Jimmy Grants

113 St David St, Fitzroy Vic 3065
Date visited: 8th December 2013


The first time I heard of Jimmy Grants was when I happened to be browsing Urbanspoon last Sunday morning for somewhere to go for lunch.  When I found out it was yet another new venture of George Calombaris, I decided a visit a.s.a.p. was in order.

The entrance is extremely unassuming - just some random building face in a dead-end street that leads to a Woolies parking lot.  

After sitting, you check out the menu on your table and order at the counter.

We had a super mini table that was already half taken up by the serviette holder, cutlery and condiments.

Blood orange $4

The menu at Jimmy Grants is Greek inspired street food including souva, chips, grain salads and strangely enough, the Jimmy Dimmy.  Now we're heard really good reviews on them so I was really eager to try them.

Steamed jimmy dimmy $5

They were much larger than regular dimsum and came with a small plastic container of dipping soy sauce.  Sadly, it was just mediocre for me - the meaty filling inside was soft and didn't quite have that bite or resistance that you would expect in a dimsum.  The skin was also quite thick, and as MerlinFan put it, had a waterlogged texture.  What can I say, I'm old-fashioned - I'd take the traditional dimsum any day.

We ordered a side of Chips.

Chips, garlic oil, feta, oregano $5

The chips were great.  Hot and crispy, covered with a generous sprinkling of feta and perfectly seasoned with garlic oil and oregano.

Lastly, we had to try the souvas.  MerlinFan claimed we had too much food and insisted we share a souva >:O

We had the Nonna maria.

Nonna Maria $7.50 

The fluffy pita was stuffed with crispy chicken (with skin!), chips, onion, parsley and a smear of mustard aioli.  I actually thought the souva here was better than the one at Gazi and enjoyed the miserable half I had.

Overally, the souva was good, as were the chips, and personally I'd stick to the Greek food rather than the dim sum.  As for how Jimmy Grants compare to its sister joints... well, I love Hellenic Republic and I like Gazi -  the food here struck me as very similar to the street food at Gazi, just marketed slightly different.   So in a way, it kinda lost of a bit of the ol' razzle dazzle and novelty value.  I wasn't a big fan of the whole ordering at the counter business, the noisiness and the hipster-ness but hey, if that's your kind of thing, then it may the place for you.



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