Boyz Magazine - August 2003

Shish Old Street

Opened just a couple of months ago, the folk behind this large, airy and stylish eatery claim the inspiration behind the menu is the Silk Road, the ancient trade and communication route stretching from China through to Rome, connecting East to West – Shish unites these cultures to introduce a new way of eating that is healthy, delicious yet affordable.

You want that in English? Shish Old Street is a posh kebab restaurant. If you’ve never previously linked the words ‘posh’ and ‘kebab’ you may think they make unlikely bedfellows, but you shouldn’t. London already offers posh burgers joints and swanky Indian and Chinese eateries, and given that the fare in your standard kebab shop is but a cheap glimpse of Middle Eastern cuisine, I’m surprised there aren’t more upmarket kebab places like this. Particularly as the dishes are considerably less fat-laden than many of their fast food counterparts.

You’d expect any new restaurant situated just off Hoxton Square to be appropriately stylish, and Shish doesn’t disappoint. Before our meal, we popped down to the basement bar and found a fabulous, undiscovered gem. A large, high ceilinged bar, decked out in a subtle Moroccan style, lit by tasteful projections and candles. And it was all but empty.

Perhaps the August sunshine was keeping the local drinkers out on Hoxton Square itself – which is sort of understandable – but this venue deserves greater popularity and would be amazing for private parties. Particularly as the management pride themselves on a fabulous array of cocktails (Lychee & Raspberry ‘Tini anyone?) and a full bar menu.

The ground floor restaurant, surrounded by full length windows, was more of an open-plan canteen, and was nicely buzzing. The menu offers around a dozen main shish dishes, clocking in between £5.75 and £8.75 each. These come with a choice of rice, French Fries, couscous or salad. Then there are the choices of hot and cold Mezze, which you can have either as starters or as accompaniments to your main course. We tried the spinach and cheese borek which were delicious little filo spring rolls filled with spinach feta and walnut, and the lamb dumplings served quite rare and bursting with spicy flavour.

For our main courses, we had Mediterranean chicken shish which had been marinated in olive oil, garlic, thyme, lemon, and chilli, and the Afghan chicken shish which was tenderised in yoghurt and was again flavoured with lemon, garlic and olive oil. Both were delicious, perhaps slightly on the dry side, but served with sauces of our choice to dip them in (we went for sweet chilli and tahini). Kebabs can be served in a pitta wrap or with a side dish, and we both opted for plain rice. Both left us feeling nicely full and virtuous – along with my freshly squeezed apple, melon and cucumber juice, this had been a fairly healthy eating experience. Oh, and if you don’t fancy chicken there are lamb and fish kebabs, along with tofu, falafel and halloumi options for the vegetarians.

It being such a hot evening, we treated ourselves to desserts, all of which are served with ice cream. The almond, plum and pistachio pastry was delicately spicy and comforting, but the highlight was the accompanying home-made Halva ice cream, an indulgent end to a taste-filled evening.