Overview
Gyros is not something that's necessarily hard to find in Sydney — especially not with the explosion of takeaway outlets like Zeus Street Greek and GRK Souvlaki and local favourites in Bexley, Beverly Hills and Five Dock. But even so, it's about to get easier with chef George Calombaris today announcing that he will open four of his Jimmy Grants souvlaki bars in Sydney over the next year.
Calombaris first opened Jimmy Grants in Melbourne's Fitzroy in 2013, and has since opened four other stores in Melbourne and one on the Gold Coast. The expansion to Sydney seems somewhat late in the piece, but he MasterChef judge says he's "excited" to finally bring the brand up here. This first store will be located in Newtown and will open next month.
If you haven't been into a Jimmy Grants down south, it's a similar offering to that of Sydney's Zeus Street Greek. Souvas are stuffed with the likes of chicken, lamb, falafel, prawns and beef short-rib, chips come topped with feta and oregano and dessert is a baklava choc-top. Also on the menu is a selection of dips, meat plates, salads and Jimmy's famous steamed dimmys. The whole thing is pretty casual — they have room for diners to sit-in but do lots of take away and delivery through UberEATS — and the new Sydney stores will be fitted out with recycled or repurposed materials and feature the brand's signature neon blue.
With the Newtown store set to open in September, a CBD location will follow in October. The remaining two locations are yet to be revealed, but they'll be opening in 2018 — potentially alongside Sydney versions of Calombaris' other Melbourne restaurants, Gazi and Hellenic Republic. The MAdE Establishment group have hinted that they are currently scouting for appropriate sites for these venues.
Calombaris was recently forced to back-pay over $2 million to staff at his Melbourne restaurants Gazi, The Press Club and Hellenic Republic after underpaying them through systematic payroll errors over the last six years.
The first Sydney Jimmy Grants will open in September in Newtown. We'll keep you updated with further information. Until then, check out jimmygrants.com.au.