To celebrate our 10th birthday here at Urban List, we’re asking you to tell us your favourite venues over on our Instagram—this week, we're leaning into comfort food with the best gyros in Sydney.
While some have experienced their first gyros enlightenment on the streets of Thessaloniki, others have taken a greasy hit on the streets of Sydney, most likely at zero dark thirty. But wherever you tried your first, in the motherland or not, one thing is certain—your taste buds had an absolute party.
“Gyros, as it is today, mainly originated from Oltu in Turkey where the Doner Kebab comes from,” says Kosta Giannakaros, founder of one of Sydney’s most prolific and long-standing gyros joints, Gyradiko and Gyradiko Kitchen.
“During the Ottoman rule of Asia Minor, an area that was Greek up till then, the Greek population in Prousa made their adaptation of the doner kebab by using pork meat. This was then brought over to Greece... in 1922. Rather than using Arabic pita bread, Greeks preferred the fluffy greek pita to soak up all the juices.”
Unsurprisingly, it was when gyros started to seep their way into the US during the 60s that tzatziki and chips were added to the gyros we now know and love. If that’s enough of a history lesson for you and you’re already drooling, we hear you.
Here’s where to find Sydney’s best gyros, according to you guys.
The Best Gyros In Sydney, According To You
Stix And Pita
Enmore
For a gyros enlightenment so good you'll return time and time again—hit the side streets of Enmore Road to find Stix And Pita. The main point of difference at Stix And Pita, apart from hand cutting, deboning, marinating, and cooking on their souvla (rotisserie) over all-natural charcoal, is their signature pita bread, which the team also makes from scratch in-house. There are also several variations of gyros with souvlaki, 11-hour slow-baked lamb, calamari, halloumi, bifteki (a form of Greek rissole), and even vegan and gluten-free options are on offer too.
The Yeeros Shop
Marrickville
The cash-only gyros pitstop known as The Yeeros Shop is undoubtedly one of the best places to score the good stuff in Sydney. Here, the gyros get packed until they’re almost bursting at the seams, something your pants will be doing upon finishing one of these loaded wraps (think the size of a football). If you’ve been around here long enough, you’ll know about the legend of a man who has been hand-cutting The Yeeros Shop's chips out the back since the late 60s.
Gyradiko
Bexley
When it comes to great gyros, it doesn’t get any more holy than Gyradiko. The team behind Gyradiko are very much the drivers behind the fact you find pork gyros throughout Sydney’s foodie scene at all. The family behind Gyradiko has owned 30 different shops in Australia and Greece and up until its official opening back in 2014, gyros shops across the city were previously sans pork and chips in their wraps. They also marked a new era of sourcing top-tier ingredients. On the menu, you’ll find simple gyros fillings of pork and chicken only—the traditional variations. The gyros rotisseries in the kitchen have been shipped directly from Greece, something Giannakaros says is highly important because Australian kebab machines aren’t powerful enough to cook pork “the way it is supposed to be”.
You’ll also find Gyradiko’s tasty gyros at Gyradiko Kitchen in Earlwood.
Little Greece Gyros & Souvlaki Bar
Parramatta, North Sydney and Roselands
Four words—sweet-sour pork gyros. Little Greece Gyros & Souvlaki Bar is a foodie love letter to gyros gods. While there’s a mix of classic gyros wraps to dig into (lamb, chicken, beef, pork souvlaki, and mixed meats), you’ll want to give the gourmet gyros a run. There’s a chilli chicken spin, peri-peri chicken, spicy lamb, and beef bifteki. As for the sweet-sour pork gyros? It’s a brand new addition to the menu and you need to wrap your mitts around it, stat.
Kazzi Beach Greek
Balmoral and Manly
If you'd like to be transported to a Greek island as you eat your loaded gyros, then head to Kazzi Beach Greek. With two beachside locations, one on Balmoral Beach and the other in Manly, this Greek taverna is a favourite among the North Sydney crowds. It draws specifically on the owner's ancestral heritage from the Greek island of Kastellorizo—hence the name "Kazzi". Here, the pita wraps come stuffed with chicken, lamb, pork, haloumi, fish or chickpea fritter, plus the usual tomato, red onion, chips, and tzatziki.
House of GRK
Penrith
House Of GRK knows how to serve the gyros of your dreams. Big, fluffy, and packed with a tonne of trimmings, there’s no going back when you fill your stomach with one of these. Here, there are five different kinds of gyros to get around. The "1821" is the guy to get when you want your classic gyros fix packed with spice inside; the "Mykonos" will serve you additional homemade GRK sauce; the "Spartan" packs in Greek slaw; the "Athena" is a glorious combo of grilled halloumi with balsamic glaze, and the "Rollaki" features tzatziki and crumbled feta.
Victoria Yeeros
Marrickville
Looking for plus-sized gyros that stick to tradition? The enormous $18 logs at Victoria Yeeros are about the size of the average forearm and they’re simple, just the way the gyros god’s intended them to be eaten. The crew here have also just dropped merch in the form of face masks too, so needless to say you’ll be killing two birds with one stone.
Gyros Fix
Five Dock
This family-owned business is headed by a father and son duo who have fronted a plethora of restaurants, fruit markets, convenience stores and takeaway hubs during their time. At some point, they decided to follow in the footsteps of their Greek relatives in Nafpaktos and went all in to open a game-changer of a Gyros Shop. Unlike most gyros shops across Sydney, the menu here is swarmed with options including pork, chicken, and lamb gyros. You can grab these in baby, regular, or large sizes.
Mega Gyros
Bexley and Rosebery
Mega Gyros uses wine as one of its key ingredients to marinade its rotisserie meat which means the fillings here are pretty much as good as they get. The wraps here are dripping with saucy goodness in a kind of way that will make you unashamedly lick your forearms should it start trickling down to your elbow. While small and kind of easy-to-miss, legend has it that this gyros gem is a winning date idea.
I Should Be Souvlaki
Newtown
We love a good pun—and I Should Be Souvlaki has the bonus of riffing on a Kylie song. Soon. As we know, souvlaki is the ultimate Greek comfort food but there's not a lot on offer when it comes to plant-based options. So if you're hankering for a skewer of non-meat, this is the place to get it. The couple behind the venture—Emma and Adam—started out by selling their chick'n souvlaki at the Sydney Vegan Markets and the demand grew from there, with the duo going on to open their dine-in restaurant on King Street in 2021. The concise menu features, salt and pepper "calamari", chips, wraps, salads, cakes, and the namesake souvlaki with proteins such as its soy-based "lamb", wheat-based chick'n, and marinated cauliflower.
More Of the Best Gyros In Sydney
GRK Souvlaki
Mascot and Ramsgate Beach
More often than not, the sauce spillage on these bad boys is very, very real. GRK Souvlaki plates up pork and chicken gyro pita wraps and you can go to town on the condiment side of things—if you don’t add mustard to these morsels at least once in your life, you’re really missing out.
Elate Gyros + Souvlaki Bar
Sylvania
Keep your eyes peeled for the flash of baby blue on Princes Highway. First up, you need to know that there resides a "magic sauce" you can add to your gyros, which has become the stuff of gyros legend. The gyro pita here is the main event and you’re going to want to dive head-first into the pork filling. We highly recommend Elate Gyros + Souvlaki Bar for gyros virgins.
Laneway Cafe
Cammeray
If you live on the Lower North Shore, you’d be well and truly all over the healthy feeds at Laneway Cafe. This no-frills Cammeray locale, while famous for its coffee and friendly vibe, also plates up one of the tastiest gyros in Sydney, not to mention, it’s bursting with drool-worthy colours. You can pick your poison (lamb, chicken, halloumi, falafel) and then sink your teeth into a fresh wrap of hummus, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, pickled cabbage, tzatziki, and parsley. For anyone off the bread train, there’s a saucy naked option for you, too.
Gyronimo’s
Frenchs Forest
Simply put, Gyronimo’s is a holy institution of gyros that does not skimp on flavour or filling. Open seven days a week, you’ll find several different gyros variations here including marinated pork, chicken, fish, and halloumi creations. The standout here is the made-to-order chicken gyros with Gyronimo’s chicken sourced from Australian suppliers. The meat gets thinly sliced, marinated with Gyronimo’s own secret sauce and spices, and then slowly cooked to pack in the flavour and juice and it is melt-in-your-mouth perfection. The gyros here are made on a freshly toasted pita roll with tzatziki, big slices of tomato, red onions, and chips. For a bonus punch, opt-in for a drizzle of chilli sauce.
Plateia Where Friends Meet
Potts Point
Located on Bayswater Road, Plateia Where Friends Meet is conveniently open until late Fridays and Saturdays. The gyros here go pretty mega so you’ll want to be pretty famished to rock up and order the loaded wraps from Plateia. When seating is available, you can BYO or bring your four-legged friend to sit outside.
Now catch up on all the major food news in Sydney this week.
Image credit: Gyradiko, Stix and Pita, Gyradiko, Kazzi Beach Greek, House of GRK, Gyros Fix, I Should Be Souvlaki, GRK Souvlaki, Gyronimo's