The Two Minute Review: Greek Gyros

Ronan Doyle
5 hours ago
2 min read

What’s the story with Greek Gyros?

Right as Glasnevin’s Yeeros was making a city centre expansion in 2023, the south suburbs were also getting in on the Greek gyros game with… well, with Greek Gyros. If that on-the-nose name hadn’t exactly had us rushing to visit, a hot tip from an ATF Insider provided the push.

What did you have?

A little tub of tirokafteri and a round of pita (€6) was the first green flag. Meaning just “spicy cheese”, it’s an olive oil-creamed dip of feta and chili pepper whose delicious delivery on just what it says on the tin, was a good sign in a Ronseal-named place. We wound up dabbing it over the byrek (€6) too. The satisfying crackle of this blistered filo crust yielded to layers of briny cheese and buttery pastry, but needed the dip’s kick to make it half as thrilling to the palate as it was to the ears.

Standalone skewers are a chance to sample more Greek meat, be it minced beef and lamb, or bacon-wrapped chicken (both €4.95). A lemon-forward marinade in the latter played well off the grill’s char, even if some hot-dog notes had us questioning the bacon's provenance. It was, at least, as much a treat of sealed-in juices as the shish – you’d be well sated by these packed in a pita.

But then they didn’t call the place Greek Souvlaki, did they? We reserved full wrap treatment for pork gyros (€11.35) and were glad we did with the overflowing mound of thinly-sliced meat and thicker-cut crisp-edged fat that came tumbling out – this is properly good grilling. At €1 steeper than Yeeros' it would want an edge - this superior meat makes for more than enough. Just-right tzatziki gives a pungent lift without lingering too long on the breath to rule out date night visits.

If the inevitable unevenness that comes with trying to fit your gob round a gyros gets you down, have we got good news for you. Mucking up the classics in full view of a wall-to-wall panorama of the Acropolis might seem a bit sacrilegious, but we’d risk Athena’s wrath for a skepasti (€19.45). Best thought of as a kind of Greek quesadilla (but undersold here only as a “pita club”), this cheesey, mustard mayo-laced creation takes the chicken gyros within to saucy new heights. Unlike the regular wraps, it’s not available without the (bang average) chips – if they drop those, and the price along with ‘em, they'll have a real hit on their hands.

Desserts were boxed up for a later, less stuffed hour and survived the trip well. A hit at Yeeros, it’s no wonder they’ve gone all-in on loukoumades (€6.45) here too, with (sigh) Dubai chocolate among the twists we steered clear of. The zingy honey syrup of the classic is more than enough to savour the doughy chew, but it’s the melomakarona (€6.45) we’d go back for - these syrup-soaked, cinnamon-spiced semolina and olive oil cookies are difficult to stop eating.