The Kebab Shop

There’s a time and a place for a ‘British-style’ kebab. In my experience, that time is about 3am and the place is outside the nightclub that has just switched on the lights and turfed its bleary-eyed patrons out onto the street. With this in mind, sitting down for a British-style kebab in a sun-filled restaurant in an obscure corner of Media City felt surreal. Indeed, the location of The Kebab Shop is hard to fathom. The lack of nightclubs or bars in the vicinity begs the question as to where the restaurant’s clientele will come from – kebabs, surely, aren’t at the top of your average office worker’s lunchtime list.

This sentiment was reflected by the restaurant being all but empty on our visit. While The Kebab Shop didn’t win points for atmosphere, I thought my companion and I would at least have the undivided attention of the staff – and swift service as a result. Unfortunately we endured a frustrating wait for a seemingly simple order of coleslaw, chilli fries and two ‘British-style’ kebabs (one chicken, one lamb).

The coleslaw arrived first – by way of a crude starter – and though we were reassured it was freshly made, the carrot and cabbage were drowned in thick, yellowing mayonnaise. After a further wait the chilli fries arrived, but it soon became clear that they were chilli fries in name alone – the chips had been mercilessly overcooked, rendering them translucent and brittle. The chilli came in the form of a dusting of chilli powder, which made us cough uncomfortably with every mouthful.

Kebabs are essentially fast food, so it was difficult to understand why The Kebab Shop’s offerings took so long to arrive, especially when the meat was rotating on skewers for all to see. More disappointing still was my chicken kebab: the meat was far from fresh and juicy, while my friend’s lamb had an unnerving leathery consistency. To add insult to injury, the pitta was dry to the point of being crumbly.

Of course, we could have visited The Kebab Shop on a bad day – and, even if our experience was a fair reflection of the food and service, the outlets in Discovery Gardens or Jumeirah may prove to be superior.
As it stands, the food at the Media City branch wouldn’t even make the grade at 3am en route to the taxi rank, let alone at lunchtime.

The bill (for two)
1x Large chicken doner Dhs30
1x Large lamb doner Dhs30
1x Chilli fries Dhs12
1x Coleslaw Dhs15
1x Large water Dhs6
Total (excluding service) Dhs93