A foodie's delight in Monkland Village. Yassas!

Photo: Chef and owner Fouli at the new Monkland Avenue store Ilion.

 Do you know that feeling when a store closes down and the space is being refurbished and you hope and pray it might reopen as SOMETHING COOL instead of a real estate company or ANOTHER fast-food place? Well today I got my wish in the form of Ilion, a fabulous gourmet Greek store, on the corner of Monkland and Hampton. (practically the corner of my street).

My discovery all started when I got chatting to Vanessa at the picture framing store further up the road. She noticed my name was Greek and we shared stories of our mutual Hellenic heritage. She expressed surprise that I had not discovered Ilion, which opened a month ago, especially as it sells items made from the Greek superfood mastic - only found on my grandfather's island of Chios (he didn't own it - he lived there before emigrating to England as a young man.)

George Kostalas, my Greek grandad from Chios.

What a delight to step in from the outside temperature of -20C to a warm welcome from Fouli - chef and owner of Ilion, who has a second store in Outrement. She's making avgolemono today - which immediately had my mouth watering as my mum used to make it for me as a kid. (She learned from my Greek grandmother). It's a divine soup of chicken, lemon, rice and egg and is one of the essential tastes of my childhood.

The store is laden with Greek treaures. Fouli comes from a family of Greek restaurateurs and bakers and runs the store with her husband Dimitri. The first thing you notice are all the neat little Greek pastries lined up at the counter. I'm happy to report that I've done some research-eating for you dear reader and I can attest to their quality. From the light as air shortbread kourambiedes to the honey-dripping katiaifi these pastries are delicate and delicious. I particularly like the melomakarona which was new to me - with its taste of honey, orange and spices. Don't forget the classic spinach and cheese pies - spanokopita and tiropita. Greek tea and coffee are on offer as well as the usual cappucino and espresso. I love Greek coffee. The flavour immediately take me to all those Greek islands I've visited over the years - Chios, Rhodes, Corfu, Crete, Santorini, Simi..........

The next counter in front of the kitchen is full of fabulous dishes - home-made moussaka (with lamb and eggplant but also a lentil version), pastitsio (a beef pasta dish), stuffed peppers, gigantes beans, lemon potatoes as well as taramasalata (my dad's favourite with its fish roe) , melitzanosalata (eggplant dip), tzatziki,  brochettes, dolmades (stuffed vine leaves) and other appetizers. There's a freezer stocked with many of these homemade dishes too including traditional Greek soups.

A lot of Greek food is vegetarian.

The way I look at it Ilion can brighten up your winter days in Montreal from a coffee and pastry for breakfast, spanokopita or soup for lunch and then moussaka and lemon potatoes for dinner. That's my menu sorted for a few days. I already have a wish list of things to try.

Fouli will serve at tables out front in the summer on a spacious courtyard. Her journey as a chef started with her Pappou and Yiayia emigrating from Greece to open a restaurant in Vancouver in 1970. Then her father opened a souvlaki and then a pastry shop. A giant photograph of him making the pastry baklava will soon be installed on the wall of Ilion here on Monkland Avenue in pride of place.

Aside from the fresh food there is an array of Greek products - some of which I've never seen before. Pistachio butter, donkey milk soap, volcanic ash soap from Santorini, Greek jams, non-alcoholic aperitifs, Greek coffee, saffron products, Greek teas, rose and mandarin flavoured loukoumi (AKA Turkish delight but not to Greeks!), early-pressed extra-virgin olive oils and lots of stuff made with mastic from Chios. This is the dried resin from the mastic tree (pistacia lentiscus) which is believed to have all kinds of health-giving properties. Although the tree grows all over the Mediterranean it is only on Chios that conditions are right to harvest the sap. (this reminds me of Quebec and the climatic conditions that mean we produce 75pc of the world's maple syrup).

 Out of solidarity with my ancestors I buy a jar of yporichio AKA submarine or spoon-sweet which is a white sticky jam that you spoon out and eat while dipping it in a glass of cold water (no really). I buy the rose-flavoured one and can remember my Greek uncle serving this to us when I was a kid. Greeks use mastic in all sorts of things from breads to sauces and ice creams. It's superfood title comes from claims it helps in the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders, healing wounds, reducing inflammation and is a natural microbial agent. My rose-flavoured spoon sweet is delicious and I might take to serving it to guests like a real Greek.

Olive wood bowls and boards.

I count to ten in Greek for Fouli to prove my heritage. She says she will teach me a new Greek word every time I visit. "Efcharistó," she says as I leave Ilion. "Parakaló," I reply. I balance my Greek coffee with my foodie delights and head home in the cold (only a block to walk). I'm delighted to have a little piece of Greece on the corner of my snowy street.