Hellene Food Brokers

Not a bad place, but I’ve just come back from a month in Melbourne, where the local suburban Greek supermarket runs rings around this and the other supposed top Greek supply places here in Brisbane.
The dried fruit is all in packets and there’s nothing outstanding — like the huge golden sultanas and plump, semi-​dried figs you can get down south.

Yikes. Does this place abide by food standards? Shouldn’t packaged foods list ingredients? When I asked someone what are the ingredients were of a certain product they had packaged she returned with the answer «we don’t know». Isn’t it a legal requirement to list ingredients?

Tucked away in a quiet side street off Montague Road is Hellene Food Brokers: a Greek wholesaler that sells to the general public. I could barely contain my excitement while shopping there. The front door opened up a deli fridge of olives ranging from $ 10.99 — $ 13.99 per kg (at least $ 3 cheaper than Coles, or anywhere else). I clutched my heart in disbelief. To the right of the olives was a fridge filled with giant wheels of cheese. More chest clutching. I slowly walked their aisles ogling their plentiful goods, all the while making hyperbolic statements about the store’s grandeur.
As far as dry goods go, they’ve got an incredible range. Let’s take flour for example. They have white, wholemeal, rye, spelt, gluten free, millet, unhusked millet, baker’s flour and more. You’ll be hard pressed finding spelt bread for less than $ 8.99 kg, but here it was priced $ 3.75kg. These bargains don’t stop at flours either. They’re store wide.
They sell all assortments of nuts, grain, beans, dried fruits, preserved goods, herbs, spices, olives, cheeses, meats and sweets. Just take your time having a leisurely stroll through the aisles.
The service is haphazard, with people running around doing all sorts of things at once, but it’s wonderfully warm and friendly. The counter staff are full of beans. They take credit card, but there’s a $ 15 minimum, beware. I’m pretty sure though that when you start trawling the aisles, you’ll be spending more than that here anyhow.

Shopping at Helene makes me happy. Firstly, they sell almost everything, including lots of obscure grains and pulses; secondly, prices are good; thirdly, it makes me happy that I’m not supporting Coles or Woolworths. Oh and one more thing: the smell of olives in there is amazing.
As both a Greek deli and a wholesaler, Helene is tucked away in the industrial backwaters of West End, off the track from pedestrians. Being a small tightly packed store, it can be difficult to move around during busy times, but that’s really the only complaint I have of Helene.
If there’s anything you can’t find on shelf, be sure to ask as they often have things out the back. A friend of mine was looking for frozen raspberries there once, couldn’t find them, asked, and from the back arrived a huge catering size bag for $ 10, much cheaper than those at the supermarket.
Helene also has a coffee machine and some seating out the front. When I saw the coffee prices on a sign inside, I asked if they were current. «Yes, why?» Replied the store assistant. «Well, for $ 2.50 a coffee, I thought they might have been old prices, like, from the 80s.» But no, they’re current, just really cheap!
Check it out; I love this place.
Note: $ 15 EFTPOS minimum.