New York Times' leading food editor Sam Sifton recently visited Melbourne’s Kalimera Souvlaki Art shop in Oakgleigh and described it as a “life changing experience” after trying a pork gyros for the first time.
In his article 'How Did I Not Know About Pork Gyros?' Sifton’s lengthy piece lets his worldwide readers know how this traditional Greek street food has blown his mind.
“The dish was as marvellous and strange to me as a wallaby or a kangaroo. Imagine not knowing about strawberry ice cream, then eating your first bite,” he writes.
The food critic loved the gyros so much that he attempted to recreate it in his own kitchen when he got home to the States, serving it to guests time and time again to get it as close to what he had tasted as possible. He also includes his take of the recipe in the article.
“A few days later, I was still thinking about the meal. I had a long flight home,” he wrote.
“There wasn’t much to do. I thought about pork gyros for the better part of 14 hours. Then I dreamed about them while I slept. I have been cooking them ever since, in the oven and under the broiler, on the grill.”
Kalimera Souvlaki Art, he tells his readers, is one of Melbourne’s best souvlaki stores hands down.
As a food critic in one of the world’s greatest cities, he confesses to being slightly embarrassed about his lack of knowledge about a pork gyros prior to his first encounter in Melbourne.
The owners of Souvlaki Art were of course also rightfully 'blown away' with the great write up, taking to social media and telling their followers “OMG! We made it into the NYT! Who would have ever thought when we started our Kalimera journey four and a half years ago , with our against all odds pork gyro concept, which was the Australian norm back then, that we would now be mentioned in The New York Times! From the bottom of our hearts, we would like to thank you for the great honour you have given us in your article and would really hope to see you again one day at Kalimera souvlaki art!”
Something tells us Mr Sifton will definitely be paying Souvlaki Art a visit again some time soon!
