It’s just 20 minutes after opening time and the Best Turkish Kebab takeaway is already crowded. No wonder, the walls are covered by certificates, news and magazine articles, diplomas and celebrity pictures include David Schwimmer (Ross Geller from Friends) and TV presenter Ainsley Harriott.
The first portion of 200 lb kebab is ready to be served to the first customers, while the two other kebabs are being prepared for consumption later on the day. It takes about 2.5 hours to cook 200 lb of kebab.
A team of four is ready to serve, one man serves the kebab, one man takes care of grill and frying (the chips) and the two others take orders. Tomatoes, red peppers, white and red cabbage look like mountains growing up from silver rectangle bowls. The takeaway shop is very clean and everything looks and smells pretty fresh.
It’s the first year for the Best Kebab Award. The ceremony was held in the House of Parliament and co-organiser by MP for Stratford-on-Avon, Nadhim Zahawi. Eighty MPs were asked to enter the best takeaways and restaurants from their constituencies. Then anonymous taste-testers travelled all over the country and taste testing to choose winners.
It isn’t the first award The Best Turkish Kebab, Stone Newington Road have received. They also have awards from BBC1, The Times, The Food Guide and more. The business was established in 1976 but brothers Mustafa and Ismail Demir run it from 2001. The shop employs 13 people includes family members and its one of the first kebab shop in the UK.
So what is the mystic recipe? Mustafa Demir,33, says ” The only recipe I can recommend is to use quality ingredients, quality meat, herbs and you get the best you can have’’ and he also adds “You need to get meat from very good supplier. We use quality lamb shoulder meat. It comes from Wales’’.
The shop sells roughly about 500-600 lb of kebab per day. Mustafa says “It’s very healthy food. We got inspected by the health inspectors on the sugar and salt level and it’s all perfectly fine.’’
For many people kebab is a staple food of Friday and Saturday nights however the busiest time for this takeaway is lunch time.
Local Adrian Thomas,34, who comes here quite often, says ” It’s really nice. It is the best kebab. I come here all the time, different times of the day’’. Ranger, 24, “It’s the best kebab in the world. Taste it! Taste it! It’s the most delicious, tastiest, the best smelling. It’s just the best.’’
To end on some gossip, Mustafa spills something about celebrities, ” We served about 130 kebabs for David Schwimmer’s family for their wedding party in London. We don’t usually do that but this was exceptional ’’.
The Best Turkish Kebab takeaway belongs to top 10 kebab businesses in the country and to the top four kebab businesses in London.