There’s Greek food, then there’s Gyros

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There’s Greek food, then there’s Gyros

Nestled in a quiet corner, a step away from the busy streets in front of Ewha Womans University, is Gyros, a restaurant specializing in Greek cuisine. Decorated with the Santorini-esque colors of white and blue, Gyros mostly caters to university students looking for a quick meal between or after their classes. Given this, the portions are quite bird-like, with health-conscious choices of salads, gyros (a Greek wrap) and souvlakis (a Greek skewer).
The main menu item, gyros, originally meaning meat roasted on a rotisserie, has come to describe the wrap. Wraps consist of pita bread, meat, vegetables and usually either tzatziki sauce (a yogurt based sauce) or mayonnaise.
My tablemate and I ordered the Olympic set (15,000 won, $16), designed for two people. This included one gyro (with a choice of chicken, pork, chicken plus pork or vegetables), one chicken or pork souvlaki, two pieces of spanakopita (a Greek spinach pie) and a salad. Although this sounds like a lot, we had to go to a tteokbokgi stand later to fill our stomachs with spicy rice cakes.
This can be overlooked, as both of us have had our share of tiny 50 dollar portions of veal at other restaurants.
We decided on a chicken gyro. The meat was a bit dry, but the real downer was the pita bread. The same bread is used throughout the menu.
It was sweet and creamy with the distinct taste of white flour, and made me feel as if I were eating a peculiar mix of dessert bread and meat. “We initially wanted to use authentic pita bread that was less sweet, but I found that Koreans prefer this sweeter variety,” the owner said.
The souvlaki meat was cooked in a reddish sauce, which was also a bit too sweet. It tasted like a peppery mix of ketchup and Tabasco sauce, and the spanakopita wasn’t any better. It consisted of a few wilted strands of spinach wrapped in the restaurant’s pita bread. The tzatziki sauce was a bit too thick, and the absence of garlic or onion made it bland.
The whole experience was the food equivalent of watching a bad impersonator.


Gyros is open from Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. It is located in Seodaemun-gu, northern Seoul. The nearest subway station is Ewha Womans University station, line No. 2, exit 2 or 3. For more information, call (02) 312-2246.

by Cho Jae-eun Staff Writer [jainnie@joongang.co.kr]
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