Opa! After testing a number of lamb burgers over the past weeks, we started to feel that slight disinterest towards Greek food. That was until some students from the #MALTAburgers Guild of Burger Eaters reported of a burger-style Greek Gyro around the Msida school area. The burger game at the Junior College area is single-handedly dominated by NYB. Will the Gyro Burger prove to be novel enough to attract the always-hungry college students? #MALTAburgers went to investigate.
Gyros & Churros opened in February 2018, in the same premises of the now defunct White Arrow, one of the most iconic students’ snack bars from yesteryear. DJ Cyprian Cassar & tattoo artist Matthew Agius have taken over the place, stripped it inside out and renovated it into a slick and modern eating place. There’s a pool table for nostalgia purposes, cool stools, cast iron furnishings and lots of brick walls. Even a 90s kid would love this place. The concept of merging Greek and Spanish street food is leading-edge, and so far it has proved to be a hit with students as the place is always buzzing with youths. And the contemporary decor helps too!
The traditional Gyro is a sort of pita sandwich stuffed with meat that has been slow roasted on a spit and shaved thin, kebab-style. The wrapped meat is generally chicken, beef, lamb, or pork and is paired up with tzatziki sauce and all sorts of veggies. The more modern, and less traditional Greek/American Gyro loaf tends to be a combination of beef and lamb, generally with a ratio that favours beef. And that’s the case in point here, as the Gyro burger is made entirely of beef. The goal was to create a combo that has all the classic flavours of the Gyro, yet ticks all the boxes of the crucial elements that make a burger: meat, condiments and sauce, encased in bread. The patties are made from 50gr of local beef. You get two of them in every Gyro. Chef Mark Mallia gets ready with his conveyor belt BBQ grill. The patties are grilled and finished in the oven, depending on the requested temperature. The meat has a light seasoning that evokes that Gyro-like flavour. Gyro meat tends to be densely packed, but when it comes to burgers, a more loose, coarse and crumbly texture is more adequate. Here, the beef has been minced to a level between coarse and fine, which kind of achieves a cohesive texture of Gyro loaf. The char marks, browning and holding consistency of the patty is gold champion level. Chef Mark definitely knows how to nail his meat!
The pita is a flat and hollow bread that is slightly leavened. It’s mostly based on a mix of flour and water, but G&C have their own recipe that yields lighter than usual results. It’s freshly prepared on a daily basis and then grilled on the spot. There’s no tzatziki or pickled pepperoncini in this burger. Instead, there’s a capacious amount of cheesy burger sauce spread all over the pita, made from mayo, ketchup, chilli and herbs. Crispy fries together with slices of tomatoes go on top. Everyone knows that no burger should be consumed without fries, so G&C want to make sure of that, by craftily amalgamating the fries inside the burger itself! The patties are topped with caramelised onions, that provide crunch and introduce a slight element of sweetness. All these elements unite all the best bits of a gyro loaf worth eating: juicy meat with herb seasoning… with a hamburger! All is enveloped in a branded wrapper, which is a God-send and avoids unneeded spills.
The Gyro burger seems to have found a favourable audience, seeing that G&C are now also offering burgers in their more traditional bun form! And for those who like to nibble on fries, one by one, G&C have you sorted out in a big way. They have a selection of loaded fries, anything from cheesy fries with paprika, to the superb pulled pork ones with spring onions. If you like spice, then go for our favourites, the pizza loaded fries with slices of pepperoni, salsa and loads of heavenly cheese. It’s no wonder G&C has become a landmark for students, we can envision them eating these fries all day long, starting with late breakfast…
