Harry Sideropolous is a master of reinvention. The one-time radio presenter hung up his mic two decades ago, taking up a highly successful stage career before turning his attention to the table with the launch of his home dining experiences and cookbook.
There are two things Harry loves. One of which is storytelling. That explains his fascination with the stage, where he has audiences either clutching their sides or swooning over his
one-of-a-kind voice.
There’s a caveat, though. He’s not interested in the type of theatre where people sit and watch while he performs. Rather, he wants his audience to become part of the experience … to take them along for the journey. And one of the best ways he can do this, he says, is by immersing them in food. His upcoming production, Stuck in the Middle Ages, which will be staged next year, does just this. “It’s like a kuier. I’m there, cooking, and chatting all the while about what’s on my mind, from dating to why I can no longer watch Norwegian art movies.”
Harry is especially excited about the venture because it brings something to Johannesburg that he feels is sorely lacking right now, and that’s his second great love. Connection. “I love that Joburgers have this enormous capacity to be warm and friendly (except when we’re driving, then we become the devil incarnate) – but the problem is that so much within this city tends to be enclosed, so it’s becoming difficult to find that connection.”
He’s not wrong. The typical night out usually centres around picking out a franchise restaurant in a mall. If we make it out at all that is, since it seems that, in our post-Covid world, many people have stopped making after-dark plans. Against that backdrop, Harry’s goal is as simple as it is audacious. “I want to be part of changing the perception and landscape of our city,” he says.
One of the ways he’s doing that is through his recently launched private dining experiences. Food has always been a big part of Harry’s life, not only because he cherishes the flavours of his family’s native Greece, but also because those flavours represent heritage.
“The older I get, the more I’m aware of the tick-tocking of time. So many of my beloved family members have passed on, and when I cook their recipes and tell their stories, I feel connected to them.” One of those people is his Thea, his mother’s sister, who was known for her rendition of Imam Bayildi … a Greco-Turkish dish of stuffed aubergines, caramelised onions, mint and pine nuts. Harry had tried to replicate her recipe many times, never quite getting it right, until the day he went over every step with her on a long-distance call. “She told me, ‘My boy, you have to caress the pot, not just stir. You have to give that dish your love.’ So I did – and for the first time, my dish tasted just like hers.”
That same come-here-let me-hug-you warmth pervades Harry’s events – which were launched rather serendipitously. “I was asked to cater and host a friend’s book club,” he recalls. The evening was tremendous fun, but even so, he was slightly surprised when one of the guests called him the following day, asking him to host a similar evening for the executives in her office.
When it became clear that the corporate market had an appetite for what Harry was dishing up, he decided to offer the same service for private guests. As he says, there’s something rather wonderful about someone coming to your home and ladling up generous portions of a home cooked meal. “A plate is shared humanity,” he says.
As much as he’s loving the shift from the stage to souvlaki, he has no intentions to open a restaurant. “I wouldn’t be able to work the same magic. I love sitting with my team, discussing what we’re going to serve. I love watching them interact with the guests, and I love interacting with the guests myself. At one dinner, I took time out to teach everyone how to cook a spinach pie after I was asked for the recipe, at another, I got the kids involved in the kitchen.”
He does, however, have plans for sharing his love of all things gourmet, inspired by his own outrageous collection of kitchenalia. “I’ve schlepped goodies home on the plane from Canada. I have balsamic crema in flavours you can’t imagine. My sister is always asking me what I could possibly do with another salad bowl.” It goes without saying, then, that his Little Black Book of suppliers is rather impressive, from the store in downtown Benoni where he buys nuts, to the Oriental Plaza, where he picks up interesting tableware. His next chapter sees him launching these and other gorgeous must-haves – “things that bring beauty and joy” – as a range of artisanal gifting.
And beyond that – who knows. “I love that no two days are the same, that I go from the studio to the stage to a supper. But I’m not interested in building empires. I’m quite happy with cottages.”
Look out for Harry’s first cookbook, Every Taste a Memory, which will be launched later this year. Details: @harry_sideropoulos, harry@harrysid.co.za
Harry’s secret ingredient
The one addition that makes every Sideropoulos event one to remember? “Generosity.” Greek tables are synonymous with abundance, which is why he believes that no dinner is successful unless the guests have piled the leftovers into Tupperwares to take home.
Article by Lisa Witeski and photo by Kelvin Ndlovu.
