For juicy yeeros and chips, it’s hard to resist the all-ages pull of this family-run Greek shop

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I’m done with hot chips. Chicken salt, begone. This is a bonkers statement, yes, but at the time of writing, we’ve just wrapped Good Food’s inaugural “Chip Month” at The Sydney Morning Herald, and I’ve consumed more deep-fried potato over the past three weeks than the past three years combined. (Thoughts and prayers, I know. “What does your dad do for a job?” “He eats chips all day, then he complains about it”.)

Throughout March, I was dedicated to finding the best hot chips in Sydney, visiting dozens of charcoal-chicken joints and takeaway spots where you can still see a Chiko Roll poster in the wild. Marrickville’s Olympic Meats and My Father’s Yeeros in Ramsgate placed first and fourth on the ranking, respectively, reinforcing what most Australians already know: the best hot chips come from Greek-owned businesses.

Olympic Meats’ chips, hand-cut from Southern Highlands potatoes, are double-fried in tallow and tossed in a secret blend of Mediterranean herbs and spices. But we already reviewed Olympic Meats when it opened last year, and the grill house is packed every service with locals patiently waiting for chef Timothy Cassimatis’ delicious cooking.

A dozen clicks south at Ramsgate Beach Plaza, it’s a bit easier to nab an outdoor table at My Father’s Yeeros and sit among teenagers still in school uniform at 8pm, and old blokes arguing over the latest St George rugby-league squad choice. Few dishes have the all-ages pull of marinated meat, sauce and bread. (I say “gyro”, you say “yeero”, let’s call the whole thing “vertical-rotisserie meat shaved and served in fluffy pita”.)

The store opened in December 2024, but its lineage stems from the legendary Yeeros Shop in Marrickville, which was run by Greek expat Stamatios Plangetis and his wife, Maria, from 1976. The couple handed the Yeeros Shop reins to their son and daughter-in-law, John and Olympia, in 2000 and the business remained in Plangetis family hands until it was sold around 2013.

John and Olympia revived the old family recipes for their Ramsgate takeaway, and the menu is stripped back to the essentials: beef, chicken, pork, lamb or halloumi yeeros, swaddled in pita or served on a plate with Greek salad; souvlaki that puts up just enough fight with the teeth; chips cut daily from fresh potatoes. Very few things, all done properly. If you only order one meat, go for the pork, which ripples with oregano and a rabble of lush, gnarly textures.

Chicken and lamb yeeros are robust and juicy, and diligent eaters know to order house-made tzatziki on the side. But, good heavens, those chips! The kind of jagged, little-finger-thick chips you’d never call “fries”, half-cooked before service and finished to order for a crunchy, butter yellow shell and creamy interior. There is no MSG-forward seasoning for cheat-code flavour, just the right amount of salt teamed with clean oil and a deep-fryer committed to one task. There will be no clumping.

If you want to level up from a carpark view, you might take your lunch to the beach. Order an extra serve of chips to be eaten straight off the butchers’ paper, open a cheap bottle of riesling and embrace Sydney in the autumn. Can you believe I ever said I was done with hot chips? Ha!

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.

This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine