|
Evening Standard - 23rd January 2008 - Charles Campion
Which is the more damning indictment - that the Home Secretary should be going out for a kebab at 5pm, or that she should choose a doner kebab when she did. Let's not worry about how lawless the streets are becoming but rather ponder this obvious lack of judgment.
Kebabs fall into two categories: there are posh kebabs - delicious grilled meats - and there are desperation kebabs (highly portable, often greasy, certainly cheap, pitta breads stuffed with meat, salad and chilli sauce). Posh kebabs are served at dinner time and desperation kebabs are popular when the pubs chuck out.
Then there is the doner question. In the Pantheon of kebabs the doner props up the bottom rank. Even the late-night hungry have moved on from the suspiciously even-textured, minced-lamb doner kebab to a lamb or chicken shwarma - with whole pieces of meat stacked on a skewer before cooking to retain texture and taste.
But the kebab, kabab, cabob or kabob - the word probably derives from 17th century Hindi with many variations - can be a culinary treat.
And here is what they had to say about us:
SHISH
Sooner or later a restaurateur will seize upon a popular eating style and start a chain. With kebabs the moment came when Shish opened, "aiming to restore the shish's place as King of all foods"... Shish is a comfy, modern fast-food restaurant specialising in decent kebabs. About £10pp ex-drinks. Shish, 313-319 Old Street, EC1 (020 7749 0999).
|
