Yiamas!

Two weeks ago, John spotted an ad for Yiamas Greek Taverna in the Sydney Star Observer, and decided to give it a go. 

Getting there was a bit of an adventure having forsaken our TomTom and relying on basic (human) instinct. We nearly missed Yiamas on our approach, if not for a Yiamas-sponsored banner "advising" us to park our vehicle across the road, at Sydney Park to be precise. Naturally we didn't follow that sort of advice, we are not good at taking instructions and instead found a spot round the corner, on Applebee Street. 

A short stroll and a brief hello to a Dalmatian later, we find ourselves standing in front of Yiamas, a very blue-aqua looking taverna. The place is immense and I wondered briefly how will they ever fill the place to keep it profitable. The tables (black in colour, I suspect, since the chairs are in black) are covered with white table cloth overlaid with a piece of heavy-duty clear plastic sheet, and packed in a canned sardine-like configuration. Hence no privacy in conversation, and you will have to shout down your neighbours in order to have yourself heard but I guess that is Greek dining for you - nosy and noisy. 

I have to admit I am not a huge fan of Greek cuisine and only because I have no knowledge of the cuisine so I was emboldened to let my fellow dining kakis (legs in Malay-speak, companions in Anglo-speak) seize full control and made the order. 

What do you think? Did they do well? I think they did. 

The calamari is top class; the batter feathery light in texture and singed with just a hint of (oceanic?) saltiness, enveloping the tenderly soft calamari meat. The dips are surprisingly ordinary but really you can't go wrong with these as long as you have warm pita bread, which as you can see we had plenty. Thank goodness the establishment didn't try to bull us with the claim that the dips were "home-made". The best performer on our dining table will have to be the kondosouvli, we have both pork and chicken which were delectably smoky and sinfully salty. Nonetheless I thought this dish should have been served with roast potatoes instead of fries although my dining kakis have no qualms with the fries. Peasants. And yes, we did have a bottle of Kleoni to helps us wash down the grub.

Of course we couldn't finish the food so I had a small parcel taken away for Dot, our darling Schipperke at home. And judging from the groups that came in threes, fours, sevens, and even elevens, I am convinced you have to be in a group of at least three in order to enjoy Greek food. So, yes go check out Yiamas Greek Taverna and who knows you might just be rubbing shoulders with me as I shoot the kondosouvli and other Greek goodies, with my iPhone. Once a blogger, always a blogger.

Yiamas! (pronounced yah-mas, meaning cheers!)

Yiamas Greek Taverna

1/5 Princes Highway

St Peters NSW 2044

+61 (02) 9517 9492