The cluster of souvlaki restaurants and takeaway shops on and around Eaton Mall is the reason Oakleigh has a food reputation that extends well beyond its suburb. These are not tourist-facing approximations of Greek food but the real thing, shaped by decades of Greek-Australian immigration and sustained by a community that knows what it should taste like. The souvlaki here — pork or chicken, grilled on charcoal, wrapped in soft pita with tomato, onion, tzatziki, and chips — is as good as you will find outside Greece.
Several shops have been operating in the same location for twenty or thirty years. Jim's Souvlaki on Eaton Mall is among the most well-known, with a following built on consistency rather than novelty. Queues at the counter on weekend evenings are part of the experience. The nearby Greek bakeries sell spanakopita, tiropita, and bougatsa — the custard-filled pastry that is the standard breakfast in Thessaloniki and has found an equally devoted following in Oakleigh.
For a more substantial meal, the sit-down tavernas on Eaton Mall serve grilled meats, mezze plates, and slow-cooked dishes. Lamb on the spit appears at restaurants for special occasions and during Greek Easter. The whole precinct shuts down relatively early by inner-city Melbourne standards, so plan for dinner rather than late-night eating.