Yvonne’s Yiros Cafe is located towards the eastern end of Rundle Street and has been open for the last 8 months. The owner, who is Turkish in origin, has only been in the country for 10 years. He has run 4 other yiros stores in the past, and knows exactly what it takes to run a successful business.

The store itself is not particularly large, with a majority of the business being take away. There is the option to dine in store if you wish, with seating available both inside and out. The first thing that impressed me about this place is the cleanliness. With a hand sanitiser dispenser in their open kitchen area, I knew I was in good clean hands.

Yiros is their specialty, with lamb, chicken, falafel and vine leaves to choose from. They also sell a small range of sweets, cold drinks, milkshakes and coffee. They even offer 6 flavours of sheesha for those who are putting up their hands for lung cancer.

One of the main things that differentiates this place from their competitors is the quality of their meat. Yvonne’s only uses premium quality meat which is marinated in store everyday for 24 hours. They don’t use MSG or preservatives which is what the health conscious want to hear.

Today, I ordered a Lamb AB; lamb yiros meat, chips, chili sauce, garlic sauce and tomato sauce. This item isn’t on their menu, but I found out they offered the dish through their Facebook page. The lamb was freshly carved off the rotisserie which very few places do. Other places that offer the AB usually reheat the left over meat from previous days. The owner then performed the kill step (cooking of the carved meat on the grill) to remove any uncooked meat and eliminate the risk of food poisoning.

The Lamb AB was right up there with the best. The lamb was lean, well marinated and perfectly cooked. The chips were nice and generous in amount, however, some pieces were slightly under cooked for my liking. The garlic sauce had a nice thick consistency, and the chili sauce was the American variety with plenty of kick.

The service here was pretty good, and the owner was very friendly and down to earth. The atmosphere was relaxed and the Lamb AB was quite enjoyable. The pricing of the Lamb AB was a bit higher than their competitors, however, considering their prime city location, I suspect their pricing is reflected in the rent they have to pay.

Yvonne’s is the first of many franchise stores that will open around the state. Their superior quality meat, their clean stores and their old fashioned customer service are some of their strong points. This place gets my seal of approval!

WHERE: 298 Rundle St, Adelaide