Kalimera raises the bar for Melbourne's souvlaki scene

If army cook Thomas Deliopoulos had been told a decade ago that one day his food would be the subject of a review in The New York Times, he would have simply laughed out loud. Yet Kalimera, the souvlaki restaurant he opened in the Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh six years ago with his wife, photographer Sylvia Gabriel, prompted a tribute in the respected American newspaper to its pork gyros - and a well-earned one, as Kathimerini ascertained.

Unsurprisingly, Kalimera is located in one of Melbourne's "Greekest" neighborhoods, and is surrounded by Greek-owned shops that boast their provenance in every possible way: "Greek" fonts on shop signs, Greek-speaking employees and Greek music - occasionally at startlingly loud levels.

At Kalimera, there's always a queue and 70 percent of customers are not Greek, says 45-year-old Deliopoulos, who quit the Hellenic Army in 2011...