Lazeez

Thursday, February 26, 2009 - Chunks of spicy soujouk sausages were sautéed in lemon, their powerful kick a pleasing contrast to molten slices of grilled tomato; houmous Beiruty was hand-whipped with freshly chopped parsley and fiery green peppers; and kibbeh shameyieh, deep-fried while we waited, revealed a steaming centre of minced lamb, onions and pine-nuts. But it was a shared main of shish taouk that delivered the sucker-punch: tender, citrus-marinated chunks of chicken served on the juice-soaked sheets of bread with which they’d been dragged from the skewer. It made the unreliable offerings of the Edgware Road seem a million miles away – which they almost were.