Pork Gyro Challenge: Will The Challenge Be Accepted?

 While backpacking Europe with my husband, we quickly discovered the international food amongst the countries was donair. Depending on the country, donair was also called gyro or shawarma (these terms will be used interchangeably though I know the spices are different for each). My husband likes to joke around that “it was the only food that consistently provided vegetables”. The most memorable of these was the gyro in Athens, Greece located adjacent from the metro station called Bairaktaris Restaurant in Monastiraki Square. That was the first time we had tried a pork gyro, ever! Much of the time the only options were chicken or beef with the occasional lamb but not once in our 4 months of backpacking (prior to Athens) had we thought of a pork gyro. Turned out to be the best we’ve ever eaten and we had consumed many, many gyros on that trip.

Pork gyros with a side of fries: Bairaktaris Restaurant in Monastiraki Square

The pork gyro had the texture of crispy bacon on the outside intertwined with pulled pork juiciness on the inside. The pork laid in a grilled pita with lettuce, tomato and onion smothered in a ridiculous amount of Greek yogurt but we normally substituted it with tzatziki sauce. Typically fries are also inside the gyro, however, we often eat the fries first before biting into the gyro, we ask for no fries or ask for them on the side. One bite of the pork gyro was absolutely divine! It was quite unique, as the juiciness of the pork mixed with the vegetables and sauce as an inseparable joyful union that can only be described as heavenly. After licking our fingers of all the sauce, we looked into our paper holders that used to house the gyros, looked at each other, looked around, and then slurped back the remaining juice. All I can say, it was a paramount foodie moment.

Gastronomical Adventurer taking a bite out of the souvlaki pork in pita

Coming home to the multitude of donair, shawarma or gyro places, the only place we were looking forward to eating at (at the time) was Falafel King. We wouldn’t recommend Falafel King now, due to their health code violations but back then it was our favorite place to eat at but not even they carried a pork shawarma. It’s been a few years since we’ve been home looking for a pork gyro in Vancouver and only recently have I found it. Takis’ Taverna on Davie Street in Vancouver has pork souvlaki in pita. This lunch time meal gives you a full dinner plate sized portion with rice, roasted potatoes, vegetables, Greek salad and of course the pork souvlaki in pita. Great customer service, accommodating restaurant and superior quality food, I highly recommend this eatery as would many of my co-workers.

Souvlaki pork in pita at Takis' Taverna

I’m well aware that souvlaki pork in pita isn’t exactly the pork gyro but it is the closest I’ve come across thus far, giving me hope that one day soon, someone will begin serving pork gyros comparable to Greece. Here’s to hoping that the future pork gyros will be done the same as the chicken gyros, with slabs of real pork meat alternating one on top of each other on a vertical spit. Rotating slowly, cooking against a vertical rotisserie, shaved when ready and placed into a pita. A challenge to all restaurants and food trucks, if you make this type of pork gyro, I will be a frequent customer along with my husband and I’m sure many others!