Kings of Gyros: Leeds takeaway 'on cloud nine' after being named UK Restaurant of the Year 2025 by Just Eat

Kings of Gyros in Beeston was crowned the Restaurant of the Year by the online food delivery giant with 8,784 votes from the public.

Co-owner of the Greek takeaway on Ring Road, Meisam Tavassoli, said that finding out they had won the award was a “very surreal moment”, adding: “It’s still not sunk in yet.”

He added that he felt he had “already won” after Kings of Gyros was shortlisted for the award out of the 36,000 vendors on the website.

Mr Tavassoli said that he found out the news on Wednesday, December 3, when he received a call and was urged to check his emails.

He said: “I checked it and was like ‘Oh my God’. I was on cloud nine. I just couldn’t believe it.”

Mr Tavassoli had previously been nominated for the Restaurant of the Year award in 2019 and 2020 for his popular city centre café and grill Tavassoli’s on New Briggate.

He opened Kings of Gyros in October 2023 alongside Kerion Rose, who he had worked together and built up a close relationship with years earlier at McDonald’s.

He explained that before they opened Kings Of Gyros, Kerion was given the chance to prove himself and get acquainted with the business side of matters during a year of working at Tavassoli’s.

Mr Tavassoli said: “I told him that I was planning on opening a new place in east Leeds but said that my problem is that there’s not many people I can trust.

“I needed him to learn everything I knew and prove himself and he definitely did. It was a no-brainer.”

Since opening, Kerion has been at the centre of what makes Kings of Gyros so popular, adding flourishes of flavour from his Caribbean background to the traditional Greek food that the takeaway prides itself on.

“Kerion makes a real nice jerk sauce and he’s been adding that to the wraps and it’s just amazing.”

Mr Tavassoli said that he had set his sites on opening a takeaway in the LS10 area covering Beeston and Middleton after noticing how it was the most popular area for deliveries from his city centre restaurant.

He said: “It’s just made sense. It’s at a perfect junction.”

The restaurant has been a hit since opening and has also become beloved in the area for the community work they do - supporting various projects and sports teams with their time and free food. Mr Tavassoli said that they encouraged these groups to vote for them so that they could receive the award.

Upon shortlisting the takeaway among the top 10, JustEat paid a visit and also based the decision on the level of engagement they have over social media.

Mr Tavassoli said: “They need to make sure it’s deserved. Just because something’s popular doesn’t mean it will be the best quality.”

Since opening, Mr Tavassoli said that Kings of Gyros has been focussed on ensuring the quality is there, adding: “I’ve always seen it as a marathon and wanted to make food that would leave a legacy. That people would trust their kids to eat.

“LS10 is a working-class area so we knew we had to prove ourselves because they are not going to want to spend their money just anywhere.

“Now that we have won this we have to prove to everybody that we deserve it.”