Timothy Kassimatis is representing Greek cuisine in Australia in a way that nobody really has before.

Tsigarídia and tsigerosarmádes. Macedonian makálo. Peloponnesian pork pastó. Dishes that you may not have heard of, but that spell out the true breadth and depth of Greek cuisine. Here, almost entirely everything – from the pites and the gyros, to the yoghurt and the vinegar(!) – the team makes from scratch.

This isn’t Greece. This is Marrickville, New South Wales. A Sydney suburb once known as home to a large Greek diaspora community. Now, a new opening is setting out to revive that.

Having just opened on Thursday 27 February 2025, Olympic Meats has already garnered attention – rather, praise – from the likes of Greek Australian TV chef, George Calombaris, and other successful industry professionals. Pictures from the soft launch a few days prior show happy guests teasing mouthwatering glimpses of the menu and posing with Alfa beers.

The atmosphere appears to be one of a word that keeps on coming up in our conversation with the man behind it: ‘community’.

“We’re bringing the village culture into 2025, you know.”

Timothy Kassimatis has been cooking since 2009. He recently ran a catering business, making Greek grilled meat classics like lamb on the soúvla (spit) and kokorétsi for clients. But this is a project that has been a long time coming, as he tells us: “I’ve had quite a lot of setbacks in my career. I had a really nasty car accident a few years ago, it took me a long time to recover. But it also made me all the more determined to open something and ‘conquer the mountain’.”

His mission here? To show Greek cuisine for what it really is, the way he knows it and learned it from his grandparents. “There's no need to bring in foreign ‘flair’” to Greek cuisine, he says. Rather, the goal is to represent it honestly and celebrate its simplicity. “The result is in the effort that goes into executing it well.”

“Tim, is there anything you don’t make from scratch?”

In this case, the effort Kassimatis is putting into his new project is unquestionable. He and his team make so much of their ingredients from scratch, that, in the course of our conversation, he even finds himself having to specify what they don’t: “we don’t make the butter. Or the salt.”

If you find yourself eating at Olympic Meats, the chances are that you are eating something that is the result of days – or, in the case of the pork pastó, months – of preparation: the pites are made by hand and cooked to order in a woodfire oven; the filo for the pies is rolled by hand; the loukánika are made from scratch and then hung. “It’s a lot of work,” he adds.

Whether it’s Sydney or Melbourne, Australia’s Greek diaspora community is known for staying true to and proud of its Greek roots, and perhaps it’s due to the distance. You can’t simply jump on a cheap short-haul flight to get a taste of your homeland, like the Greek diaspora communities of Europe. Olympic Meats is making up for that distance.

The devil is in the details. Things aren’t rushed; the meats are slow-cooked for a minimum of 4 hours over charcoal. Likewise, because pretty much everything is made from scratch, you see Olympic Meats using social media to notify its community when things have ‘sold out’. A rare occurrence in the English-speaking world, but something that is very reminiscent of small, family-run establishments in Greece, where things are made by hand rather than sourced in larger quantities and pre-prepared by suppliers.

“It takes two days to prepare the meats, so we have to anticipate in advance what we’re gonna sell. Today is Wednesday. We’ve just prepared the meat and pites for Friday. I don’t buy yoghurt either. We make our own yoghurt once a week, we do our own 30 litre batch – it’s very easy to make! But we put a lot of effort in.”

Greek diaspora revival in Marrickville

It’s clear, just from looking at the photos, that Olympic Meats isn’t a venture that seeks to jump on the Greek cuisine bandwagon, at a time when the English-speaking world is starting to embrace it in the way that it already has with, say, Italian food. Rather, it’s one that seeks to serve Sydney’s Greek community.

“The area in Sydney where I’ve opened the restaurant in Marrickville, 40-60 years ago was a stronghold for Greek migrants that moved to Australia. My grandparents still live there, but there was a big Greek community. Now it’s been gentrified. I’ve always wanted to have a shop in the area to bring back that energy, and that sense of belonging for the Greek community.”

“Except I’m a second generation Greek immigrant doing it with a modern aesthetic. You walk in and it’s quirky, which is a way of resonating with people of our generation. At the same time, we want to say, ‘this is for you guys, this is to keep the community going and remind us who we are.’ There’s also a lot of nostalgia in it.”

Kassimatis shares a moving message from a diner who attended the soft launch:

“My dad grew up on Wardell Road, 200m from the shop. He had his mechanic workshop there for 30 years, [and] worked with my Pappou as father and son for years… sitting there [at Olympic Meats] and eating that incredible food overlooking a crystal blue sky in dully [Dulwich, the area next to Marrickville] was somewhat of a homage to them…”

Kassimatis wants to restore ‘energy’ and ‘a sense of belonging’ to the Greek community in Sydney.

The crystal-blue, Australian-summer sky may help, but Olympic Meats is there to cater for the community no matter whether they are after a Greek grill/taverna experience, or simply want to grab a pita gyro on the go. As the names suggest, it’s the meats that will likely steal the limelight: “I’m really happy with the païdakia [chops]. We cut them very thin (1.5cm) for the belly fat to render and go crispy while the meat is still tender, but it’s about 30cm long, spanning the rib, cutlet, and belly.“ Traditional taverna specials that make your mouth water even while you’re full.

If you’re there for a sit-down meal, you’re spoiled with a curated choice of mezédes to share. Or, you may go for the meat platter, served with tzatziki and makálo – a traditional Macedonian sauce that not everyone will have heard of, which is particularly popular around Kastoria and Florina and often paired with meatballs.

Australia without gyros is like… Greece without gyros

There is a takeaway window too, offering a trio of pita ‘wrap’ options: pork gyros served with garlic yoghurt and red salsa, polítiko kebab (lamb and beef patty) or chicken gyros with ‘souvlaki sauce’ and tzatziki, plus a wildcard ‘nistisimi pita’ that includes mushrooms and kremmydokeftedes (onion fritters) as a non-meat option. The carefully-crafted combination of ingredients here reflects Kassimatis’ attention to detail and reverence for tradition, as well as his research trip to Athens a month before the launch. Both red salsa, then yoghurt, were the original condiments in the traditional souvlaki wrap in Athens, at least a decade or so before tzatziki became the mainstream option. You won’t find fries in your pita here either.

A respectfully and elegantly executed – albeit modern and unique – touch is evident in the very simple yet ingenious addition of pickled cucumber to the pites. The idea being that, together with the kebab in particular, the pickles somewhat emulate the experience of eating a burger. It’s different and it gives Olympic Meats its own identity in a way that people across generations can connect with, but on a menu that is indisputably Greek. The dips – fava (split pea), tyrokafteri (spicy feta), and melitzanosalata (aubergine) – are also reimagined with a light touch. Otherwise, the pites are served exactly as you’d traditionally find them in Greece: onion, tomato, meat and condiments. Or, as a traditional portion (merìda): meat, onions, tomatoes, and a sauce like tzatziki.

Giving the Greek food of our grandparents the love and attention it deserves

Gyros and ‘souvs’ (the Australian-Greek abbreviation for ‘souvlakia’) might be the first thing Australians think of when it comes to Greek food. But it’s Kassimatis’ learnings from his grandparents, as well as his experiences from their villages, that form the basis of his love letter to his fatherland and rallying call for the Greek community of Australia to cherish the true essence of Greek cuisine.

“For the spanakopita, I do my Yiayia’s recipe. She rolls it into logs and then chops it into pieces. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents, who are from a village near Kalamata, and Kythira. I got to grow up seeing how people cooked in two different villages. It was quite different, and that opened my mind up from quite a young age. I thought: ‘there’s more to this cuisine, there’s something interesting.’”

The spanakopita at Olympic meats is the recipe of Kassimatis’ grandmother.

“I love eating, learning, and listening in Athens too. Obviously it’s in our DNA, but I really want to pay attention to the little things that are often forgotten. My Yiayia [grandmother] made fresh hilopites [a Greek pasta] and trahana for us when I was working at a Cypriot restaurant in Australia. For me, that’s what the cuisine is all about, making all these things from scratch. These dishes are what we are, and they stand out alone. And they are very beautiful. I find myself constantly saying these two things: ‘less is more’… and ‘more olive oil in what you’re making.’”

Organic olive, homemade vinegar, and a 2 month-long recipe

Even the olive oil, it turns out, is from Kassimatis’ childhood friend, an organic olive oil producer in Australia. It’s produced in a region, he specifies, where the climate emulates that of the Peloponnese region. It doesn’t stop there. On the menu is also a humble yet appetising loukániko dish, served with lentils and a dash of homemade vinegar for a touch of acidity. You guessed it, Kassimatis even makes the vinegar from scratch: “Me and my mate made wine this year, and we saved some for vinegar. We chucked the fermentation starter (scoby) into the wine, and it makes vinegar. We’re bringing the village culture into 2025, you know.”

Just as Olympic Meats is a project that has been long in the making, so are the dishes. “The pastó – like Peloponnesian confit pork [it’s typically made with pork in Kalamata] – is a recipe my Yiayia and Pappou [grandmother and grandfather] taught me. You salt pork shoulder for 4-5 days, simmer it in wine, add spices, smoke it, then preserve it in olive for a couple of months. Then we serve it sliced thinly.”

“If I didn’t do this, people wouldn’t know what Peloponnesian pork pastó is. I’m telling people’s stories that way. People are gonna learn here what tsigarídia and pastó are now. People are going to be equipped with knowledge and an understanding of the cuisine a lot more. And, for me, that's the mission.”

From Kalamata and Kythira to Macedonia and Mount Athos

Those who are lucky enough to visit Olympic Meats are blessed with dishes that are even hard to come by in Greece. Tsigerosarmádes are something sort of similar to more-widely known Cypriot sheftalies (minced pork with onion and parsley wrapped in caul fat). Except, in northern Greece, Kassimatis tells us, tsigerosarmádes are made with leek, onion, lots of pepper, lamb livers, rice to absorb the fat, and are then wrapped in caul fat. He educates us further.

The aforementioned tsigarídia is typically a dish that’s similar to spanakórizo, particularly popular in the island Kefalonia, where it consists of greens cooked with some tomato and dotted with rice. Here, the surprise flair comes from the fact that Kassimatis uses a recipe without the rice, from a book written by monks from the sacred Mount Athos. “They put a lot of fennel tops to add a hint of anise. It’s then finished with olive oil and lemon and we serve it with feta from Epirus.”

Keeping the Olympic flame alive

Through his new venture, Kassimatis is drawing a map of Greek cuisine in a way that is accessible to all ages, is honest and true to its heritage, and pays homage to the traditions of our grandparents while making room for Faith.

If you’re lucky enough to eat at Olympic Meats, expect the experience to fool you into thinking you really are in Greece, from start to end. From the toursiá (pickles) and hórta (greens) that you’ll start with, to the homemade bougátsa dessert and glyká tou koutalioú (spoon sweets) that arrive with your bill.

It’s real Greek food, in Australia, made by someone who cares about their heritage and their community, and presented in a way that welcomes everyone to come and learn about it. We’d like to congratulate Kassimatis and his team, and send our very best to Olympic Meats and all of the Greek diaspora community of Sydney and Australia.

To conclude with the words of the man behind it: “We’re gonna do kokorétsi too, I’m really excited for that.”

📍Olympic Meats, 12 Dudley St, Marrickville NSW 2204, Australia 🇦🇺

* This is neither a paid-feature article nor an advertisement or promotion.

Sydney, Australia: the new Greek restaurant that’s bringing the village into 2025