Souvlaki King

311 Brunswick St, Fitzroy, Melbourne
Visited 9th April 2010
I've been back in Australia, but unfortunately an ‘incident’ at a party led to a broken camera and thus a lack of photos and blog posts. My trip home to Melbourne was fun and on the final evening after a counter meal and bucket of booze it was decided it was time for a 'dirty kebab' before bed. A short stagger from the Napier Hotel led us to Brunswick St and the shinning lights of the Souvlaki King.

The focus at Souvlaki King is of course the hypnotic skewers stacked with fillets of chicken and lamb slowly spinning on spits. I ordered a mixed kebab with both lamb and chicken off the spit with all the extras thrown in. They also do a selection of the usual fried and fatty takeaway junk and I munched a couple of potato cakes to satisfy the serious cravings I’ve been having for these Aussie 'delicacies'. The kebab was wrapped in excellent chewy, fresh pita and packed with tomato, lettuce and onion. I’m not sure why I ordered both meats (alcohol?) but on (sober) reflection surely it’s better to stick with one flavour? Anyway the juicy slithers of meat were tasty, however I would liked to have seen a few more and speaking of “more” the kebab definitely needed more garlic sauce.

In England kebabs are made from a disgusting meat loaf that resembles dog food and are responsible for a high proportion of alcohol related illness. In Australia it’s a different story with a history of Greek and Turkish immigration there's quality and authenticity amongst our late night takeaway. When I walked into the Souvlaki King I needed food, and despite being stitched with the sauce I enjoyed my kebab and thought it pretty fair value at $9. Too be honest I’ve always been a fan of the competition across the road; Lamb on Brunswick, and while the Souvlaki King probably doesn't deserve the title of ‘King’ it's still a good stop for ‘a dirty kebab’ when you get chucked out of the pub.