What springs to mind when you think of Greek food? Well, there’s moussaka of course, and souvlaki, Greek salad with feta cheese and baklava, or wait, isn’t that Turkish in origin? Surely there’s much more we have to learn about the cuisine of this beautiful country and its sun-soaked islands.
We spoke to Chorlton-based Argiris Bendilas, who is on a mission to get people in the UK to discover more of the delights of his native cuisine as most people only know a handful Greek dishes and desserts. He founded Melianthos, a one-man artisanal micro bakery which specialises in pastries and confections inspired by those typically found in Greece – Melíanthos comes from Greek méli (honey) and anthós (flower). Although he has a background in electronics and was an early pioneer in the IT industry, building websites, he’s a real foodie, and made a drastic career change amidst the COVID lockdown.
Argiris is originally from Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city, but moved to Manchester with his wife almost five years ago, when she was offered a job with the BBC. He didn’t know anybody. “I’m not a fan of big changes, and I’m not a fan of this weather. This weather is not good for me,” he admits. But he decided to make the best of it and create his own corner of sunshine.
“I was initially working in IT but was missing the food from home more and more. So, I looked around and realised there is not a good representation of great Greek food here” Argiris tells us. “Everyone only knows about souvklaki (skewered meat), so I decided to do something about it and launched Melianthos in January 2021 with some biscuits and specialities after approaching the local Greek community online. When you’re a migrant and you’re trying to find food to remind you of your country, you need to find a way to solve that problem.”
Eventually Argiris stared getting out into the local community with a stall at Chorlton Makers Market, through which he secured a regular pop up at Chorlton Cheesemongers in 2022. “They invited me to be outside the shop with a stall,” he says. “I displayed my products, and they sold out. I’m now there once a month. It’s great because people who come there are more adventurous and willing to try new things.”
What kinds of goodies does he produce? “I have quite an extensive range, even though I am just one person doing everything myself,” says Argiris. “I have traditional filo pies and kourou pies which are made with a special kind of dough, soft and crunchy at the same time, and I also have luxury biscuits like Melomakarona (walnut honey syrup biscuits.) He also makes his own filo pastry where the dough is fermented for at least 16 hours before being rolled paper-thin.
One of his most popular products is Tsoureki, a traditional sweet and spiced fluffy loaf with luxurious fillings such as chocolate-praline, dulce de leche and pecans or cinnamon. Naturally leavened with sourdough, they each take three days to make which is not something you’d find even in Greece.
Argiris only uses the best available ingredients like Madagascan vanilla, Dutch cocoa and Belgian couverture chocolate. “Combined with special techniques, even the simplest ingredients can turn out great. I have carefully chosen them to bring that extra flavour profile that I’m trying to create in my recipes.”
Doesn’t he use only Greek ingredients? “I use the best of what makes sense to use,” he says. “For example, my honey, extra virgin olive oil and feta is from Greece, but it doesn’t make any sense to use Greek chocolate because it will never be as good as Belgian. I use Italian flour as well as a variety of organic flours from Doves Farm. It’s very important for me to combine the best of the best which shows in the end result.”
Although he hopes to grow the business and move into a commercial setting, Melianthos is currently run from Argiris’s Chorlton home. “The first thing I did was to achieve a hygiene rating of five, which you have to do before you start selling anything,” he says. “My standards are high with everything I do anyway, so I am working in as close to a professional kitchen as possible. If anything, I always wash my hands too much in the kitchen because I want people not only to enjoy my food but also to be safe.”
Argiris is also the proud holder of several Great Taste Awards. Organised by the Guild of Fine Food, these are the world’s largest, longest standing, and most respected food accreditation scheme for artisan and speciality food producers. In February 2022 he submitted four products and they all returned with awards. (Only about a third of the 14,205 products from 110 countries that participated in the contest get awarded stars.) Vegetarian spanakopita and traditional melomakarona picked up highly prized two-star Great Taste Awards, while spanakopitakia kourou and chocolate praline tsoureki were both awarded one star each.
“I thought participating in the Great Taste Awards early on would give me a standing to actually say ‘look, I make award-winning Greek food so you should try it.’ Argiris says.
“I couldn’t believe it at first, because imposter syndrome is something you start with when you change your career dramatically, but now I feel good about myself and my products. People tell me they love them, I also have five-star reviews on my website so this has given me a lot of confidence in what I am doing.”
Getting the awards made waves for Argiris back in Greece. “I was on TV eight times taking about how I’m trying to spread the word about Greek food over here. Greeks are proud when something like that happens,” he tells us. “What Yottam Ottolenghi has done for Middle Eastern cuisine, my goal is to do something similar here. To let people know that we have a vast array of excellent dishes, mostly vegetarian, which we can easily covert to vegan too.”
What’s the best way for customers to get their hands on some Melianthos goodies?
“I mainly sell online,” says Argiris. “Visit my website, order my products and I send them across the UK. I freeze my pies as soon as they are made and then ship then off using next day delivery in a special wool lined pouch with ice packs. It is very convenient for people who want to experience some traditional Greek pies and bake whenever they want.
“My main goal is how to let people who don’t know about premium Greek food try my products,” admits Argiris. “I truly believe there is something special here and I know people will enjoy it once they’ve tried it. This is why the pop ups at Chorlton Cheesemongers have been so good. It gives me a chance to get up close to people, tell a bit of my story and let them try. They usually close their eyes and then say ‘wow, this is great, I’ll have it.’”
Argiris and his Melianthos pop up will be at Chorlton Cheesemongers, on Wilbraham Road, M21 9AS on 1 April, 13 May, 10 June, 8 July, 5 August 2023.
Visit melianthos.co.uk to see the full range of products and follow on Facebook and instagram
