Olympic Meats brings real-deal gyros to Marrickville

Anyone that has truly checked out Greece will doubtless have a heat meals reminiscence of consuming gyros: these cosy pita cones loaded with paprika-dusted hen or pork, juicy tomato and intense onion in an appetizing, lemon yoghurt sauce.

Yet, quite a few Aussies have a troublesome time finding these very same flavours once they return residence. “You hear a lot of people say that the food here doesn’t taste the same way it does in Greece,” states Timothy Cassimatis, proprietor and cook dinner of Marrickville grill residence Olympic Meats.

“A lot of Greek restaurants will use pre-made pitas or packet filo, they will buy a lot of stuff in. When I think about how my grandparents or my family would cook, they would be making their own cheeses, their own yoghurt, they would even slaughter the pig.”

Cassimatis accepts these time-honoured practices at Olympic Meats concentrating on modest, village-style meals akin to what you will surely uncover within the Peloponnese, the place his family originates from.

Preparing the meat for the gyros is a three-day process. The hen is brined for sometime, after that seasoned in a mixture of garlic, paprika and bukovo– a dried out north Macedonian chilli– prior to now putting the spit the place it’s ready over the coals. “Not a lot of people cook on a horizontal rotisserie. They use an electric or gas burner, but you just can’t beat the aroma and flavour that comes from cooking on charcoal,” Cassimatis states.

Then there’s the sourdough pita, which takes 2 days to make. Timothy makes use of a mixture of neighborhood flours, consisting of semolina, to offer the bread that very same fantastic, gentle yellow color you see inGreece Each spherical of dough is introduced to buy and ready in a wood-fire range until gentle and puffy.

As for that considerable, thick yoghurt that trickles over the gyros and improves the dips, it’s likewise made in residence from a probiotic-rich lamb’s milk instance that Cassimatis introduced over from Greece inJanuary

One level you may observe regarding the gyros at Olympic Meats is that there aren’t any contribute them. “We don’t do it. It’s very controversial, but I stand by the decision. We’ve put so much effort into the meat and the bread, we didn’t want to take away from that.”

You can nonetheless buy chips on the aspect. The potatoes are ready in beef tallow for a distinctively scrumptious flavour.

The meals choice focuses on the pork, hen and politiko (spiced cube) pitogyros, but likewise consists of a alternative of contemporary, gentle meze meals to understand on the aspect. There’s fava bean dip coated with timber discharged mushrooms, a Greek salata with Kytherian paximadia– wheat rusks that imitate crispy, oil-soaked croutons– and the hand-rolled spanakopita, known as after Cassimatis’ yiayia,Olympia “She brought the recipe with her when she came to Australia in 1961.”

The eating institution is partially known as after his grandma, Olympia, and partially after the epic Greek high. “It’s been a very long and difficult journey to get here; it’s felt like climbing a mountain at times.”

Cassimatis functioned his methodology as a lot because the setting of head cook dinner at Barzaari in Marrickville, previous to COVID-19 hit and the eating institution shut. For the earlier 4 years, he’s been working his marriage ceremony catering firm, Tim Fresh, from the rear of his mothers and dads’ residence so he may preserve up and in the end open his location.

Olympic Meats is Cassimatis’ methodology of lugging the family lantern, returning to the dynamic Greek neighborhood he matured in, and coaching people regarding real Greek meals.

“You’ve got the Corinthian (Rotisserie Restaurant), the Lamia Super Deli. But they won’t be around forever. I’m doing my best to help capture the essence of this area and tell my story, and my grandparents’ story too.”