Yiannis On Hindley

We haven’t lived in Adelaide for a few years, but when visiting recently, our first stop was to the Hindley St Yiannis, my hubby’s hands-​down favourite yiros place.
And oh, we missed it. The meat here is just delicoius, and everyting else is classic and fresh — plenty of garlic sauce, crisp salads, good pita bread (so I’m told, but as a glutard, I have mine without).
You’d easily walk past this place and be unsure — is it dodgy like it looks, or is it that wonderful kind of dodgy awesome that defies the cheap exterior? Yep, it’s the latter.

Freaking awesome yiros. Every other yiros I’ve had pales in comparison. Meat splinters? Mystery meat log? You won’t see either here. Beautifully charred and tender meat in a soft pita with all the trimmings. It’s about the size of a baby’s leg! This aspect used to discourage me but they now do mini yiros which are essentially the size of the regular ones you’d get at other places. YES! So bloody good!

First time ever having Charcoal Gyros… They were awesome! Great flavor and the veggies and sauce were well proportioned to the lamb meat. Served in a nice package that allows you to minimize a bit of the mess… If I lived in Adelaide, this would definitely be a frequent stop for me.

Ye I’ve had a lot better. ordered a chicken yiros, the chicken was still pink and a tad slimey i would have preferred it a little crispier and not as wet… The pita was like a hard dough, not as soft and tasty as others I have tried. It was kind of slapped together no passion in what they prepare for their customers. A bit of a disappointment.

Oh my god the yiros here is so so nice, it’s about the only thing I’ve had here, but that’s more than enough reason to give it four stars. Definitely go the garlic sauce as it lifts the taste to a whole other level.
Service is great too, and you can eat in or takeaway.

This is a hard review to write. See, for this particular type of food to be attractive, appealing, even edible to me, I need to be extremely happy. When I say extremely happy, I mean tipsy, and when I say tipsy, I mean barely able to remember who I am, where I am, where I should be, how I got here, and why I can’t stand up straight.
In Melbourne, this sort of thing is known as a souvlaki by most people. Although there’s obviously some sort of complex language barrier thing going on, I managed to point and grunt appropriately and was rewarded with some much needed carbohydrate, fat and protein for my effort.
I’m pretty sure I enjoyed it, but it’s all a bit hazy now. I’m sure I’ll be back again, though.

The war for the best Yiros in Adelaide is hotly contested by true yiros believers. Amongst the names I hear uttered in the name of good yiros, Yiannis is one. On early Friday afternoons at the nearby City West campus, wafts of charcoal rotisserie float through the heady summer warmth. Somehow for my entire four years spent on campus here, I managed to ignore the call of Yiannis — partially because I’ve always stupidly assumed the better lunch foods would be in the direction of King Willy, and partially because I don’t have the true, deep, passionate love of yiros that some people do.
Despite my lack of deep passion, I do have definite yiros preferences. On a weekend leading up to a major deadline, the scent of Yiannis finally drew me in. The great old-​fashioned blue sign on the honey-​combed building front was a good sign, as was the not-​flashy but not-​dirty interior. And of course, Yiannis has the essentials — meat cooked on the horizontal charcoal rotisserie. Juicy cuts of dead animal on a big spinning stick — this place is an animal lover’s hell.
I was impressed by the simplicity of the flavour combinations — nothing flashy, just very nicely cooked meat, lemon, garlic sauce and lettuce, tomato + onion. The serving was ridiculously generous, I probably would only want to eat that much meat once a month. Reasonable price — eleven dollars. Verdict: delicious. I’m no expert, but this is one of the better yiros I’ve had in my time.
Top Tip: Don’t ask if they have tabouli. «That bullsh*t is Turkish, we do it the proper way».