Harpers & Queen - November 2004

NEW - Shish
313 - 319 Old Street, EC1 (020 7749 0990)
This sparkling new addition to drab Old Street is an offshoot of Shish in Willesden. It's on a corner site, and has simple furniture: wipe clean tables and a few tables outside in warm weather. At the centre of the room is the shish counter where the food is prepared and served (a shish is a skewer, and all main courses are skewered and grilled). Shish fuses a wide range of culinary cultures, but the Silk Route is the main inspiration. You can have Mediterranean chicken with lemon, oil and garlic; falafel; spinach and cheese borek; duck spring roll with tamarind dip; Persian kofta; Indonesian satay; and Tashkent lamb dumplings. Ingenious and effective.

A la carte dinner. £45 for two