Shater Abbas – 04.14.09

Shater Abbas
Mubarkiya, Kuwait City
Tel:  2420030/1

WMDs in an Iranian Restuarant?  If you mean Wonderful Meat Dinner, then yes, this is the place to find it.  Found just outside the Kuwait open air market in Kuwait City, Shater Abbas is a no frills and all taste Iranian dining experience.  Its humble appearance and low-key atmosphere is no way a reflection of the caliber of food served.

Hungry eaters

We ordered a mix grill of kebabs, stuffed grape leaves, yogurt cucumber dip, potato stew, okra, homous, fatoush, tabouleh, and 2 kinds of rice.  What we didn’t realize was that bread, salad, and soup accompany every order.  What a memorable WMD this was going to be.

A basket of mouthwatering bread (note all the sesame seeds)

Unending salad

The soup is much tastier than it looks.

Tabouleh

Fatoush (think middle-eastern caesar salad)

Hommous

Stuffed grape leaves

The fresh baked bread was fantastic.  Crisp exterior with a soft and chewy middle, the sesame seeds made it extra special and tasty.  Perfect by itself or to dip into a soup, sauce, or hold a chunk of kebab, it came in endless baskets and one could have happily eaten this alone.  The salad was a lightly dressed mix of arugala, green onion, mint, onion, and some other unknown green.  Very leafy and fresh tasting, it prepared us for the meat bonanza that was ahead of us.  The soup was a chicken based lentil soup.  It was light with creamy mouthfeel from the pureed lentils.  Really good, especially with fresh squeezed lemon.  We were already feeling full and our order had not even come out yet.

The spread

We ate and ate and ate.  The mix grill was very very good.  Lamb kebab, chicken tikka, burg, and sheesh tawook was a mouthful to say and to eat.  One note for the ethnic food buffs:  Iranian tikka (juja) leaves the bone in the chicken.  You will get pieces resembling hot wings but tasting like chicken tikka.  Another very pleasant tasting note about every restaurant here:  they go light on the salt and let the natural flavor of the food shine.  Everything is perfectly seasoned whereas most places in the states have grilled food that is just too salty.

Special mixed grill

Rice with lots of dill flava

My favorite rice plate

The entire meal was excellent and I doubt I can find better Iranian food without going to Iran.  We ended with strong mint tea and entertaining conversation in our private booth.  The bill for this feast?  9 Kuwaiti Dinars ($32) for 4 hungry guys.   Inexpensive and authenic, make this a definite stop for Eatclub Kuwait.

Ah-bru-inejad

Nawara – 04.13.09

Nawara has blue sign on the left

Nawara
Salem Al-Mubarak
Kuwait

The best beef schwarma in town for 300 fils (1 USD) ?!?! I can’t beleive it either but at this Lebanese style eatery, you can believe the hype.  A meal will set you back about 1KD ($3.50).  In fact, everything is delicious here.  Though this restaurant can be considered fast food, it is fast slow food:  fresh ingredients made into meals when ordered.  If a French crepe and an Indian Paratha had a child in Lebanon, you would have this bread.  Thin, chewy and flexible, this wrap is the perfect vessel for the hot and cold, oily and fresh ingredients that make up these sandwiches.  Also, this bread is made fresh throughout the day in front of a window for passerbys to see and drool.

Excellent tabouleh made fresh

Large falafel and schwarm sandwiches

Closeup of schwarma

Fresh falafel

Closeup of falafel sandwich

The schwarma, falafel, and kebab are very good.  So good that I have been eating here almost every day.  Hommous and tabouleh are also worth getting.  I have a new mission to find kebab and schwarma this good in the states.  Wash it all down with a tall glass of lime-ade and you’re in paradise.

Tayyab’s – 04.01.09

Tayyab’s Kebab House
89 Fieldgate Street
Whitechapel
London, E1 1JU
www.tayyabs.co.uk

Killa Kebabs! Chicken tikka, mutton tikka (lamb), lamb chops =]…

The best kebabs and curry on my tour of the UK.  This indian/pakistani place has casual dining with fantastic curries, breads, rice, and kebabs.  We came midweek around 7pm and waited in a queue for over an hour before we were seated.  Never have I seen a wait like this for Indian food.  It was well worth it.

The menu is somewhat brief but anything you order will be good.  As we hungrily drooled over the menu, sizzling plates of spicy kebabs hurriedly shuffled by in the very crowded restaurant.  We salivated as we inhaled the intoxicating odor of grilled kebabs only to reel and cough as the spices lit our sinuses up.  The snaking trail of kebabs to its final table was often accompanied coughs and choking of nearby eaters “taking a hit” of the spicy aromas.

naan-thing like the real thing

Karahi gosht (lamb curry), daal karela, karahi chicken , karahi bindi (okra)

Having mistakenly thought I just ingested a whole chili pepper, the caramelized red onion garnish adds a intense sweetness to offset the power of the curry.  Curries were served and probably freshly prepared in the same rustic metal bowls.  Order any dish with lamb, fantastic.

If you’re in London and like curry and kebabs, you MUST eat here.  If you’re not in London, plan a pilgrimage.  It is easy to see why Tayyab ranks among the top asian eateries.  Good price for great food, attentive service, and packed at all times: all indications of a great restaurant.

Tips:
Reserve to avoid the insanely long queue.
Ordering the kebabs is a MUST for your carnivore and vegetarian friends.
Walk down nearby Brick lane for London’s version of curry mile.
Check out 99 club, hip lounge with drinks and live music.

bru
Kebab and Curry Connoisseur

Dave and Mas chowing down on curry like only Brits can