more than just recipes – it’s my life,” says Amanatidis. “It’s the story of my Greek heritage, my love for my family, and my deep gratitude for the three extraordinary women who shaped not just my life, but the food and culture of an entire community.”
The chef says hospitality industry professionals can use the book to learn about the beauty of simplicity.
“With recipes that are passed generation to generation, you see that food doesn’t have to be complicated. For us, the best meals come from the heart. You can taste that love through the cooking method. As weird as that sounds, you can tell when there’s love in food.”
“Food doesn’t have to be complex. You can use simple ingredients and simple flavours but still leave a lasting impact on the person on the receiving end.”
Looking forward, Amanatidis has already set her sights on her next cookbook – this time, perhaps centred around Jimmy’s Deli.
Pre-orders for Ela na Fáme! are now open.
