Shawarma Kebab House - A Tasteem Review

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It seems weeks since I did a @tasteem review and when I saw the Cheap and Fabulous contest announcement up I knew I had the right candidate.

For the past few months, I have been working in the decrepit industrial town of Rochdale in Greater Manchester.

The place has more than its fair share of pissheads and homeless people with their gnarled rugged worn looks shuffling around the streets.

Beggars frequent the shopping areas and are often chased by police officers for vagrancy.

A lack of money and wealth should make for some bargain eating places and @goblinknackers found a good one in the form of the Shawarma Kebab House that sits on the outskirts of the main shopping area.

I confess I don’t usually eat in such places, and still refer to it as ‘that dodgy place’ but the quality of food I found within surprised me.

Over the last few visits, I have had to take my photographs secretly as the owners look a little like the Algerian Mafia, and may well take no prisoners if I was caught photographing their restaurant and food.

As we can both walk to this sit-down kebab house and the food is delivered quickly, it ticks the boxes for a lunchtime walk, eat and return to work in 30 minutes.

This is Chicken Shawarma Tray with Chips and a Can for £3.50. For one, it’s huge, fills me and is incredibly tasty. Add some Garlic or Chilli Sauce (as much as you like) and you are full and sustained for the rest of the afternoon.

@goblinbknackers occasionally orders the post night-out pisshead food, Donner meat in a freshly made Nan bread for £3 (above), or my most recent dish, the Chicken Tikka (below) for again just £3.

The latter dish takes a little longer to prepare but it’s worth the wait.

You also get a fresh large Nan with the Tikka dish of which I had taken a large bite before the photograph.

Call it being out of practice and/or nervous photography.

This is obviously Asian food and my references to ‘Mafia' are in no way racial, in fact, it was @goblinknackers (who is of Asian origins) who made this assessment.

I hadn’t noticed but one of the owners has a Kalashnikov tattooed to his forearm.

While he may just have a fetish with guns, I can’t say Kalashnikov’s are a common choice of body artwork.

One time when we were leaving, one of the owners shouted ‘Oy’ after us after he suspected I was taking photographs. I pretended not to hear and did not turn around.

Receipts are not given out at the Shawarma Kebab House. I did ask once and was told, ‘no receipts’.

I’m not going to argue about my rights with these guys. Sometimes it’s just better to nod and agree.

You may think a visit to Shawarma Kebab House is a terrifying dangerous ordeal.

Well, it was not a good start but it is getting better and what makes me come back is the food.

Freshly cooked meat and Nan’s that I can visibly see them making as well as the mouth-watering taste plus convenience will ensure many repeat visits while I am working in Rochdale.

Mafia or not, they are starting to get just a little more friendly as we are now deemed to be ‘repeat customers.

Instead of receiving growls for responses, we now get a short nod of respect.

Some things are harder to attain than others in life. Perhaps after a year, we may even get the remnants of a smile.